The Worship Setlist Five Point Checklist

If you’re reading this, my guess is that you have some kind of connection with worship ministry. Perhaps you’re a worship leader, a church leader, a musician within the church or a follower of Jesus interested in worship music. Whatever connection you have, welcome to this short look behind the scenes of my personal process, or one part of it at least.

Before I look at my process of worship song selection, I’d just like to mention one thing. Though I used the term ‘setlist’ to maximise the reach of this post (and will continue to do so below at times), I’m not a big fan of that term when it comes to church. Does ‘setlist’ make sense? Yes of course it does, but I sometimes wonder if it’s the best name for it. I suppose it depends what it is we’re putting together. If we’re performing a predetermined ‘set’ of songs in the order laid out, then technically it is a setlist. If we’re planning to sing those songs back to back without deviation or interruption as rehearsed, then I guess that too is a setlist. If however, we’re putting together a list of songs to help us in our worship of Jesus, (not just back to back songs, and not performing songs to an audience), songs used corporately with flexibility to change course, exclude or add another in the moment, and will follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, then perhaps ‘setlist’ isn’t quite the right name for it. There is a distinction between songs we perform or sing without deviation from the plan, and songs chosen for corporate worship as described above.

Personally I tend to use the term ‘song list’ or ‘song selection’. I know some readers may think I’m being picky about such a simple term, but it just stops me in my tracks and reminds me that I’m not performing or simply replacing a worship playlist with a live version that people sing along to. I’m actually leading others to be an integral and united part of that sound of worship where they’re as actively involved as we are as leaders. I’ve digressed a bit, but perhaps this provokes a little positive thought in some of you out there involved in worship ministry among the Church. Anyway, that said, let’s move on to what I wanted to share with my fellow worship leaders out there.

Worship Song Selection Process

Every week that precedes an opportunity to lead worship includes prayerful reminders of who this is about and why. More time in private prayer, worship and preparation, than time in the gathering itself is so important. It’s also important to seek God’s heart for the evening to come and for the people who will be there.

There are many posts and threads out there by other worship leaders and ministries about the practicalities of building a list of worship songs for a Sunday service. These include things like themes, keys, transitions, dynamics, what works for the musicians etc. All of these are worthy of consideration and important, but I have another part of my process that is more important to me than all of those mentioned.

Test Every Sunday setlist (song list)

A big part of my process is to make sure the song choices pass my simple test. Great melodies and catchy bridges can so easily take over, and what sounds great can lack everything that is important in a worship setting.

I’m going to unpack five things below that I perceive are often forgotten about, or even completely overlooked during the preparation of many a Sunday setlist (song lists) for corporate worship. Why they’re overlooked is possibly because they’ve not been spoken about enough as the practicalities and musicality of sung worship often take priority over content which is so easy to do. I too am guilty of that at times.

There have been many times that I’ve prepared an amazing song list that flowed and that I couldn’t wait to bring at an upcoming gathering, only to have it fail my five point test below. The brave thing I have had to do is just drop those songs that felt so amazing musically, in favour of songs that serve the church and the Lord better.

Let’s dive into my personal checklist that is vital to my process of building a song list for a worship gathering that I’m leading.

Worship Setlist Five Point Test | Does it pass the test?

I don’t view a selection of songs chosen for a worship gathering as individual songs. Personally, I look at the overall selection, what themes dominate and does the overall journey serve the church well or not. Also, and primarily I have to ask myself the following question. Will this please Jesus and make room for Him to work among us by His Holy Spirit?  Just because one song may be weak in one of the following areas, doesn’t mean it won’t stand well when connected with others.

Here are the five questions I ask myself about songs that sit together in a prepared pool of songs for any gathering:

The Five Point Worship Setlist Test

Q1.) Is Jesus mentioned by name?

It’s surprising how many songs leave out the Name of Jesus though the song is about Him. If it’s a great song and I use it, I will be sure that it is linked to another song that clarifies it’s Jesus we’re singing about.

Q2.) Do these songs  refer to Him in the third person or second person (He or You?)

Whilst it’s not wrong to sing about ‘Him’, if we believe He’s present and that our worship is being directed towards Him, let’s make sure we’re mostly singing ‘You’ as we can end up implying He’s absent. It’s a small detail but for me it matters and is worth considering.

Q3.) Is it praise or a promise to praise?

Many songs sing about praising, or encourage people to praise, but it goes no further than that. Is it worth singing even? If it is, tag on an actual praise section from another song at the end so that we follow through with what we’ve just been singing and actually do some praising. If we think about what it means to praise someone, there will be words in what we say that are not the word ‘praise’. Also, if you’re more of a song leader, and only effectively singing a playlist with no actual direct engagement with those you’re leading, to direct, encourage, instruct etc, then this is even more important. In the absence of your direction, you’re relying 100% on the song lyrics to instruct those before you and to make everything clear. Sadly, some songs simply don’t do that and need some kind of explanation from the worship leader to bring context into that moment.

Q4.) How upward is the overall selection?

Is there a lot of ‘me’ ‘my’ or ‘I’ ? How much is all about Jesus, towards Him, uplifting Him? If you want the power of the Holy Spirit to manifest in your gathering make it all about Jesus and you’ll see! If you haven’t ever tried this, I would challenge you this coming Sunday to choose songs that are all sung to Jesus in the second person (you), about Jesus, His greatness and His finished work, and just this once exclude songs that are prayers, asking for things, declarations about our position, or that include ‘I’, ‘my’ and ‘me’ a lot, just songs that exalt Jesus for who He is, celebrates what He’s done and lifts Him far above all our needs, wants and distractions. Try it and see how powerful it is. It will influence your song choices moving forward I’m sure of it.

Q5.) Is it a prayer, a song to each another, or a declaration? Is there any actual praise or worship of Jesus?

Asking yourself if there is any actual praise or worship within your list is important, or is it dominated by songs asking, declaring our position, or mainly addressing each other in the room? Keep this in mind as a song that is a prayer is great, but is Jesus the central focus of the song selection?

This is just a small part of what I consider as I prayerfully think about the songs I’m putting together for any one gathering. Many a list of songs used has been dry because it was too great a sound, but imbalanced or empty of the most important ingredient which is, second person (You), upward exaltation of the One we worship…Jesus!

Every gathering is different. Some are focussed on clear themes such as prayer, intercession, battling etc. In those cases, that will require a different approach though Jesus should still be prominent there too. This post’s focus is more towards corporate worship gatherings such as weekly Sunday services or Worship Nights, and is less about specific themes that you’re required to support with your song choices.

There’s so much more we could add, but this is just a little snippet of my process as I review every song list I put together for corporate worship gatherings.

I hope you found this post helpful. Perhaps you’ve nailed this better than I have, or perhaps you’ve never had some of these things pointed out to you, whatever position you’re in, we’re all in this together and my hope is that this adds a little value to the overall goal we all have in common as worshippers within His Church.

I’m still learning!

If you’re involved in worship ministry, what’s in your process?

What now?

If something you’ve read here has spoken to you, I would simply encourage you to take some time quietly thinking about your ministry and where your focus is. Can you identify anything you do, how you do it, or perhaps the motives in it that could perhaps be operating in a way that is more for the enjoyment of the room and for yourself than for His pleasure? Take action if you need to and encourage your team to keep in mind the importance of pleasing Him first.

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