Lifeway pauses discontinuation of worship music catalog amid strategic adjustments
Reversing a decision that surprised many Southern Baptist worship leaders, Lifeway paused the discontinuation of its digital catalog of worship music.
The Brentwood-based publishing arm for the Southern Baptist Convention announced two weeks ago it would discontinue lifewayworship.com and then announced a week later it was reconsidering the move following an outcry.
The maneuvers with lifewayworship.com is less significant compared to previous Lifeway decisions, such as closing all brick-and-mortar stores and selling its Nashville headquarters. Yet it still reflects the publisher’s strategic adjustments to shifts in the worship market.
“We are delaying the implementation of this decision until we have time to listen, allow for dialogue, and find out how we can best support churches’ digital worship music needs,” Lifeway CEO Ben Mandrell said in a July 21 statement. “We are actively considering alternatives to ensure minimal disruption and keep this essential catalog alive.”
Lifeway Worship is one of other Lifeway departments, such as its book publishing department and Lifeway Research, which conducts surveys on religious trends. The worship department launched in 2008 and, in addition to providing music resources through lifewayworship.com, produces bulletins, hymnals, digital graphics and materials for communion.
Whether it ultimately discontinues the digital music catalogue, the worship department will continue to produce other resources. Also, regardless of the outcome, Lifeway will stop adding new resources to lifewayworship.com.
The question is what happens to the existing library.
Worship leaders use lifewayworship.com to purchase charts and sheet music for worship songs performed in church. The library allows customers to purchase sheet music for specific instruments for a worship song or the whole orchestral set for that song.
Lifeway’s initial announcement about lifewayworship.com cited financial reasons, however, in conjunction with other factors. Competitors, such as SongSelect and PraiseCharts, outpace lifewayworship.com and caused Lifeway to question the need to maintain its own catalog.
“Sometimes this means we have to pull back from areas of ministry where the majority of churches have chosen other providers and focus our energy and resources on areas where we are best equipped,” Lifeway Worship director Brian Brown told Baptist Press.
Lifeway continues to be a major player among Christian resource publishers, though it has had to make major reductions like many other publishers in recent years. It announced the closure of its 170 bookstores in 2019, a decision that helped Lifeway by allowing it to lease most of those properties.
Also, Lifeway sold its longtime Nashville headquarters in 2015, which was later imploded, and then constructed a new building in the Capitol View area near downtown. But Lifeway eventually sold that building in 2021 and recently moved into a smaller, “teaming” space in Brentwood.
Southern Baptist pastors and worship leaders swiftly responded to the initial announcement about lifewayworship.com’s discontinuation, ultimately leading Lifeway to pause its decision.
“Lifewayworship has been my top resource for congregational singing for more than 12 years,” tweeted Will Gerrald, a North Carolina worship leader. “This decision will disproportionately hurt small and medium sized churches.”
Other trends in SBC: Southern Baptist Convention sees largest single-year membership decline: What to know about why
Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean. Reach him at ladams@tennessean.com or on Twitter and Threads @liamsadams.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Lifeway pauses lifewayworship.com closure amid strategic adjustments
