Five Reasons Why You Should Have Original Worship Music In Your Church

Over the course of many decades, I’ve written scores of worship songs that have been sung over the years. And I’ve also encouraged others—in my local church and in many other churches—to do the same. All these songs I’ve written were intended primarily for the local congregation, so few were ever recorded, and none of them were ever “marketed” to the greater Church. This was intentional. Our original worship music was intended to reflect the worship of a particular faith community, at a particular time, with a particular people, to our infinite God.

Now there are some amazing songwriters in the modern worship genre crafting equally amazing worship songs these days. We are indeed in an era when the Church is “singing a new song” to the Lord. And that’s a good thing. But I’d also like to encourage local songwriters of faith to consider writing worship songs for your own congregations. Not for fame or fortune or branding. But because you are simply sharing your gift with your faith community, Soli Deo gloria. And I also encourage pastors and church leaders to get your musicians to compose music for your local church as well.

Here are five reasons why I encourage you to compose original worship music and sing it at your local church.

1 | Original Worship Will Reflect Who You Are

While the “big-C” Church is unified under the Lordship of Jesus, each “small-c” church is characterized by a unique subculture, gifting, calling, set of values, and corporate personality. And I would argue, each church has its own unique way of communing with, and worshiping God. Home-grown worship music will undoubtedly reflect who you are as a local body of believers, and allow you to express your corporate worship to Him in a distinct and specific way—stylistically, theologically, and personally.

2 | Original Worship Gives Your Church a Unique Voice

There are thousands of local churches in the world. But I find it odd that the vast majority of popular modern worship music today is written by only a handful of megachurches. Certainly there are universal truths that are expressed and encapsulated by these modern worship songs. But what of the localized expression of these truths?

Your faith community is a living, breathing microcosm of the Bride of Christ. You’ve gone through the journey of life together. And this corporate journey is unique and special and God-breathed. What about allowing your congregation to have its own unique voice in worship? It makes sense to me that worship music birthed through the talented musicians in your congregation would best express the hearts and experiences of your local faith community.

A number of years ago, I was struck by the idea that we sing the word “Hallelujah,” but not that many people actually know what it meant. Even more important, were we living the word “Hallelujah”? Were we embodying the word, not only with our mouths but with our lives? So I wrote a song called, “Be Your Hallelujah,” and began teaching hallelujah both as a worship response and as a way of life. It has become part of our congregational worship ever since.

3 | Original Worship Encourages Creativity With Your People

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that a robust and active theology of the arts is imbedded into everything I talk about here. So I won’t go into a treatise on creativity (again). But suffice it to say, creativity grows our hearts, honors God, and puts a smile on His face.

Right from the beginnings of my home church, we created a corporate culture where beauty was valued and creativity was encouraged and expressed. Whether it was music, dance, drama, written word, visual arts, etc., we fostered a receptiveness to people (young and old) to express themselves artistically. So it was only natural that this creativity extended into the music we used to worship our Creator.

4 | Original Worship Reinforces Your Theology

Frankly, one of my main motivations behind composing worship music is because, as a worship leader, I often find myself trying to find an existing song that says a particular thing. Often times, there’s a particular closing point in the message that needs to be emphasized musically, or an aspect of ecclesiology or mission that we would like to focus on. And while there are thousands of worship songs out there, it’s not always easy to find one that matches the focus and tenor we’re looking for. It’s in these times that a song may be birthed, and our corporate worship using this song cements a shared experience together.

A number of years ago, we presented a sermon series that focused on a Kingdom orientation to the Gospel (one of the key theological emphases of our church). In other words, the Gospel isn’t just heaven when you die. It’s also about living a dynamic and transformative life with Jesus as Lord in the here and now, becoming more and more transformed into the people He intends us to be. The series was called, “Further Up and Further In,” playing off the words of C. S. Lewis. So I wrote a song to try to capture the hope that comes with living deeper and deeper in His Kingship, a reminder to always remember God’s faithfulness and lovingkindness. Some of the lyrics to this song:

We go from death to life, The winter fades the spring arrives

And in Your sacred light, beyond the clouds burning bright

We’re going further up, further in

To You O God, we enter in

We raise our voice and sing our song on high

Further up, further in

5 | Original Worship Binds Your Hearts Together

During the fortieth anniversary of our church, I wrote an anthem of sorts to encapsulate who we are as a community of faith. I wanted the song to reflect our ecclesiology of inclusivity, God’s faithfulness in the past, and our hope in the future. And I wanted it to be fun to sing. Psalm 84 declare, “Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; They are ever praising You.” But instead of singing, “They are ever praising you,” I wanted to sing, “We are ever praising You.” First person plural, present tense. The result is “In Your House,” a joyous anthem to our present tense God.

There’s something uniquely uplifting about the shared experience of singing a song birthed from one’s own community. With one voice. Like singing the national anthem at the Olympics, it’s a moment that binds one people with one song for one purpose. That was the result of writing this particular piece. And as one people, we sang together, hands raised and voices loud, celebrating forty years of God’s faithfulness. In that moment, it felt like a brush with heaven.

Later this month, we’ll be releasing the album, “In Your House,” a collection of the best of original worship music sung at my local church, Oak Hills, over the past few decades. I’m honored and a little humbled that we’ve been able to record these songs and make them available to the greater church after all these years. Please look for it on all streaming platforms. And you can listen on the Manuel Luz Music YouTube Channel. Click and subscribe!

[Banner photo: Some music I wrote for The Immerse Collective. Inset photo 1: Vocal session at GS Studios in Sacramento. Inset photo 2: The cover art to the new worship album.]