Introducing New Songs
Over my years of leading worship, there have been times when I felt God wanted us to really “get” a certain song, or tap into what He was doing or saying through the lyrics of that song. As a worship leader, you can often be the only person that has that vision, who can see ahead to what you want that song, or the theme the song addresses, to do in your church. People don’t see that all on their own - after all, they’re looking to you to lead them in a certain direction and they will follow - and often, your team may not get why you want to do that song so badly. I have done plenty of songs where I was so excited about the words and what God was teaching me through them, and then I’d turn around to the team after teaching it, and expect the same enthusiasm and spiritual excitement back - only to find that they found it a little uncomfortable to sing, or didn’t understand the point of it! To get people to that place of embracing the song, I have at times taken risks in terms of the songs I have taught to congregations, and have always sought to stretch people in their capacity to accept the unfamiliar, the different and the contemporary. It’s good for people to be stretched out of their comfort zones! There is no foolproof way of introducing a song and “get them to like it”. However, I have put down a few thoughts on how to make a new song “stick”…
Play it again, Sam
Firstly, people often take more than one listen to get into a song, even very “musical” people. I have a ridiculously large music collection, and for all the albums I’ve bought over the years that I have instantly loved, there are many others that I unfortunately don’t know well yet, because they didn’t grab me on the first or second listen. It can take quite a few repeats for me to become familiar with how the song goes and learning the melody properly. If you’ve learnt a language from a tape/CD/book that repeats the phrase several times, you’ll appreciate how repetition helps the brain to remember what it’s heard.
If we know a song from hearing it on the radio, we can normally assume that most other people will be familiar with that song also. Unfortunately, we can sometimes assume this rule in a worship context, and think that because we know a song really well from some CD or other, that everyone else will know it too. As worship leaders, we’ve heard that song going around in our stereo or at that conference for weeks/ months now, and by the time we get around to doing it in church, we are nearly sick of it! But this is the first time for those listening on a Sunday morning, and can take a few efforts sometimes to really “get into it”. Be patient with them, give them plenty of time to become familiar with it, and allow the theme or lyrics to really sink in.
Some songs have obviously gone down much better than others. I have been really excited about a song that just didn’t “take” and are not worth pursuing. Some songs people latch onto instantly and it becomes a favourite. Other songs will have something significant about them for your church, and although it may be difficult to get that across, it’s worth the determination and persistence as a leader so that they grab hold of the essence of the song and its message or theme.
Subliminal Message
Play a recording of the song when people are coming in before the service, preferably the original recording, or the version closest to how you are going to do it). By the time we get up to play it as a team, there’s almost a familiarity there in people’s minds. You can almost see some people thinking “Have I heard this somewhere before?” You could also play it as a band before the service, instead of using a CD, and this also gets your band more prepared and warmed up before “the real thing”.
If at first you don’t succeed…
I would always try to follow up a new song as often as possible, and for as many weeks as possible where appropriate, and before it gets annoying! Try doing the song again (or maybe just the chorus) at the end of the service, or while people are talking afterwards, to further seal the song in people’s minds. I would also encourage the leader who does the following week to pick up the song if at all possible, so that even is someone else leads, the congregation is getting to hear the song at least once a week for a few weeks in a row.
If after a while you don’t succeed…
If I try bringing in a song that people don’t like, it can be that it just isn’t the right song for that time. It could also be the right song at the wrong time. I have often had a brand-new song that I was desperate to teach people immediately, whereas God was saying something else to our church at the time, and the timing was not right. In my church, for example, I once had a powerful new song to teach about repentance, whereas the church was in a place of learning something completely different, and were not ready for this particular theme. The new song would not have, at that time, encouraged what God is doing just then. In fact, people would probably not responded to the challenge of the song if I had been insensitive to this fact and done it anyway. Then, a few moths later, the time came when it was absolutely right to use the repentance theme and the song fit in perfectly - but this time, people were ready.
In this sort of situation, I would recommend leaving the song for a while and try introducing it at another time. Seek God as to the timing of songs, not just picking a set of songs because they go together or they all say the same thing. I know some worship leaders from years ago who would do just that; Spending time before the Lord and preparing your heart to be flexible are as important as having a list of songs. I have often found that God chose to go a completely different direction to where I thought I would go, and if this happens, the more flexible we are to go along with the flow of the Holy Spirit, the easier an experience it is for us!
Flogging a dead horse
Sometimes there are seasons for singing a certain song, and that season can come to a natural end. We had a particular song in relation to revival that was done fairly repetitively in church for a few months, as God was really driving the point home, and then suddenly the season was over. The song was put away and has not been done since. Be aware that if a song deals with a very specific subject matter, that it could possibly only have a certain “life span”.
Don’t do a song to death in an attempt of determination - “they will like this song!” There may be other songs out there that enforce or teach about the theme you’re sure God wants to teach, but with a more catchy melody, a more singable key or with better crafted words. Do as much research as you can on other songs that involve that theme (you can search by theme on a lot of worship sites - see the Worship Directory section of this website for useful links), and it may solve your problem.
There are many more avenues that can be explored and methods that can be tried in this area - these are just a few practical things to try and some thoughts to keep in mind whilst introducing a song. I would love to hear from any worship leaders who have found this a familiar problem, or who have had successes with certain strategies in terms of bringing in new material. All of your comments are welcome!
