Below are a number of songs that friends of ours have recorded for use in their own churches, with lyrics included. They are recorded to varying degrees of quality, and most are by no means meant to be professional! But if you are in a small church, with limited resources,…
I have a really good friend who would love to write a book celebrating mediocrity. It’s a subject I’ve been thinking about a lot recently as both of my boys dive back into their schools. The worlds of academia, sport and music don’t seem to put a high value on…
A number of years ago, I read this helpful post by Mike Cosper, who in turn is building on the work of Harold Best. The framework they put forward has stuck with me as a useful tool to help evaluate what we are doing as Christians who make music. “What type…
I have a friend whose job title in the footer of his emails says ‘futurist’; basically he gets paid lots of money to tell technology companies what he thinks the next new thing might be. No, I’m not going there! Don’t panic, I’m not claiming to be a prophet. But…
The below are answers to the 8 most common questions we get asked regarding leading and arranging songs in church . Regardless of our church size or capability, it should hopefully help us all to think them through a little, even just as a basis for how we plan our…
I recently learned from my boss that I got my place on the Music Apprenticeship Scheme on the strength of being able to tune a guitar successfully. What he didn’t know of course, was that was about as far as my guitar skills extended. Thankfully however over the course of…
This is the second in a short series of posts looking at the task of choosing songs for Sunday services. The aim in this series is to provide a model for music leaders, pastors and others involved in selecting the songs you sing. In part one, we saw how singing is…
On the surface.. The temptation is to be too gushing about this album, because it is quite possibly the best songs-for-church album I've heard in a long time. Strong melodies, awesome words, and a really well produced album. It focusses on the ideas of endurance in hard times, dwelling on…
On the surface… This sounds like your standard contemporary christian album. Lots of rocking guitars and synths and strong bass and drums. Catchy riffs and sing loud in the car moments. We historically have some awesome songs from Tomlin (how great is our God, our chains are gone, Our God,…
We had a brilliant week last week in the Barbican with the Proc Trust, hearing wonderful, encouraging teaching, and being blown away with the sound of so many singing their hearts out! The songs we sang together were mostly well known, but if any were new to you, here are…
Sometimes its helpful to think a little deeper about the hymns and songs that we sing. So we asked Daniel Johnson to give us some historical and theological background to this Isaac Watts classic that has been recently adapted by the Gettys. We hope you find this interesting and helpful.…
Recently we emailed a number of music directors around the UK and asked what songs they had been teaching over the last few months in their churches. We hope the list below and the Spotify playlist will give you some inspiration in the coming weeks and months. Obviously with lists…