Songwriting is a response to God’s calling, a reflection of God’s creative character, and an offering of love.

Songs Are Central To Christian Worship

Of the many ways Christians are called to worship God, singing stands out as surprisingly present in the scriptures. There are hundreds of references to singing as worship and dozens of explicit commands to sing to the Lord. From the Song of Miriam in the Sinai desert, to Mary’s Song in Luke, to the song of the redeemed saints in Revelation, wherever you see worship, you usually see God’s people singing in praise.

Songs are not just for praise and celebration. Scripture includes songs of lament, surrender, repentance, anticipation, prophecy, judgment, and nearly every range of human emotion. In every generation, God’s people responded to God’s nature and work with songs, and it has continued throughout church history. The songs no doubt changed to fit the styles, instruments, and cultural norms of the time, but the presence of songs in Christian worship never changes. God has been worshipped through African drums, baroque pipe organs, Sunday School songs, dubstep beats, symphonies, and freestyle rap.

But, of course, you know this. You’re here because songs, music, and gathered worship are at the heart of what you do. Whether you’re a worship leader, pastor, Christian artist, or just someone interested in worshipping God through song. And the others who have already been here, and the ones who will get here later, are here for the same reasons.

But for them, worship probably looks different from what it does for you. That’s God’s beautiful and intentional design.

God is too glorious, vast, dynamic, and personal to be limited to a definitive style, sound, approach, setting, or structure for a song. We need every song, every voice, and every response to God’s amazing glory.

Sing a New Song

Scripture continually calls us to sing new songs, and depicts new songs as central to gathered worship, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and genuine expressions of worship that manifest in the presence of God.

The scriptures never tell us what these new songs sound like exactly, but their presence shows us that new songs are central to the worship of God’s people. Singing a new song is deeply biblical, and so is writing one.

Christians today live between the writing of the Psalms and the events of Revelation, so we know that God is still giving new songs to his people as they seek him and respond to his Word, works, and presence in creative worship.

  • Oh sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth!

  • Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

  • He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.

  • And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”

  • Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants.

  • Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the godly!

The Living Liturgy Response

We believe that new songs are stirring in the hearts of worship writers across the world, but many of these writers can’t find their place in the ministry of worship songwriting because they see a specific model of worship music expressed through the Christian Music Industry that doesn’t resonate with them. The expectations and demands of the Worship Music Industry conflict with their first calling to minister faithfully in the local church and challenge their hunger to minister to God without the pressures of entertaining an audience, selling records, or keeping up with a fanbase.

To be clear, there is nothing inherently wrong with worship songs scaling commercially. There’s incredible power in events and gatherings that express worship in a musically performative way. Many in our Living Liturgy community are called to this kind of ministry and artistry.

But something is missing if this is the only way we think about worship songwriting. And it doesn’t just affect the songs we sing, it changes the way the church thinks about worship.

We’re offering an alternative to songwriting as a commercial music endeavor.

What You’ll Find Here

Living Liturgy approaches worship songwriting as a formed life, not a formula. Songs emerge from attention, obedience, and faithfulness long before they reach a stage or a congregation. Here, we make space to slow down, listen carefully, and attend to the deeper rhythms that shape songwriting as an act of worship.

Faithful worship songwriting is not measured first by reach, reception, or recognition, but by whether our songs arise from a life attentive to God and offered back to him in love. Living Liturgy exists to walk with worship songwriters in that kind of faithfulness, offering a way of inhabiting the calling of worship songwriting with greater clarity, freedom, and trust, whatever shape their songs may take.