"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." Col. 3:16 (ESV)
A song is a good candidate for our services if it uses its few short minutes rehearsing rich, gospel-saturated doctrine that motivates us to meditate on what we believe (Col. 3:16). There has been a great and exciting resurgence of theological depth and richness in contemporary music over the last 10-20 years. These new resources are held in balance with the timeless classics in our ministry. New or old, depth of teaching is criteria number one for any song.
In its teaching, does the song also call us to action? Does it confront us with our need for repentance and God's grace in order to change and grow? If the songs we're singing do not confront us with our ongoing sin problem, then they are reflecting only half of the good news of Christianity (Col. 3:16). In our church, we intentionally sing about the wrath of God against sin, the suffering of Christ and His shed blood on the cross, of our spiritual death before salvation, and of our current inner struggle between the old man and the new man. Songs that treat these topics in balance with grace, love, and mercy are songs that portray the gospel in its fullness.
We sing because we want to worship together. Some songs meet the first two criteria, but for various reasons (a difficult melody or a complex rhythm, for example) they are difficult to sing together as a group. Both Colossians 3:16 and Ephesians 5:19 describe corporate singing as a vital ingredient for our gatherings.
We introduce several new worship songs per year in order to expand our exposure to the rich resource of gospel-saturated songs available.
