As a worship leader, you probably know what it feels like to introduce a new song to your church. No matter how you introduce it - whether you explain the lyrics or start with the chorus - at some point, you're simply going to have to play it for the first time during a worship service. And chances are, your church is not going to be familiar with it. But, what if there were a few things you could do to prepare your congregation for a new song before you ever sing it during a worship gathering?

 Here are 3 simple ways to prepare your congregation for a new song:

1 | Facebook or Instagram live

One powerful way to introduce a song is to use Facebook or Instagram live. Either on your personal account or your church's account you can go live and explain that you'll be introducing a new song on Sunday. You can talk a little bit about what the song means and why you're introducing it. Then, finish the livestream by playing the song and inviting people to church on Sunday.

This is a great way to prepare your church for a new song because you have a lot more time to talk about it than you normally do during a worship set. In a worship set, you might take a minute or two to introduce the song - but when you do a livestream where the sole purpose is to introduce the song you can spend 5 or more minutes talking about it.

2 | Put the song in your pre-service playlist

Adding the song to your pre-service playlist allows people to subconsciously learn the song as they're walking into church. Additionally, if you start your service with a countdown, you can use the new song as the background music for that countdown that way even more people hear it. If you play the song for 3-4 weeks leading up to when you actually introduce it, people will be familiar with it.

3 | Post a link on your social media

If going live on social media isn't your thing, you can post a link to the new song you'll be introducing. The week before, dedicate a social media post to announcing that you'll be introducing a new song this week. This gives people a chance to listen to the song on their own time and prepare to sing it on Sunday.

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