Elevation Worship Blog

We’ve had several people ask recently what our take on songwriting for the local church is, so I thought I’d share.

It’s a big passion of ours at Elevation to write songs that are specific for this city, for this church. I remember when Pastor Steven sat Wade, Mack, and myself down 3 years and told us he wanted Elevation to give birth to songs that documented what God was doing in our church.

There’s so much power in writing about what God’s up to in Charlotte. There’s a unique connection that people have to the words when they know that the song was birthed out of a milestone time in the church’s life. Or sometimes it’s a series that we’re going through where we’re communicating an aspect of God’s character and want to give the people a voice for it…a way to express what they’re learning through song. Or maybe Pastor’s calling our church to action, to be that city on a hill. Why wouldn’t we want to give them a song to further inspire them to be the hands and feet of Jesus? This past fall, we introduced 4 new songs that were all closely connected to the series’ we were walking through as a church. Our people brought those songs to life…more than I could’ve ever imagined when we wrote them in a small room together. But when you connect the Truth you’re learning to the songs you’re singing, something special happens.

A few summers ago, I was serving in New Orleans, and one of the leaders who was there had been a missionary in Africa for 10 years. She shared something really cool with me one day:

“For 10 years, no matter where we traveled in Africa to visit different churches, there was always one unique element that gave each church it’s own vibe, one defining characteristic that was different than any of the other churches. The same Gospel was being preached everywhere. But the music was always different every church we’d go to. They didn’t have the means of hearing other songs that were being sung from different regions, so they had to write their own worship songs – to put their own music and lyrics to all the works they were seeing God do in their local villages.”

God’s never going to run out of melodies to give his children. So let’s keep tapping his heart to hear what he’s got for us. Worship leaders, if you’re serving in a local church, don’t be afraid to write specifically for your city. Don’t worry about whether or not it’ll be the next Fee or United hit. Live and love in your community, and ask God what songs he wants his people singing there. And then bring those songs to life.

-Chris