How to Sing a New Song Alongside the Songs of the Saints
We are living in a golden age of worship music. There are ample opportunities for worship leaders to draw from a large wealth of worship tradition: to sing newly written songs alongside classics of a generation past. It’s easy to fall into personal preference and favour a certain type of music. Many churches have limited themselves to a very small slice of the worship pie, often for seemingly good reasons: avoiding music from a church with poor teaching/scandal, finding old tunes lifeless and boring, purporting the shallowness of the latest pop-CCM hit. But in limiting ourselves to only the music we personally love, we’re leaving ministering opportunities on the table.
Two caveats on all songs we sing: Not every hymn holds its place forever, and we should judge all our songs on truth, range and sing-ability.
Traditional hymns help us see that our struggles and suffering is nothing new. New songs bring fresh perspective in a form relatable to our generation or local situation.
When we sing an old classic or lyrics of a faithful hymn, we aren’t singing these songs alone: we sing them alongside a great history of Christians who have lifted the Lord up in praise centuries ago. We have a number of songs on our list that date back to the 1700s! When we sing a song like “Amazing Grace” or “Rock of Ages”, we’re reminded that the struggles and suffering of life is nothing new: the Christian in 2026 and the clergymen penning these hymns yearn for the refuge of the same Lord.
At the same time, there is always the opportunity to “Sing a new song” (Psalm 96!!). This can be with new words, or classic phrasing seated in a modern format. A song with relatable lyrics can be easier for the singer to understand and take to heart, really meaning the words that they sing. I think of Shane and Shane’s “You’ve Already Won”: Simple lyricism that helps the congregant understand and proclaim the message.
Traditional hymns give us a richness of phrase and lyricism that has stood against time. New songs can be built on past traditions and embellish our understanding.
We’ve got a growing group of youth at church, and so I’m always interested to hear how they respond in worship and what they enjoy singing. So I asked a group of our youth at church about the music they loved at church. I was expecting a run of poppy, indie tunes. In reality, they actually weren’t into the ‘new songs’ I thought they were - they were fans of classic hymns! This sparked a question among the worship team about what songs shaped you when you were growing up, and even the younger guys on our team were firm in how much these classic hymns were touchstones in their faith. Hymns aren’t just food for older people: they are tried-and-true songs of the saints! They draw the young believer as much as the seasoned one.
That doesn’t mean we forgo any mention of modern songs. The pairing of deep theology and simple response gives a congregation of all ages and maturities an opportunity to learn an aspect of the Lord and respond fully. Pairing an old hymn like “Trust and Obey” or “Great is thy Faithfulness” and pairing it with a newer tune such as “Great are you Lord” widens our understanding of the Lord, our relationship to Him, our response in those struggles and what we can declare, regardless of the outcome.
The reality of worship leading is that you don’t get to choose your favourite songs. Instead, the mission is to choose the songs that draw your congregation most-faithfully to commune with Christ, with songs that draw people to reflect on the themes of the day that lead to conviction, repentance and a renewed understanding of Jesus Christ. We do that by drawing on the wealth of worship provided today and yesterday - all to form disciples that give Him glory.