I've Never Written a Worship Song. How Do I Start?

Songwriting is an interesting thing...

On one hand it's incredibly gratifying—and on the other, it can be incredibly daunting and frustrating. 

Even more daunting can be writing songs for the church. These questions might be going through your head: 

• "What if I say the wrong things?" 

• "What if it sounds bad?" 

• "How do I even start?"

The good news is that songwriting becomes easier once you have the right tools and system. Let's take a look.

Grab the Right Tools

Every great songwriter has a basic set of tools they use to craft memorable songs. For the worship songwriter, here's what you need:

• The Bible

It should go without saying, but if you're going to write songs for the church, then you need to use Scripture as the main source for your words. 

Saturating your creative tank with Scripture allows for Its truths to permeate your lyrics, and the themes can then go on to influence the musical direction of harmony, intensity, and flow. 

• A rhyming dictionary

Whether you buy a physical dictionary or use an online one; this tool is indispensable for finding not just exact rhymes that pair perfectly, but also near rhymes to connect all the dots and finish out a phrase. 

• A thesaurus

If you're ever in a tight spot, lyrically, this tool will help you get out and back on track. I'd say a thesaurus has come in handy more times than I can count; it's allowed me to take one or two terms and make them fit perfectly into a lyric through similar words that mean the same thing. 

• A hymnal

Reading and singing through congregational songs from years past can totally transform an "okay" lyric into a true piece of art. These songs are often packed with rich theology alongside beautiful poetry, and there are formulas within them that you can follow. Just look at the meter numbers at the top of each page; they give you the exact framework for how many syllables work within each line. Pair that with keys and ranges that work for any voice, and you've got a powerful tool in your songwriting arsenal.

• A library of your favorite lyrics 

As a songwriter, you should keep a library of your favorite lyrics and study, study, study them! Pick apart the rhythmic flow of each line, whether it rhymes at the end of each phrase or several times within a phrase, how it pairs with a melody, etc. 

This begs the question: In my library, should I include lyrics from non-Christian songs? I would say, "Yes!" But there's a caveat: I would look to those tunes as technical inspiration, not moral influence. 

Look to Scripture and spiritual songs to shape the words, but feel free to use other material to shape flow and style. 

• Get a partner

One of the best ways to create a fantastic song is to write it with someone else. Co-writing can unlock perspectives and ways of thinking that can take your material to the next level, seeing how a few tweaks in direction and focus can result in something truly special.

Analyzing An Example

When I first started writing songs, I often "waited" for inspiration to hit, and I counted on the words to just kind "flow" out of me. And to some degree, this works—but more often than not, it really takes repetition and a system to come alongside inspiration to create a robust collection of work. 

Last year, several of our church songwriters were given a challenge to adapt a handful of Psalms into congregational songs. My friend Andre' and I took on Psalm 1:

1 Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

3 He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
4 The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

Our goal wasn't to necessarily put the literal words to melody, like a psalter, but we needed to keep many of the original words in a presentation that was adapted to current songwriting styles. Here's what we came up with:

"Blessed Are They (Psalm 1)"—Andre' Lemieux and Derek Volkmann (2024)

Verse 1 

Blessed are they who walk along 

The way revealed from God above 

May His path be ever their delight 

Blessed are they who make their stand 

Upon the base of God’s commands 

May His law be ever their delight 

Chorus

Let the people be glad and lift up one voice 

Let the earth raise a shout of praise

To the Word made alive, let them rejoice 

May they sing for endless days 

Verse 2

Blessed are they who bear the fruit 

Sown in all they say and do

May His truth be ever their delight 

Blessed are they who hold their ground 

When storms and winds of sin abound 

May His strength be ever their delight 

Bridge

For the LORD has crown'd His children 

With a love that's strong and kind 

Rooted in unending tenderness 

Flowing from His streams of life 

And the LORD has called His people 

He will be their faithful guide

In His everlasting promises

May His Word be their delight 

In this song, we took a few key ideas from each major section of the song and packaged them into easy rhythmic phrases, capturing the essence of what was being said in the Scripture and putting into a easily memorized context. 

• Verse 1: Fits with "walks" and "stands" from the first part of the passage (v.1–2) but frames it within positive verbs, rather than negative verbs. (This isn't defined through moral positives/negatives; rather, it's a "doing" vs. "not doing.") Uses the word "delight" and the phrase "Blessed are they..." as motives to tie everything together. Uses an AABAAB rhyme scheme.

• Verse 2: Fits with the "fruit" from v.3 in the passage and riffs a bit of the aspect of "wind"—again, more in a positive sense. Repeated motives of the word "delight" and the phrase "Blessed are they..." Also uses an AABAAB rhyme scheme.

• Bridge: This one borrows from v.3 & 6, in obvious and subtle ways. "Streams" is more obvious, while "faithful guide" subtly looks back to "way." Even more subtle is the word "crown'd," which actually ties into "tree." You see, the top of a tree is called a "crown," and a healthy tree has a healthy crown. If that crown is damaged, such as with a chemical spray, then the tree dies. So we tied the image of a healthy tree into this section with wording that alludes to parts of a tree that keep it healthy and vibrant, and then point to the love of God as the lifesource of that vibrancy. On the technical side, the rhyme scheme is ABCBDBEB (every other line is the rhyme).

• Chorus: This section doesn't translate any specific words from the psalm, but it works to unify the singers in this act of praise, where they articulate the ultimate "why" and the "who" within this corporate act of worship. Rhyme scheme is ABAB.

We went through several drafts to get this one right, and we trimmed out A LOT of words. That's an important thing to remember: Generally, write a lot, and then edit a lot. More often than not, you'll get rid of/change 40%–80% of your original draft in the editing process. 

TL;DR

To sum it all up, here's what you need to get started writing worship songs:

• The right tools (Bible, dictionary, thesaurus, hymnal, lyric library, and a friend).

• A steady system (don't wait for inspiration).

• Adapt existing text (i.e., Scripture) as an exercise.

If you develop a regular rhythm in songwriting with these three parts, then you'll have a great collection of tunes that get stronger with each one added.

Extra Bonus: If you want to learn how to take your tunes from sketches to finished songs, then you should check out this video by worship leader Evan Mazunik, where he takes you through several ideas to get you from a rough idea to a complete work.

Be blessed 👊✌️