Encouragement for Songwriters

Last week I was invited to come and speak at the GMA Canada Ontario Conference held at Heritage College in Cambridge, ON. My friend Leroy Harder asked me to come to encourage some of the songwriters who would be there and to run a co-writing session for these Canadian artists looking to expand their ministry.

I was more than happy to do it and loved spending the day at the conference. In our session we had three groups of songwriters who were given some quick practical instruction on the process of co-writing and then they we released the hounds! Each group had only about an hour to work on a song before coming back to play what they had written for the other groups.

To start our session, I wanted to share some encouragement with them as songwriters. During the morning session I sent out a quick question on twitter and was then able to share the replies with them.

Hey friends – give me your one tweet encouragement for songwriters. What would you love to say to ppl writing songs for your church?

I had a bunch of replies come and I want to thank everyone that chimed in. Here’s a list of what came back -

Songwriters: share your work with others, finished  or not and weigh every opinion and critique.

Learn to write on the acoustic guitar. Make it singable and easy to play. Not too wordy but firmly based on the Word.

Make it about God, not us. And make sure it is biblically accurate.

Don’t write looking for a song to “cut” – look write a song that will “catch” hearts.

You don’t have to be Chris Tomlin, which is just fine with me.

Write truth about God and life. Don’t ask me to sing fairy tales or lies.

Seek the Lord, pray over your work and work hard. Pursue your songs with reckless abandon! Be fearless!

Keep writing, don’t give up.

Work on your craft. Allow others in to your process with you. Push for great songs that give voice to your church.

Don’t be afraid to write something that sounds different. use a few more chords. Write lyrics that are full sentences. Soar!

Challenge us with an interesting (lyrics, time signature, key, etc) song. We don’t always need to sing along.

Soak yourself in your church’s story. Listen to her Father’s heart for her. Enough with frothy lyrics, give us ancient truth.

More “we/us” songs and less “I/me”

Write songs that teach clearly AND stir our emotions.

Best idea wins, work together, serve your local community and worship even when no one’s watching.

Write songs that move you to want more of HIM! The church will follow!! We are called to LEAD – LEAD!!

Thanks so much to everyone who contributed their voice and wisdom to the process – @chickenmilker @markmcole @pjaygrimes @ellepyke @joshwah8 @leegunter @robrash @werdnartf @adamherod @michaelschutz @worshipbassist @xxwickchickxx @jonmanna @iamanoffering @dsantistevan @kevinpauls

What about you? Got any encouragement you’d like to give to people writing songs for your church?