Finding Your Voice As A Worship Songwriter

No matter what form of creative writing you do, you'll hear teachers and artists talk about the importance of finding one's "voice." What does that mean?

Think of it as discovering what makes you uniquely you. What do you have to say that's different than what everyone else is saying, or how is your presentation different than the presentation of others?

Most writers start out mimicking those they admire, just as painters have traditionally developed their craft by copying the masters. This is a time-proven technique. But there comes a time when a good writer begins to fuse his influences together -- not only the styles of different writers he admires, but all the influences of his life -- to create something unique, something with his "stamp" on it, so that those who know or admire him can say, "that's definitely him."

This isn't to say that you ever reach a point where your writing stops evolving and growing. You continue to take in influences and you continue to go through life experiences that cause further development. I use Dylan a lot for an example because he has been writing for so long that you can clearly see his development, and the many phases he's gone through, both in terms of melody and lyrics. Some of his lyrics are obvious, some are obtuse. Some of his songs are very country-ish; some are straight up, hard-core blues. Some of his songs are what we think of when we use terms like "Dylanesque," but some are not, though they were written by the man himself. But yet there are unique threads that run through all his work, coming together as part of what we would call his "voice." You can find, for instance, a blues lyric structure in many of his songs that sound nothing like blues music. And the Biblical allusions are heavy, whether or not we're listening to one of his gospel songs.

There are many elements that make up my "voice" when it comes to worship songs. For instance, I often write in hymn meter. I have a background in poetry and a love for metered poems like, for example, the Elizabethan sonnet form made famous by Shakespeare. Having learned to write metered poetry long ago, it wasn't hard at all to begin dabbling in the various hymn meters. I don't always write with an established meter, but I do so more and more. This sets me apart from most songwriters today, even worship songwriters, many of whom are much more familiar with modern praise choruses than the metered hymns of ages past. I don't write in meter out of a desire to be different -- it just works out that way, again, because of my background in metered poetry. I'm merely playing to my strengths. As the saying goes, "Dance with who brung ya."

I am a storyteller, no matter if I'm writing songs, short stories, poems -- I love to "tell the story." This is very much in the folk balladeering tradition, and I am certainly a folky, whether I'm writing music that would be considered folk, rock, or bluegrass. Many of my worship songs, including the ones that people seem to prefer, tell the gospel story either directly or indirectly, referencing in chronological order the coming of Messiah, death, resurrection, ascension and second coming.

The second coming -- that's an important element of my "voice." We don't often sing about it. When we do, it's usually 19th-to-mid 20th century gospel standards of the simple, "I'm on my way to heaven" mindset (and I do love many of those songs). There's no real story arc to many of them -- no connecting to the larger story of God and man. It's more of a personal, "this life has been rough but Jesus is coming back to rescue me and set my feet on streets of gold," kind of thing. What I try to do is to present it in the full context of church history and present it as the inevitable triumph of God over Satan, the wounded dragon whose defeat was assured at Calvary. Here are examples from final verses of three of my hymns -- songs that had, in earlier verses, told the back-story in one fashion or another:

1. Still rising tide, still flowing free,
Bursting the dam the devil raised.
The final outcome's not in doubt:
Christ the champion be praised.
King of all Kings, Lord of Lords --
He will annihilate all sin.
Even death will live no longer;
Christ is beginning and the end.

2. Surer than each morning's sunrise
Is Messiah's glad return.
Vainly will His foes assemble;
Vainly will the devil run.
Jesus and the saints of heaven
crush the forces of decay.
Then, an everlasting kingdom --
Perfect love and endless day.

3. No harm can come against Your child
But that which You've allowed.
You will restore, renew all things
And come back on the clouds.
No one will stop You in that hour --
Not all the powers of hell.
I trust Your goodness and Your will,
For You do all things well.

I am also a very Trinitarian writer. Now of course all orthodox worship songwriters are trinitarians, but what I mean is, even though I've only written one song specifically about the trinity, there are many allusions to it in my work. Much of this is because my understanding and acceptance of this crucial doctrine came within the last several years, having been brought up in a church that taught an anti-trinitarian variant of Pentecostal Oneness theology. Specifically, my belief in Jesus as clearly, truly, completely God the Son, distinct (though not separate) from God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, comes through in my writing, even when I don't sit down and think, "I should write something about Christ being God, having existed before the virgin birth, having an active role in creation, etc.

I also love to write about paradoxes. Here is an example from a chorus of one of my unmetered songs:

1. How can I be a saint when I know what a sinner I am?
How can you be a fearless lion, and a gentle lamb?
You demand justice, and forgive;
And to live I have to die.
And who am I
That you would bleed for me?
I’m lost and found in your sweet mysteries.

And I write often of racial reconciliation. Here's a long-metered hymn stanza:

Oh Cross that spans the difference
Between the many shades of skin;
Between the hate and ignorance
And prejudice we hold within.
Beneath the Cross the races stand,
Speechless as the blood flows down.
They bow their heads, unclench their fists
And reconcile on common ground.


These are just a few of the things that make up my voice -- the common threads that run through my writing. Of course it doesn't make me better than everyone, or anyone for that matter. But discovering my own voice has been a crucial role in my development, and it has made me a better writer. What is your voice? Think big picture: what is your musical style? What are the themes you're passionate about? What lyric structures are you drawn to? Do you love hymns? Do you prefer to set scripture, such as the psalms and the prophets, to music? Do you see yourself as someone who sings simple love songs to God, or do you prefer to also teach and edify the body of Christ?

It takes all kinds -- everyone has a role, everyone has a story, everyone has a knack for doing things in a certain way. Find your way.