How do we choose songs at Waypoint?

How songs are chosen for Sunday worship is an important question to ask. It is important that a church knows how and why they select specific songs to sing. What we sing on Sunday morning informs our theology and how we see the gospel transform our day to day. We want the songs we sing to be true to God’s word, expanding on his goodness, mercy, and love through Jesus Christ. 

We also sing to encourage one another in our faith. Colossians 3:16 says, 

“Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 

This is why we sing: to encourage one another through singing songs that remind us of who God is and what Jesus did for us, and to inform those truths into all the facets of our lives. 

When we first started the church we tried to assess songs that were theologically rich, singable, and doable for our worship team. When we launched Waypoint and the worship team, those currently on the worship team came up with song ideas and we voted on the ones we thought best fit our values and would be a good fit for our congregation. 

One of our goals as a church is to have a shorter list of songs that are repeated more often and get learned well by the congregation. We want the songs we sing to go with you throughout the week. In order to do that, a shorter list of theologically rich songs are repeated more often. We learn by repetition. We want the truth to sink deeply into our hearts as we go out into our communities. 

These are the questions we ask when choosing songs for worship at Waypoint: 

• Are the words rooted in the Bible and the gospel? Are they rich and true?

• Is it singable? Is it in an easy range to sing congregationally? Does it have a memorable rhythm and melody? 

• What instruments and singers do we have? Can we even pull it off?