Praise Songs vs Worship Songs

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Permalink Reply by Phil Williams on April 27, 2008 at 7:17am

So my first thoughts would be that a praise song IS a worship song because worship isn't just about singing songs. But i'd love to hear more about this from you guys...

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Permalink Reply by Cheryl Lim on April 27, 2008 at 9:25am

Can a slow song be a praise song and can a fast song be a worship song? Yes!!! I think it all boils down to the lyrics & its meaning. It has nothing to do with the tempo of the song. :)

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Permalink Reply by Phil Williams on April 27, 2008 at 11:32am

So what lyrics/meaning make a song either a praise song or a worship song then?

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Permalink Reply by Cheryl Lim on April 27, 2008 at 1:07pm

Looking at definitions, praise is to exalt... an expression done with joy. Worship, to me, is to adore, to honour, to give thanks because of the awe & reverence one have for God. So any song, which can be segregated into these two categories, will be classified either praise or worship songs, sometimes a song can costitute both praise & worship elements.

I can't think of a fast worship song at this moment... maybe there isn't any such song, but I'd see 'How Great is our God' as both a praise & a worship song because of the lyrics, despite it being quite a mid-tempo song--Describing God's splendour & His majesty.

Thinking in this line, a thought came to me: praise & worship songs can only be described as 'praise' or 'worship', or both only when there is a praiser or a worshipper. This means, we must mean with our hearts what we sing.

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Permalink Reply by Phil Williams on April 27, 2008 at 1:15pm

Hi Cheryl - thanks for these thoughts - very useful. I like what you said in the last paragraph especially - very true that songs are basically just words until a worshipper uses those words to praise and worship Him!

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Permalink Reply by Mark Tindall on September 20, 2008 at 6:37am

> Looking at definitions, praise is to exalt... an expression done with joy.

... and also giving thanks. Praise is DESCRIPTIVE.


> Worship, to me, is to adore, to honour ... because of the awe & reverence one > have for God.

Worship is an EXPRESSION OF LOVE.

Some Christian songs are NEITHER.

There is a place for a "Call to worship" ("Come let us praise / worship") at the beginning of a church service.

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Permalink Reply by Cheryl Lim on April 28, 2008 at 10:58am

That's a nice explanation!

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Permalink Reply by Greg Doyle on May 1, 2008 at 12:14pm

Is this a trick question? Are you happy because you are glad or are you glad because you are happy? Praise and worship seem to be the same thing in different aspects. Both are directed to one source: God. When I praise God in song, I am worshiping Him and when I worship God, I can't help praising Him.

The only difference might be philosophical. A chicken or egg question.

That's my take, anyway.

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Permalink Reply by Andy Barefoot on May 2, 2008 at 8:53pm

Interesting conversation. When I think about the word 'worship' I think of something that is a bit more broad and all encompassing (worship as an entire life response to the person and work of God in Christ). Not so much about one aspect of music, or one aspect of a worship gathering. Life in the Kingdom of God isn't segmented, all of life is to be viewed as worship, all of life is sacred.

So, at least as I think of it, praise is one appropriate response in worship, and therefore, would make up one category of song (not that all songs fit so neatly into categories). Confession, repentance, and silently standing in God's presence are all appropriate responses in worship as well, but aren't necessarily acts of 'praise'. Worship is all encompassing of these movements or responses.

I also agree with Cheryl's comment about tempo: tempo doesn't always dictate celebration. You can sing a song at a medium to slower tempo that is chalk full of praise (great is thy faithfulness).

So, in summary: worship is everything -- (songs or acts of) praise, confession, repentance, celebration, adoration, are all appropriate responses that the Spirit calls us to.

There's probably a lot more to talk about here.
Thoughts...?

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Permalink Reply by Junjie on May 20, 2008 at 10:02am

The praise=fast and worship=slow idea is so old that it's become an accepted idea. Tried finding Scriptural support for it but couldn't, so I believe it's something that has been invented to describe different types of songs.

Praise (dictionary def) means to say that someone or something is good. Worship means to ascribe worth to someone or something. So they do kinda overlap, I mean, if you think something is good you are ascribing some worth to it, right?

Junjie

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Permalink Reply by Mark Tindall on September 20, 2008 at 6:40am

> The praise=fast and worship=slow idea is so old that it's become an accepted idea.
> Tried finding Scriptural support for it but couldn't, so I believe it's something that has
> been invented to describe different types of songs.

Yep... There is no biblical support for it. Just a piece of "Christianese".

Hebrew songs are also played in a MINOR key (like most Near East countries). Songs in a minor key can still be "happy".

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Permalink Reply by Mark F on June 24, 2008 at 1:36pm

HI all,

This is my first post here, so 'Hello' to everyone! On to the topic at hand:

I really feel that trying to find a delineation between 'Praise' and 'Worship' is just an adventure in semantics (and futility). All of it is about FOCUS, which should only be on Him. Certainly music retailers don't make this distinction; you don't see a separate section in stores for the two. Sometimes the church tries to overcomplicate things, and I think that this is just another example of that. To my mind, just because the intention of a song is to be sung to the church instead of directly to God is no reason to assign it a different Genre.

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