The Song We Have Lost

There is a song missing from the church.

        Its absence will not be heard on the radio. The song will not be in the top charts on Spotify or the latest CCLI (Church Copyright Licensing International) reports. But you can feel it when you sit in the seats of a small church on a Sunday morning. It is the silence of songs never written, never sung, because their writers were never told their voice mattered.

        For decades now, the worship life of the church has been shaped by songs from a few powerful places—megachurches with media reach, publishers with influence, and an industry that thrives on scale. Many of those songs are good. Some are great. They have helped millions of believers worship God with passion and truth.

        But in the rise of the global worship industry, something precious has been lost: the songs written by the voices called to write them. A core value, local song theology, is vanishing from our churches today.

Local Song Theology

Local Song Theology at its roots, no matter how else it is defined, is “the study of God through local song.”

        Dr. Chuck Fromm, the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Gospel Music Association in 1990, the president of Maranatha! Music for 25 years, and founder of Worship Leader Magazine in 1992 describes local song theology this way¹:

            “Allow the worship of your local congregation to reflect songs of how God is moving in your community.”

        The people of God found in the Bible always sang songs of their own story. Songs of deliverance, songs of lament, songs of celebration. The psalms are not the product of a corporate songwriting machine—they are the cries and praises of a community walking with God. Every congregation, every small church, has its own story, its own theology being lived out week by week. And that story deserves its own songs.

        But today, many small church songwriters will not contribute their songs. They may feel that competing with professional songwriters is futile or their efforts are inadequate. They might believe that their songs do not have the right sparkle and polish that popular songs have. They have no idea how to publish, distribute, or be heard. And so the local voice goes silent.

        This book is about breaking that silence. It is about launching a revolution—the Small Church Songwriting Revolution.

The Song We Will Gain

This revolution is not just about writing songs—it is about reminding church leaders about local song theology and connecting our songs with the voice of the local pastor. It is about saying to the songwriters of the small church: Your songs matter. Your stories matter. Your people’s voices matter.

       The song that we gain is the resurgent stream of creations from songwriters as they hear the voice of God and tell the stories of how God is moving in their community. The methods of this revolution are about discipling small-church songwriters in their relationship with God and their mission on earth: to tell the Good News that Jesus brings the kingdom of God to all people, and we can benefit from that here and now.

       At the heart of this revolution is a new way of sharpening one another: the Proverbs 27.17 Song Critique Method. The wisdom imparted from scripture ignites the flame of resurgence. As iron sharpens iron, so one songwriter sharpens another.

       Feedback is no longer about tearing a song apart, but is a constructive tool to embolden and build up the creator of it. Writers strengthen the song’s substance, structure, melody, prosody, and viability for congregational use. Using the Worship Song Analysis Questionnaire as a shared document, writers and leaders learn together in groups, accelerating growth through collective wisdom.

       This is a system that provides the songwriter with tools to educate and guide them to create well-written, well-crafted congregational songs that stick in the ears of the listener. These songwriters can form independent organizations large and small to publish and share their songs locally, regionally, nationally, and ripple out to bless the church around the world.

       This book is about that system and song critique method.

       This is your invitation.

       Join this revolution that has at its heart a desire for all songwriters to show unity in becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ and to serve his church according to their gifts. Join a movement to recapture the heart of local song theology.

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1. There is plenty of supporting evidence:

A: I have personally heard him talk about this at multiple events! A top priority at Worship Leader Magazine’s conventions for worship leaders and songwriters is for him to speak about a local song theology model for a songwriting community.

He encouraged us to be open and to take part and see that it flourishes. He encouraged me personally to create such a community, and now I want to personally encourage you to do the same.

B: Dr. Fromm was one of the professionals included in a doctoral thesis, An Analysis of the Need for a Congregational Songwriting Manual for the Evangelical Community, by Travis Doucette https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9ce7/59e8203330c440a460b60bc8439c4b32a322.pdf about the absence of a songwriting manual for church songwriters.

Dr. Chuck Fromm is quoted throughout this thesis. On page 64 specifically:  “I think that the biggest failure of songwriting textbooks is not so much on technique, but more on the function of songs and in the community. The biggest lack of understanding is the connection between theology and worship and music.” Dr. Fromm’s answer on the subject is always about local song theology.

C. Read Dr. Fromm’s fascinating history. https://worshipleader.com/our-founder/

D. Read about Chuck Fromm and Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel to see how the Jesus Revolution in the U.S. all began. https://worshipleader.com/history-of-worship/interview-with-pastor-chuck-smith/