My Top 10 Christian Songs of All Time

This list might stir some controversy.

Not just because having any ‘Top 10’ list is bound to generate a bit of discussion, but also because I’m excluding contemporary Christian music from this list and sticking to the classical hymn style.

Hence, one of the points of disagreement I’m expecting are that I’m not giving modern music enough credit. Why?

For the past few years, I have been moving away from “big sound” church music to traditional hymns as my preferred song choice for congregational singing.

There are a number of reasons for this change, not least because I think hymns are more singable for the average congregant. I used to think of them as ‘boring’ and ‘unmusical’, but I have grown to love and cherish the words and music of classical hymns. Additionally, hymns actually have a greater breadth of style in which they can be played than your average commercialised tune from one of the “big 5” (Hillsong, Bethel, Elevation, Passion, North Point) I read this article recently which pointed out these churches’ dominance in the Christian music scene, which is why I call them the “big 5” .

There are more reasons for my move to traditional Christian music, including theological and philosophical reasons, but I’ll save that discussion for another post.

When I listen to a hymn these days, I’m very aware that I don’t agree theologically with everything many of the hymnwriters believed in. Some of them (like Horatio Spafford, who wrote It Is Well) even became apostate. However, this to me is no issue, as the lyrical content of many hymns that are older than 1970 have stood the test of time.

1970 is somewhat an arbitrary date, and I do have one 21st century hymn listed in the top 10, but I do feel as though once a hymn crosses 50 years of being sung in churches (and the natural scrutiny of the lyrics that follow) there is a good chance that the lyrics are theologically and pastorally sound. It means that congregations the world over, across multiple decades, affirm the truth, beauty and goodness of the words and music, and as they sing, they can love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength.

That is the heart of worshiping God through music. We worship God in many ways, but music brings together our heart, soul, mind and strength in such a way that we can even unite with other believers as we worship God. Check out this quote from Martin Luther on music:

This quote captures the value of music in God’s church and kingdom. There will be music in the new creation, and Psalm 150 calls “everything that has breath” to praise the Lord.

My top 10 hymns are my favourite hymns with which I love to praise the Lord. I thought it reasonable also to add another ten as honourable mentions, although they aren’t ranked.

This is the core reason for selecting old, classical hymns in this list. I think they capture the essence of musical worship to God best.