How to Build a Worship Set: Part 1

Worship leaders: The focus of our worship should always be to please God and bring people into His presence. It’s not all about having perfect music. I would rather have a person on fire for God leading me into worship than someone who is the best musician or singer you’ve ever heard, but only cares about the music. However, a great part of our worship as leaders deals directly with music; and for me, part of my worship to God is, in fact, leading to the best of my ability. The Bible tells us to “play skillfully” and to do everything as unto the Lord. So, naturally, we should want to do our best and not lead haphazardly.

That being said…

Ever wanted a surefire way of building a great set for your Sunday morning worship? I have been using this method for YEARS and it has worked great for me. I hope it works for you too. Before beginning to choose your songs, always pray. Stay in the mindset of worship and it will come naturally to you. Even if you are a beginning worship leader, staying in a mind of prayer and following these steps can almost guarantee that you get off to a great start in worship leading!

1. Personalize. The first thing you need to ask yourself in choosing the right songs for your worship set is: What songs have been resonating with me lately on a personal level? Choose songs that mean something to you, songs you can relate to and sing with passion. If you can’t sing that song and worship with it yourself, chances are, you won’t be able to lead the congregation in worship with that song either.
2. Congregational. Second, make sure this song is congregational and easy to sing and remember. Although number 1 was personalizing, you don’t want to choose a song that was not meant for a collective whole of people to sing. Songs that include many problems and hardly a solution is NOT a congregational worship song. Songs with too many chord changes or riffs or whatever could work, but you don’t want these things to distract from the actual worship taking place in your church. Choose songs that focus on God and that will resonate with people across the board.
3. Theme. Sometimes, it’s only that one song that stands out to us. This is a start. Look at the song’s theme. What is the over-arching message of the song? You want to find other songs with a similar message to surround this song. For instance, the song that has been resonating with me lately is Big Daddy Weave’s Lion and the Lamb. I would say that the overall message here is God’s awesome greatness!
4. Number. Even with just one song, you can build off of it and end up with 4 or 5 or more songs for your worship set. Today we will build a set of five. Some pastors have a certain number of songs they want you to sing, and that’s okay. You can make it work. A general “rule” I use when choosing songs for worship is to choose a couple of upbeat songs, a transitional medium tempo song, and a couple of slower more worshipful songs; or stay in what I like to call a more “high praise” mode with the music and end on a higher note.
5. Key. Note the key that your resonating song is in. I like to sing Lion and the Lamb in D, for instance. What other songs are in that key? Staying in the same key or at least within the same “family” of keys is important in building a worship set that is conducive for free and unhindered worship.
6. Tempo. Also note the tempo and measure of your resonating song. Lion is in 4/4 time (four beats in a measure), which is most common for modern worship music. It is also a medium tempo, so it will likely fit somewhere in the middle of my set. 4/4 time is the easiest to deal with since most worship songs are written in this measure. However, there are some great songs written in 6/8 and 3/4 time as well, and you have to be strategic in placing these among the 4/4 measure songs. If there is only one 6/8 song in the set, for instance, I would add it to the end of my set, which is what we will do today.

Now, let’s continue building our worship set.

In keeping with the theme of God’s greatness, I look over my songbook and notice another great song, Hosanna by Paul Baloche. It happens to be in the same key of D and is 4/4 time. It is a little faster paced than Lion, so naturally, I will place Hosanna at the top of my list, for now at least.

• Hosanna
• Lion and the Lamb

Now, back to my resonating song, Lion and the Lamb. I sing back through it and realize that another song that has been resonating with me lately, Raise a Hallelujah by Bethel, fits right along with it! This part makes me excited. It not only fits the tempo and key, but it also echos the message in the line, “fighting my battles” in that God fights for us as we raise our hallelujahs in praise, as well as reverberating from Hosanna’s line, “Praise is rising”. Phrases like these connect songs, helping them to flow together naturally.

• Hosanna
• Lion and the Lamb
• Raise a Hallelujah

By now I feel that my worship set has taken on a message of high praise and I want my last song to stay in this mode. I want to continue to focus on God’s greatness as well as praising him through anything; thus, the song Great Are You Lord by All Sons and Daughters comes to mind. Now, this song is not in 4/4 time, but I know that this will likely be my ending song. So even though Great are You Lord is in 6/8 time, it is in the same key as the song before it, so I know it will make a good transition.

• Hosanna
• Lion and the Lamb
• Raise a Hallelujah
• Great Are You Lord

I look back over my list and feel that I need a better opening song, one that is a little more upbeat and dynamic. I think Meredith Andrews’ Open up the Heavens is perfect for this. However, the key of D is too low for me in this song, so I choose the key of A, which is in the same family as D and it makes a good transition to Hosanna.

Now, our set list is complete! Just sing back through the whole set and see how naturally it flows.

• Open up the Heavens
• Hosanna
• Lion and the Lamb
• Raise a Hallelujah
• Great Are You Lord

How do YOU build a smooth worship set? Leave a comment below! To learn even more about making smooth transitions in worship, read Part 2 of How to Build a Worship Set. Thanks for stopping by!

Anna De Lay

I am a wife, homeschool mom, musician, and songwriter; but most importantly, I am a daughter of the King. My heart’s desire is to draw closer to God and bring other people with me! Truly, there is no greater joy.

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