What Should We Sing With Students?

Not every student ministry is blessed to have weekly or consistent musical worship in their programming, but if you are, then it’s a natural question to ask, “What should we sing?” What we sing teaches students doctrine, priorities, and shapes their heart. This is a ministry you should steward well.

Students are always online, often consuming religious content. I constantly find myself in conversations with students about what it is they are listening to. Sometimes it is surprisingly great. Sometimes it is less great. Though sometimes this requires saying “no” to what students perceive they want, we’ve been able to use these situations to disciple our students towards a healthy view of worship music, congregational singing, and the church.

Where Worship Songs Go Wrong

The most common push-back and confusion I get when we say no to a suggested worship song is that “It doesn’t say anything wrong!” That can be true. Some songs’ biggest issue is not their doctrinal infidelity, but their doctrinal anemia. The problem is not that they say wrong things, but that they focus on insufficient things.

Many songs students find on Spotify, YouTube, or the radio share one common problem—they’re about “me.” Songs that are primarily about my breakthrough, my mountaintop experience, my happiness, and my feelings, may not be wrong—but they miss God, the cross, and the resurrection. They focus on the temporal, situational, and subjective to the exclusion of the definite and eternal.

Even when these songs mention the words “cross,” gospel,” or “Jesus” they don’t unfold them, explain them, or examine them. They instead assume them in order to get to the point—how they make you feel. We must not teach students that the gospel is a means to an end or an emotional high. Instead we should teach them that God is the point of our worship and singing about him will bring them great joy and encouragement for the long haul.

A deeper and more insidious issue is these sings often put so much emphasis on feelings and experience that a student’s assurance becomes more wrapped up in how they feel about God and what they perceive subjectively about Him in the moment. So when the feelings stop or aren’t created they think they’ve missed the divine. Instead of dealing with the root issues involved, we try and sate the appetite for new and cool song that prompts another spiritual high.

In a rush to keep up with cool, energetic worship sets students see on artists’ or megachurch YouTube channels we sacrifice the catechetical necessity of teaching about God in our worship to create a “worship experience” based on what they want, not what God commands.

This doesn’t create healthy worshipers, but people who seek a certain kind of music. This can make students (and leaders) more concerned with an emotional feeling that always needs louder, faster, more powerful music that sometimes leaves God on the sidelines. With the good intention to “sing songs they know,” “have a more youthful feel,” or “reach the next generation” we can unintentionally separate students from worship of the true God. Our form and content should come together in order to lead our students into God-exalting worship that fuels lifelong discipleship. If we’re not careful, the sound, feel, and form will become far more important than the actual substance and content of our songs.

How can we avoid this while still singing music that our students will engage with?

1. Be Picky

Hundreds of years ago there were hymnals that went through a process of theological and stylistic vetting and that was what a church used to sing. We now have access to an ever-growing catalogue of thousands of songs. You will never be able to keep up with all the new songs. Be relentless about finding the good ones. Be picky enough to say no to songs that are insufficient so you can say yes to what is beautiful. Pick the kind of songs that will have staying power. Aspire to sing what people will still sing 100 years from now.

2. Be Unifying

Too many student pastors see Wednesday or Sunday Night as an opportunity to sing the things they do not get to sing on Sunday mornings in corporate worship. This is especially common in churches that have more traditional liturgies and hymns. Instead of unintentionally creating a wedge of music between Sunday and Wednesday, use those as opportunities to build bridges to Sunday morning. When we use our student service as a place to sing what we won’t sing on Sundays we may accidentally teach students that Sunday isn’t a service for them. Our student services become burdens instead of blessings when they cause division in the church instead of fostering unity. Pick some songs for your students that you also sing on Sundays. The style of music may change due to resources or logistics, but the songs can remain the same. This will reinforce to students they are a part of the whole church and may even encourage them to sing better and louder on Sundays.

3. Be Humble

If you have a solid Worship Pastor (like I’m blessed with)—invite him into the process. Work together to create a liturgy, song list, and vetting process for your student ministry. This dynamic will help your student ministry feel and sound like a true part of the church. It is not always easy to let someone else into your space and work with your students, but this is something that will always be helpful to any ministry. This can be a vital part of helping your students see themselves as a member of your church and not just your student ministry.

Don’t be ashamed of old hymns. Don’t avoid what your church sings. Don’t be scared to say no to what isn’t beneficial. Teach and explain a positive view of why you sing what you sing. Even if it may not be popular or get the biggest emotional response, but it will bear fruit years after your students aren’t “yours” any longer.

Music shapes our students. Music can’t just be a draw that “warms students up” to your lesson, sermon, or activity where the real meat is. The music is an important part of the meal—so feed your students well. Fast food or candy may be students’ preference in the moment, but protein and vegetables will be what grows their faith into maturity over the long-haul.