Stuart Townend

Stuart's sheet music

Through my Kingsway work, I've been involved in an exciting new project to make sheet music more readily and easily available.

It's a website called www.kingswaysongs.com. There you can download each song you want as an Acrobat .pdf file (most people have Acrobat Reader on their computer, and if they don't, they can download it for free from www.adobe.com), and click on "get Adobe Reader". Nearly all the active Thankyou Music catalogue is on there now.

The format is superior to the traditional songbook in several ways.

1) You can buy just the songs you want - you don't need to spend £15 on a songbook for the three songs you're looking for!

2) You don't need to photocopy - just print more perfect copies from your printer (but see the comment below on copyright).

3) The website acts as a songfinder. You can search for songs by a particular theme, by key, by general tempo - you can even find a song which contains a particular word or phrase. So it's a useful tool for preparing to lead, as well as a song resource.

What are the drawbacks?

1) It's an expensive way to buy a lot of songs! At £1.49 per song, buying, say, 50, is going to be prohibitively expensive. However, kingswaysongs.com are talking about making special 'package deals' that would rival songbook prices.

2) Copyright. You can't just make numerous copies of the file. You can purchase multiple copies from the website at a reduced rate, but the best way is to get your church to purchase an MRL (music reproduction licence) as an add on to your words CCL licence. The licence allows you to make multiple copies from your files and from your songbooks, provided you report the number of copies you've made. And remember - if you are currently photocopying from songbooks, you need this licence anyway to do it legally.

3) Currently the songs are all from the Thankyou Music catalogue (for copyright reasons). And although Thankyou Music is by far the most used catalogue in the UK (with all the songs from Matt Redman, Tim Hughes, Paul Oakley, Keith Getty,Noel Richards, myself, and tons of others, as well as Hillsong from Australia), it does mean you can't get Make Way, Vineyard or Integrity songs on it.

For those who are looking for a particular group of songs, or are looking for help to find songs on a particular theme, it's the perfect resource. There's even an audio link so you can hear a clip from the song to help you decide if it's waht you're looking for. I think it's a fantastic resource - but of course I'm biased! Check it out for yourslef through the link above.

Stuart Townend

Joy has dawned

Keith Getty and I wrote “Joy has dawned” as part of a project we’ve been working on entitled “Creed” – a collection of new hymns and songs based on the themes of the Apostles’ Creed. Keith and I both share a passion to see churches singing songs full of truth, compositions that not only express our love and devotion to God, but also declare the wonderful truths of the faith – truths that form the foundation of our lives.

With that in mind, we realised that there was shortage on new material on a number of key themes – one being the Incarnation. We therefore set about trying to write what is essentially a Christmas carol, telling the story and significance of Christ’s birth, and this is the result.

There are parts of the Christmas story that are so familiar to us, we tend not to appreciate how extraordinary they are: the humble circumstances of the birth of the King of kings; His choosing to come into the world as a helpless, vulnerable baby; the prophetic significance of gifts from traveling astrologers; the list goes on…

It’s a song that lends itself to a variety of musical styles, from a worship band setting to a choral piece, perhaps even a Salvation Army band arrangement, and I hope it’s a useful addition to a church’s Christmas repertoire.

Stuart Townend

WANT TO DOWNLOAD THE SHEET MUSIC TO THIS SONG? Visit www.kingswaysongs.com - the quick, easy way to get music for your church.

How deep the Father's love

Writing this song was an unusual experience for me. I'd already written quite a few songs for worship, but all in a more contemporary worship style, drawing from my own musical background. But I distinctly remember getting this feeling one day that I was going to write a hymn! Now, like most people, I am familiar with hymns - they form part of my church background, and I love the truth contained in many of them. But I don't go home at the end of a busy day and put on a hymns album! So I don't think of hymns as where I'm at musically at all!

Nevertheless, I'd been meditating on the cross, and in particular what it cost the Father to give up his beloved Son to a torturous death on a cross. And what was my part in it? Not only was it my sin that put him there, but if I'd lived at that time, it would probably have been me in that crowd, shouting with everyone else 'crucify him'. It just makes his sacrifice all the more personal, all the more amazing, and all the more humbling.

As I was thinking through this, I just began to sing the melody, and it flowed in the sort of way that makes you think you've pinched it from somewhere! So the melody was pretty instant, but the words took quite a bit of time, reworking things, trying to make every line as strong as I could.

After it was finished, I remember playing it to Dave Fellingham a few minutes before a time of worship. I was worried it was perhaps too twee, too predictable. Dave, in his typical demonstrative and over-enthusiastic way, shrugged his shoulders and said, "yeah, it's good", and that was that. It was only when I began to use it in worship, and all sorts of people of different ages and backgrounds responded to it so positively, that I thought that it might be a useful resource to the church at large.

Now I'm finding it gets used all over the world, by all sorts of churches; it seems to be as accessible to a traditional church as it is to a house church, and I'm excited by that. But it has perhaps branded me as an old man before my time. It was fed back to me that at a conference a couple who loved the song were surprised to hear I was still alive...

Stuart Townend

WANT TO DOWNLOAD THE SHEET MUSIC TO THIS SONG? Visit www.kingswaysongs.com - the quick, easy way to get music for your church.

How to write hymns

Here's an article I wrote recently for the BBC hymnwriting competition.

There are probably more hymns and worship songs being written today than in any period of church history. But relatively few will stand the test of time. And that has always been the case: for every “Amazing grace” or “And can it be”, you can bet there are several hundred trite, interminably dull ditties that did the rounds at the time, but have now thankfully faded into blissful obscurity.

So how can we make sure what we write is worth singing for years to come? Here are a few ideas that I try to put into practice myself:

1. Study the Scriptures. The best hymns demonstrate insight and understanding of the Bible, and consequently bring the truths of the Christian faith to life. If you don’t know the message of the gospel, you can’t write something that will enable others to worship in spirit and truth.

2. Be poetic, not pompous. Sometimes when people set out to write a hymn, they use phrases which might sound 'hymny’, but actually mean very little. Make your phrases mean something!

3. Combine objective truth and subjective response. When a hymn is just a statement of theological truth, it may be accurate, but it can be dry. Equally, when a hymn is just about how we feel, it’s wishy washy. The best hymns powerfully express the emotions of the worshipper, but as an emotional response to the objective truth of the gospel.

4. Look for musical dynamics. A hymn should have musical peaks and troughs, and there should be a sense of building to a climax where the melody soars while expressing the main theme of the hymn.

5. Make every line count. I see hymns that contain a few good ideas, but some of the lines are clearly there as just ‘filler’, and let the whole thing down. Don’t just stick in a line because it rhymes, or because you couldn’t think of anything else to say.

6. Prune it mercilessly. Once you think you’ve finished, go through it carefully, and get rid of anything that distracts from the main theme you’re expressing. Better to have two compact, punchy verses than four rambling, unfocused ones.

So get writing!

Copyright © 2004 Stuart Townend.

Apostles Creed

Already out is the long-awaited new album, The Apostles Creed - long-awaited because it took us so long to write the songs! For a long time Keith Getty (my main songwriting collaborator) and I have been working on songs based around the main themes of the Apostles Creed, and the resulting album is a collection of songs and hymns on the God the Father, the birth, life, death, resurrection and return of Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the church. We hope is enriched the worshipping life of churches seeking to worship in spirit and truth. It's available at www.equippingthechurch.co.uk, or your local Christian bookshop - or from me! Click the "how to purchase Stuart's albums" link for details.

All the albums featured in the "Stuart's albums" section (right) can be purchased by clicking the "Add to basket" button next to the album. You can then click the "Continue shopping" button to go back to the website, or go to the "Proceed to checkout" page. You can check or amend what you've ordered at any point by clicking on the "Check my basket" button to the left of the main page. Once you've gone to the checkout, just follow the instructions, using your payPal account if you are registered, or using your credit/debit card if you're not. ALL ALBUMS ARE £14.99 - postage and packing are free! (PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL PRICES ARE IN UK POUNDS. If you are buying from outside the UK, please check up to date exchange rates before purchase.)

Once you've finished, you will receive confirmation by email of your order, and the order will be dispatched to you in the next few days. (Please be patient - it's a home-spun operation!) If you've not heard from me within 7 days, please don't hesitate to get in touch. Alternatively, if you'd  rather pay by other means, send me an email, and we can arrange payment by cheque or online banking.

US CUSTOMERS PLEASE NOTE: there is now a website in the US that sell most of my CDs at US prices: so visit www.kingswaymusicstore.com.

Mission:Worship

A new recording and DVD featuring Stuart Townend, Paul Oakley, Andy Bromley and Mark Tedder - recorded live in Colorado Springs. Superb audio and video production, and an amazing atmosphere of worship, make this an uplifting experience. Including fresh live versions of "The power of the cross", "How deep the Father's love", "Grace" and "In Christ alone".

The Apostles Creed

It's been a long time coming, but Stuart Townend and Keith Getty finally got it finished! This is the long-awaited collection of songs and hymns based around the major themes of the Apostles Creed - the Fatherhood of God, the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ, the Holy Spirit, the church, and the end times. This major contribution to the worshipping life of the church is a rich resource for those who take the content of their worship seriously. Brilliantly recorded in Nashville by John Hartley, and featuring guest vocalists Tim Hughes, Susan Ashton, Brenton Brown, Jennifer Paige, Christine Dente, and many others.

Lord of every heart

A vibrant studio album by Stuart Townend recorded in Nashville, and featuring some of Christian music's finest players. Including "In Christ alone", "Across the lands" and a stunning rendition of "Grace", and with production deftly handled by John Hartley (Kisses From Heaven, Secrets Of The Vine), these songs carry Stuart's trademark lyrical depth and melodic catchiness.

Track listing (click on tracks in red for audio clip):

1. Grace
2. Image of invisible God
3. Love incarnate
4. My desire
5. Lord of every heart
6. When Love came down
7. Across the lands
8. In Christ alone
9. This love is enough
10. All I want to say

Welcome!

This webspace is designed to keep you in touch with the various things I'm doing, the resources that are currently available, and how to get in contact for events, gigs etc.