After introducing a new song, don't just assume that it worked and belongs in your regular rotation. Review the effectiveness.

Here's how:

1 | Give it 4 chances before you review

You have to give a song the appropriate amount of time before you review it. It takes people about 4 times of hearing it to actually start responding. So don't review it after the first week and assume that it's a bad song because nobody was engaged with it. They were most likely trying to just figure out how to sing the chorus for the first time.

After you've sung it at least 4 times, move onto the next steps.

2 | Ask: are people singing along?

One criteria for a good congregational worship song is singability. Can people actually sing along with it?

If people still can't sing along with it after 4 weeks, it may be best to ditch it.

3 | Ask: Does it allow people to appropriately respond to what's going on in their lives?

Another criteria for a good congregational worship song is relevance. Is the song allowing people to respond to a need in their life? Do they connect with it?

Sometimes a song is singable but people don't connect with it because it's not what they need to sing.

4 | Feedback from your team

Ask your team how they think the song is going. They most likely have seen things that you didn't. Allow your team to fill in your blind spots. Don't evaluate a song on your own. 

5 | Feedback from your church

Finally, get feedback from your church. This is the last step because you've got to be careful with it. Everyone has a different opinion. So use this in tandem with the other steps to get a full picture.

If you want to see a practical way of how to do this, head over to Dave Dolphin's Youtube channel and find his video on How to use a survey to help pick your worship service.