Oh, the wonder and glories of Heaven! Do you long to go there?
The Bible often speaks of the place where God dwells. Jesus told His disciples that He was going to prepare a “place” for them (John 14:3). We know as Christians that we are promised an eternity dwelling with God in Heaven. Throughout the history of the church, Christians have written and sung about this glorious hope.
Why Songs about Heaven Matter in Worship
While themes of Christian hymnody today cover a broad range of doctrinal and theological topics, surprisingly, one of the least covered truths today is Heaven. This is particularly true of songs written in the past twenty to thirty years. Having attended church since infancy, we sang many songs about Heaven as children, but in the last half-century, few songs about Heaven have been written and even fewer sung in many evangelical churches.
The Decline of Songs about Heaven in Modern Churches
Dr. Matthew Westerholm of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary researched the most sung congregational songs in the United States from 2000–2015 and the most frequently published songs in the US from 1737–1960. His research reveals that Christians often sang about Heaven formerly, but it has almost disappeared in the last generation. Churches use hymnals less and less, and the ones printed in the last decade have very few hymns about Heaven.
Songs about Heaven vs. Contemporary Worship
Westerholm explains that modern hymns refer to God’s presence as a near and current experience. Modern songs celebrate the presence of God in rich terms, but almost exclusively in the present. If you give a bit of thought to the songs and hymns you regularly sing at your church, can you think of any that sing of Heaven? Some may speak of Heaven in a final stanza, but few are all about Heaven. How does that fit with the instruction from the apostle Paul to “set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col. 3:2 kjv)?
Why We Sing Fewer Songs about Heaven Today
Why has this evolution taken place? Christians agree that we will ultimately dwell with God in Heaven, so why don’t we sing about it more often? Could it be that in these days of relative prosperity and ease of life, we don’t feel the need for anything better? Our songs focus on what we see and experience today.
Generational Shifts and Songs about Heaven
Westerholm also addresses what he calls the “juvenilization” of contemporary music. Music “aims at younger people and, by that token, caters to their life experiences, desires, and emotional maturity levels.”1 He continues, “I’m grateful for the many young, talented songwriters with promising careers and growing ministries. But the joys of Heaven would more likely preoccupy the minds of older saints who have suffered loss, those whose best years lie far behind and not ahead.”2
Reviving Songs about Heaven in Devotional Life
In our new book, Hosannas Forever, our design and wish are that readers of this book will integrate it into their devotional life one day each week for fifty-two weeks. During the six days that follow, we recommend they do a review by reading or singing the hymn. We hope you will see Heaven with joyful anticipation because you have read, meditated, prayed, and sung about it for a year, causing you to “set your affection on things above.”
Adapted from Hosannas Forever: Hymns of Heaven and Our Pilgrimage by David and Barbara Leeman. (©2025). Published by Moody Publishers. Used with permission.
1. Matthew Westerholm, “The Church Should Sing for Heaven’s Sake: When and Why We Stopped
Singing about Heaven, and How to Start Again,” in “Heaven: Rejoicing in Future Glory,” 9Marks
Journal, ed. Jonathan Leeman, December 2020, 8.
2. Westerholm, “The Church Should Sing,” 9.
