The Importance of Evaluating Lyrics

We Are What We Consume

A phrase commonly used in the medical and fitness fields is, “You are what you eat.” This phrase indicates that our eating habits shape our bodies and health. Thus, if junk food is preferred over healthy options, the human body will not be adequately fueled, which can lead to gaining weight or developing medical conditions. The same happens with the mind and heart. Jesus taught his followers that the eye is the lamp of the whole body and will be filled with light if it is good. On the contrary, if the eye is ill, the rest of the body will be filled with darkness and void (Matthew 6:22-23). Similarly, Jesus says that the mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart (Luke 6:45). Therefore, it can be understood that the heart and mind produce thoughts, desires, and emotions according to what they consume.

Careless Consumption Leads to Illness

If the heart and mind are conditioned by what people see, listen to, or practice, then careless and unregulated consumption of harmful or counterproductive ideas can lead to spiritual illness. Such is the case with consuming songs and music, for they are coded with a message through the intentional organization of melodic, rhythmic, harmonic, and lyrical content. Bauer informs that “the brain interprets the complex nerve impulses that the ear sends to it, analyzes and decodes sound waves of speech and music in the cerebral cortex using parallel interconnections in the brain and nervous system…then it connects such musical signals to patterns, memories, thoughts, emotions, and motor responses.” [1] Such a statement leads us to consider that all music, especially songs, can put into the mind thoughts or ideas capable of building the believer’s identity and spirituality (for better or worse), for they go straight from the ears to the brain unfiltered then they are consciously or unconsciously processed. Therefore, Christians must be intentionally careful and aware of what they get exposed to or what they voluntarily consume, especially if they are responsible for leading worship.

Unfortunately, Christians are exposed daily to worldly behaviors and songs that are counterproductive to their spiritual growth. These promote immoral ideologies, impure sexuality, and other unchristian topics. James K. Smith refers to such shaping agents as “secular liturgies.” He argues that Christians must learn to identify, read, and analyze secular liturgies surrounding them to protect their spirituality.[2] From a philosophical and spiritual perspective, the indiscriminate consumption of song lyrics can influence people’s worldview and faith. David Lemley argues that consuming songs “transitions from received lyrics to integrated meaning. Consequently, participants are formed as they take the affective experience of a performance and integrate it into everyday life, becoming part of their consciousness and presenting to them as a means for interpreting the world.[3]

Song lyrics have a powerful effect on people’s minds and hearts. Christians must choose carefully what songs they consume and use to worship the Lord, for the way that church worship reflects its beliefs and shapes its faith and doctrine.[4] Constance M. Cherry argues that songs must be assessed for their authenticity and value, for songs can form or de-form what individuals or churches believe.[5] Therefore, planning worship music services must precede a rigorous and careful evaluation of song lyrics and their potential impact on the congregation’s spirituality and beliefs.

The Importance and Focus of Evaluating the Lyrical Content of Songs

Since selecting worship songs for religious services can have constructive or deconstructive implications, the worship music ministry should develop a lyric evaluation process. Zack Hicks compares the process of evaluating worship songs to the job of a dietician, as both aim for to optimized health through a balanced consumption of carefully selected “products.” More importantly, he states that worship songs theologize.[6] Consequently, worship leaders must choose songs that encourage and guide the church to live up to God’s expectations.

Cherry states that in evaluating songs, worship leaders should seek to identify all or some of the transcultural principles of Christian worship. [7] She indicates that Christian worship songs should be biblical, dialogic, relational (corporate relationship with God), covenantal, Trinitarian, communal, expressive, and formative.[8]

If Cherry’s argument is applied, and the list of Christian worship transcultural principles is used to filter songs and develop a worship music canon for the local church, spiritual de-formation and the development of unchristian beliefs will not occur in the church. On the contrary, songs performed in all worship services will contribute to edifying the congregation, strengthening faith and the relationship with God and fellow congregants, spiritual transformation, and equipping the church with theological and doctrinal truths. Therefore, beyond creative freedom and cultural relevance, worship songs should focus on theological and biblical correctness and exalting the Lord according to his demands.

Conclusion: The Evaluation of Lyrics Is a Crucial Aspect of Worship Ministry

Music can form or deform the human mind through its elements and lyrical content. Songs can influence how people think, act, believe, and interpret the world. Thus, worship leaders and teams must develop a song evaluation process for services to build a worship song canon. Beyond considering creative freedom and cultural relevancy, such songs should include the transcultural principles of Christian worship and focus on exalting the Lord according to his demands. Therefore, the evaluation of the lyrical content of a song is a crucial aspect of worship ministry, for the primary purpose of Christian devotional songs is to exalt the Lord God and to build the congregation’s faith and theology.

---

[1] James L. Brauer, Music: God’s Mysterious Gift: Its Power to Influence Humans and Its Role in God’s Kingdom (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2023), loc 278, Kindle.

[2] James K. Smith, You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2016), 38.

[3] David Lemley, Becoming What We Sing: Formation Through Contemporary Worship Music (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2021), 121.

[4] Marcus Waldren Brown, “Worship and Spiritual Transformation: An Examination of Lex Orandi-Lex Credendi,” Southwestern Journal of Theology, no.66 (2023): 85.

[5] Constance M. Cherry, The Music Architect: Blueprints for Engaging Worshipers in Song (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2016), 99.

[6] Zack Hicks, The Worship Pastor: A Call to Ministry for Worship Leaders and Teams (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016), 70.

[7] Cherry, The Music Architect, 21.

[8] Ibid., 22.