“On your first Sunday at a new church (which you are church shopping or where you have been hired to work), what three hymns or songs would you really like to sing?”

That is a question I included in an anonymous survey that I asked students in my spring “Christian Worship: History and Theology” course shortly after they registered for the class in November. About two-thirds of the students completed the survey. They provided a total of twenty-eight titles. Many of them, as I requested, also the authors as well.

My students identify as Baptist, United Methodist, Presbyterian, or non-denominational, and with a few exceptions worship in congregations that sing primarily contemporary compositions. My own liturgical experience is different than theirs, I think I know eleven of their twenty-eight titles. I will be finding and listening to the rest before our class starts on January 25. I’m grateful to have the homework. Here are their responses:

• ‘Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus
• All Hail King Jesus — Bethel
• All I Have is Christ — Sovereign Grace Music
• Another in the Fire
• Be Thou My Vision (2 students)
• Come Thou Fount (2 students)
• Death was Arrested — Passion
• Doxology (2 students)
• Father’s House — Cory Asbury
• Good Grace — Hillsong UNITED
• Great Are You Lord — All Sons & Daughters
• Holy, Holy, Holy — Hillsong UNITED
• How Deep the Father’s Love for Us — Austin Stone Worship
• In Christ Alone
• In the Sweet By and By
• Jesus Paid it All
• Lord Have Mercy — Matt Papa
• Man of Sorrows — Hillsong Worship
• Nothing But the Blood
• O Praise the Name
• Promises — Maverick City Music
• Remedy — Red Rocks Worship
• Sanctuary — SEU Worship
• This Is Amazing Grace
• This is My Father’s World
• Waymaker
• Yes I Will
• You Keep Getting Better– Maverick City Worship