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Top 3 New Christian Worship Songs For Each Month Of The Year
Finding new worship songs for a small church can be tough.
- Are your current worship songs feeling stale?
- Do you ever waste 3 hours on YouTube just to find 1 new song that might work?
- Have you tried a new song in worship and just watched it flop?
Save time and frustration by checking out my Top 3 Worship Songs for each month.
A Word About My Monthly Top 3
What you’ll get is 3 song ideas –– one fast, one medium, and one slow. All tried and tested in my small church (about 100 weekly worshipers).
They are all in singable keys, all CCLI, and all doable on guitar or keyboard, full band or not. And all are workable in an intergenerational contemporary setting.
Songs will be new to us. Not necessarily 2019 or just released. For traditional hymns, check out how to bring old hymns to life with creative worship responses. But that’s another topic!
To save time finding chord sheets and transposing songs into more singable keys, I highly recommend SongSelect. SongSelect gives instant (and legal) access to CCLI songs, chords, leads, and lyrics.
Top 3 Worship Songs: May 2019
1. Overcome (Elevation)
- Elevation Worship Publishing CCLI #7067561
- Temp: Fast (almost!)
- Chosen Key: E
My college-age daughter brought this song to my attention.
I’m cautious with the young-adult favorites because often they are just too much (too fast, too loud), or sometimes the edgy lyrics don’t relate to the more mature folks in my congregation.
However, my daughter was raised in our church and knows us well! So when Maggie brings me a song, she has my attention.
“Overcome” is singable, catchy, and memorable.
I’m including this in my “fast” songs, although it drags a little to be purely categorized as fast. We pick up the tempo and do it slightly faster.
My “fast” songs are typically openers. And this absolutely fits as an opening song to set the tone for worship.
Listen to the entire song to feel the energy build as it progresses.
The bridge is my favorite. It has a natural increase in volume and energy. If you have a good drummer, this is a great place in the song to highlight your percussion. The bridge needs to be done at least twice!
He shall reign forever! Strongholds now surrender. For the Lord our God has overcome. Who can be against us? Jesus our Defender. He is Lord and He has overcome.
This song is great all year long, but with the mention of the Risen One, it’s pretty perfect post-Easter.
While the original key is A, we dropped it down to E. In the key of E, there is nothing too high or low for the average singing range. (For my guitarists, I also print in D. They can capo 2 for an easier chord structure.)
2. Goodness Of God (Bethel Worship)
- SHOUT! Music Publishing CCLI #7117726
- Tempo: Medium
- Chosen Key: C
My friend Megan posted this on Facebook the other day. Megan and I met as youth directors a few decades ago. I remember singing “Shout to the Lord” with her back in the day! Megan has a deep love for the Lord, so I pay attention when she posts songs.
Love this song.
All of my life, You have been faithful. All my life, You have been so so good. With every breath that I am able. I will sing of the goodness of God.
Pure worship –– directed straight to the heart of God.
I really appreciate worship songs that sing as a prayer to God –– truly addressing Him in song.
Once again, very singable and memorable. Not complicated.
The range is a little bit of a stretch in the bridge. When songs get a bit high, my team works to sing harmonies as alternative melodies.
I think even most sopranos should not sing worship over the High C. Most female voices get rather cringe-worthy at that point, even if the range is there.
I tend to let our men stretch up there when we get into D’s and E’s above the High C.
Women hop down a third or fifth interval. I encourage our female vocalists to stay lower and sing strong as an alternate melody.
Singing strong alternative melodies (truly harmonies) gives the congregation permission to pick the note they are comfortable with.
If parts are too high for your worshipers (or too low), they tend to back off, look confused, and get thrown out of the worship mode. So singing alternate melodies is a great help!
3. Spirit Speaks (All Sons and Daughters)
- Integrity’s Alleluia! Music CCLI #5806627
- Tempo: Slow
- Chosen Key: G
All Sons and Daughters has given me some of my very favorite worship songs, so I was on the hunt for another. I fell in love with this one when I stumbled across it on YouTube.
I cringe a little to tell you, but this song is from 2010, which edges on my WAY-TOO-OLD meter. However, a lot of great songs get lost in obscurity.
This song is timeless and brand new to me. So it makes my list!
“Spirit Speaks” is gentle and heartfelt. It begins with simple piano and vocals. It can be just as great with a guitar. Full band or not, this will work well. If you have someone who can add a little shaker for percussion, that would be beautiful.
Verse one starts:
Your Spirit speaks it moves in me. And I’m awakened to your love. You’re drawing me onto my knees. And I’m astounded by Your love.
This is a great choice for an offering song as the bridge through the ending speaks:
With every breath I breathe, with every song I sing. I want to shout it out “Lord I am listening.”
To every word you speak. I’ll go where you will lead. To love the least of these is my greatest offering.
We left this song in its original key of C. As with many songs, the bridge starts to stretch the range a little.
Once again, we create strong alternative melodies (lower harmonies) so worshipers just melt into the mix in the range they can sing.
Make New Worship Songs Your Own
When learning new songs, it’s great to listen to recordings. If there are different versions out there, listen to them all.
And then make them your own. You will never (and you SHOULD never) sound like the recording. Your team is unique. You are unique.
A song performed by a large worship team or by an organic hipster band will never sound the same with your team. And it shouldn’t.
Don’t be stuck on the recording. Play with the tempo, the feel, the intro, and the harmonies.
The more you experiment and worship through the song, the more you will develop your own style with your team.
I try to introduce a few new songs every month to the congregation.
Let me know how these work for you! And if you have other favorites you are introducing that you can’t help but share!
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