The Theology of Worship Music – Ground Rules

Greetings!

As a worship leader for 30+ years I have seen many worship songs. I love the creativity of God that He placed in songwriters. Each song, and songwriter, expresses a facet of God’s nature and character that they have seen in their experience. It is not the same for everyone. I believe that is what leads to some of the divisions among the worship community. I believe it is also what has led to so many denominations being formed within the Christian faith.

Since Jesus left earth for Heaven about 2000 years ago there have been many “moves of God” recorded in history. Each “move” had some defining characteristic. More recently those have been labeled “Cane Ridge”, “Azusa Street”, “Healing Revival of the 1940s”, “The Toronto Blessing”, “Brownsville (aka Pensacola Outpouring)”, “The Lakeland Revival (aka Florida Healing Outpouring)”, and others. Before that there were others named “Welsh Revival”, “Moravians”, “Wesley Brothers”, and others.

One of the remnants from each of these has been music. A song, or musical genre, will typically be identified with each movement. Also, it is common for there to be a particular release of God’s nature and character during the season of revival. For example, healing in the 40s, repentance, baptism of the Holy Spirit, laughter, uncontrolled movement, etc. Because it came during “their” meetings these groups have a tendency to remain camped on that particular move of the Holy Spirit and refuse to move with a new wind that God might send.

Please understand, nothing of that was said as criticism. I’m just stating some observations from the vantage point of history.

Let’s get back to the subject at hand. In this blog we will look at what are considered “top” worship songs of the day. There are several sources from which to draw. One of the more reliable and authoritative is CCLI (Church Copyright License Inc.). They track usage of millions of worship songs in thousands of churches. If I don’t get to your favorite song then leave a comment naming the song. I’ll try to work it in as soon as possible.

I hope you enjoy these installments. I’ll try to post frequently to keep the content fresh for you. As always, I welcome your comments and feedback. I do not claim to have a corner on the market of revelation.