The Worship Identity Map
Every church worships with a distinct spiritual posture shaped by its story, prayers, and formation. Take the Worship Identity Assessment to explore how your congregation naturally responds to God.
Explore the Map
The Worship Identity Map is built on two key tensions that exist in every congregation’s worship life between emphasizing Encounter or Formation and Vertical or Horizontal orientation. These tensions are not opposites. They are healthy dimensions of worship that work together to form us. But each church tends to lean toward one side more naturally than the other, and that leaning helps us understand the kind of song your congregation instinctively embraces.
Worship Identity Map
Click a point on the map to view its description. Click anywhere to close.
Identity Descriptors
Within each broad quadrant, churches often express themselves in more specific ways. These descriptors help you recognize the nuances of your congregation’s worship personality.
Your church community probably won’t fit exactly into one of these categories, but you will likely resonate with one or two closely. In reality, every church will have a unique place on this simple graph, but for simplicity's sake, we’ve narrowed it down to the most common worship identities:
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Worship that emphasizes holiness, order, and reverence; shaped by Scripture, tradition, and a sense of sacred space.
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Worship that prioritizes truth, clarity, and theological depth; songs function as sung discipleship and spiritual formation.
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A reflective, prayerful posture of worship marked by attentiveness, stillness, and thoughtful engagement with God’s presence and the life of the community.
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Worship that responds passionately to God’s presence; expressive, dynamic, and open to spontaneous moments of encounter.
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Worship that lifts high the greatness of God; grand, awe-filled, Christ-exalting, and emotionally expansive.
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Worship that shapes the community together; emphasizes belonging, unity, and the shared practices that form a church family.
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Worship rooted in story — celebrating redemption, transformation, gratitude, and the testimonies of God’s work.
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Joyful, energetic worship that brings people together; marked by gladness, praise, and wholehearted participation.
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Worship that expresses God’s heart for the world; focused on justice, compassion, service, and the church’s calling in the city.
When you honor your church’s identity, your songs will become offerings they will trust, embrace, and carry into their lives.
How Your Church Worships
Every church has a worship identity. This is a distinct way it responds to God, expresses faith, and encounters his presence. This identity isn’t defined by musical style or preference but by your church’s story, its prayers, its spiritual habits, and the kinds of songs your people naturally gravitate toward.
Identifying your congregation’s worship identity is not about placing your church in a box. It’s about recognizing the culture God has already formed in your people so you can write a song that fits them. When you honor your church’s identity, your songs will become offerings they will trust, embrace, and carry into their lives. These patterns remind us that your church worships in a particular way because God is shaping your community in a particular way.
Take The Free Online Assessment
Before you move forward, you’re invited to take the online assessment that we have carefully crafted to help you discover your worship identity. The process is simple and short, but powerful and revealing.
Keep Growing
The Worship Identity Map is just one of many tools that deepen the life of the worship writer. Living Liturgy is helping worship songwriters from across the world learn to write from a life of worship. Our membership is a resource library, formation space, and creative community designed to help you tune out the noise of the worship industry and return to prayer, simple worship, and the calling of the local church. We want you to be a part of it with us because we want to hear the songs God is stirring in your heart. Explore the membership options below, or contact us with questions about access, pricing, and opportunities.
The heartbeat of Living Liturgy. You'll gain access to all our formation courses, creative practices, and resources. A song demo and related coaching sessions are included annually.
Beautiful things happen when worshippers write from a life of worship. Keep growing with us by signing up for our email list and subscribing to our Substack.
Both lists are periodically synced to keep everyone updated, but Substack is the best place to begin. We’re sharing articles, resoures, creative practices, and opportunities that we want you to be a part of.