Considering songs for our repertoire
Got a song or hymn you love to sing in worship? I regularly get requests. In addition to individual song qualities, I find it both practical and pastoral to think intentionally about our overall repertoire of songs. Based on several factors, we may receive a new song, reject it, or defer it to be considered in the future. Receiving a song may be for a one-off use or slotting it into regular rotation. Rejecting it may be a judgement call on the song itself, or just that we already have other songs that are too similar.
Here are some of my considerations for managing our worship song library:
Individual song strength (see previous article)
Song fit within the context of our current library
Song fit for our music team to lead well
Familiarity and singability in our congregation
Song source
For our library we seek a general balance of the following:
Perspective (I/me, we/us, and third person songs)
Trinitarian (songs about the Father, Son, and Spirit)
Type (hymns/songs, old/new, simple/complex)
Mood (upbeat/mid/slow, joy/lament, major/minor)
Theme (creation, thanksgiving, redemption, heaven, etc.)
CHOOSING songs frOM our repertoire
Core Repertoire (Use 1-2 songs from this column each week) - currently includes 42 staple songs like All Creatures of Our God and King, Christ Our Hope in Life and Death, Jesus Your Mercy, and Who You Say I Am.
Extended Repertoire (Use 1-2 songs from this column each week) - currently includes 49 well-loved songs like 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord), God Is For Us, This is Amazing Grace, and O Church Arise.
Classic Repertoire (Use 1-2 songs from this column each week) - currently includes 74 time-tested songs like Amazing Grace, How Great is Our God, It Is Well With My Soul, and Mighty To Save.