Last night’s Big Church Night In was at Huddersfield Christian Fellowship and featured Phil Wickham and Rend Collective (pretty much a dream combination for me…!)
Phil Wickham is an American worship leader whose songs have had a massive influence on our family, some of which we sing regularly in church (‘Beautiful’, ‘At Your Name’.) Earlier this year, he underwent surgery on his vocal cords and had to be completely silent for over a month, communicating through a variety of apps on his mobile phone and sign language! For anyone, that must be difficult; for someone whose living is through singing and whose calling is to lead worship, that must have been extremely testing. It was good to hear conclusively the success of the surgery and to share in the evening. He wrote ‘Been so blessed and blown away by church here in the UK. Such massive hearts for worship. Huddersfield, it was a joy to sing with you all! Thank you so much!‘ and all who were there were so blessed by him too. His songs included (if you click on highlighted ones, you can listen to the songs):
- The Ascension
- Heaven fall down
- At Your Name
- When My Heart Is Torn Asunder
- chorus of ‘Amazing Grace’
- Heaven Song (my personal favourite… so grateful I got to hear this live!)
- Beautiful
- This Is Amazing Grace
Rend Collective are a Northern Irish worship band whose catchy melodies, Scripture-soaked lyrics and amazing range of instruments somehow capture the essence of joy. Any concert they do leaves you hoarse from singing, exhausted from the sheer pace of worship and extremely blessed: we had confetti cannons (twice!), bubbles and joy orbs to add to the experience! Their songs included:
- Joy
- Burn Like A Star
- You Are My Vision
- Build Your Kingdom Here
- My Lighthouse
- Finally Free
- Boldly I Approach (The Art of Celebration)
- More Than Conquerors
- Praise Like Fireworks
They ended with a harmonica rendition of Jingle Bells (their Christmas album ‘Campfire Christmas Volume 1’ was available to those attending on the night, and is officially released on 18th November) and with two final songs, Simplicity and the old classic ‘I Love You, Lord.’
It’s always good to worship with so many other Christians (meeting Chris Lee again, formerly from the Salvation Army in Goldthorpe and now working in Huddersfield itself and others we know from local churches) and to reflect on the ‘bigger picture’ of how God is working in other parts of the UK and the world. The evening also included an appeal on behalf of Compassion, a charity which works to support children in poor communities around the world. Worship is, as we were reminded, about much more than singing, and must include every aspect of our lives which should reflect our gratitude and thankfulness to God for all He has done for us.