How to Choose Songs for Outside Events

Next weekend I’m leading worship for an event where there will be people from a variety of church backgrounds. It isn’t for a church service or a camp or anything like that. It’s for a workshop that a ministry I work with puts on. As I’ve been preparing to lead, putting together my set list, and talking with event coordinators it occurred to me how different it is to put together a set list for events like this. So today I wanted to share a few thoughts on how to do that. 

First let me say that if I was preparing for a church service, camp or conference, it’d a little easier. Often those are denominationally tied or at least have people and churches with similar backgrounds attending. However, these ideas can apply there too. Additionally, although we aren’t focusing on regular church services today – these ideas are great for events with your church, Sundays after a big invite push or anything like that!

My goal in these settings is to loop as many people in as possible. I want folks to be comfortable worshiping. The people in these events don’t know me as a leader, so they may have a hard time following. I expect that! So, I want to give them something easy to follow. I do that by choosing songs they’re more likely to know. 

Here are 4 Questions to Ask when Choosing Songs:

1. What’s the Age Demographic of the Congregation?

If I know the age demographic of the group I’ll be leading, I’ll definitely take that into consideration. For instance, if I’m leading worship at a nursing home I probably won’t do the newest Hillsong tune. That doesn’t mean people there won’t know it, but if I want to loop as many people in as possible, I probably need to do something more traditional, like a hymn. Likewise, if I’m leading for college students, I probably won’t do as many hymns. Chances are they won’t know them! But I might do that new Hillsong tune. 

 

2. How old is the song?

I will rarely do a brand-new song at an event. That doesn’t mean I’ll never do it, but I’m very careful about it. I stay pretty up to date on new worship music, but I’m a worship leader. It’s my job. Most people aren’t that engaged with it. So, chances are, people just won’t know the song. Again, I’m trying to loop people in and help them worship in a space that is uncommon to them. That means I want the songs to be somewhat common to them. That said, for my church, I’ll do brand new songs pretty often. The difference is that in my church, I can take time to teach them. (Here’s a post about introducing new songs!)

At most events, I aim to do songs that are 2 to 5 years old. I know for some of you that sounds really old, but if the goal is to engage people, it works! Songs that have been big in church for the last few years are still new to a lot of people – again they aren’t as engaged with worship music as you are. 

 

3. Was it on the Radio?

At events with a variety of backgrounds represented I almost always try to do a song that’s been on the radio. It doesn’t need to be every song, but I do try to throw one in there. That’s not because I love radio hits; often I don’t. It’s just to loop people in. If it’s been on the radio, more people have heard it! 

 

4. Can I tag something special? 

Something that can be a lot of fun to do is tag a throwback song. Especially depending on the age of the congregation – it might be tagging a hymn or tagging an old Chris Tomlin song, either way it can be a lot of fun. If there’s an older song that is very well known and it fits to finish a song you’re doing with a chorus of the throwback, DO IT! People always respond well to that. (Here’s a post about using old songs in a service!)

In a regular church setting I’m not as concerned with every person knowing every song. But I see my role differently there. In my church, I’m able to teach my congregation. I’m able to lead them. And they follow me because they know me. In other settings, people don’t know me, so I lead them differently. I give them something they’re already comfortable with. In my experience, that engages people well. 

The next time you’re choosing songs for an event outside of your church, keep those questions in mind!