Stuart Townend

NEXT BIG DATE!

Well, our short tour came to an end last night at Alton, where we had a great time with the folks there, who came from various parts of Hampshire, Sussex, and further afield. The night before we were in Wrexham, where we played to a full house of over 800. A huge thank you to all who were involved, especially the event organisers, Chris on sound and the two Sams on lights. It's also been a really fun time meeting and worshipping with lots of new people. So if you managed to get along to one of the gigs, thanks for coming! If not... well, it's actually not too late...

On Saturday 25th November, at CCK, Brighton (my home church), we are doing a special event where we will be performing the whole of the "Monument to Mercy" album with string orchestra, brass band and choir! It's aimed in part at unchurched people (there won't be any preaching, but I'll talk and share my faith a little between songs), but all are welcome. Lou Fellingham will be playing support.

Tickets are at the ridiculously low price of £5, but because of the orchestra, the venue will only hold around 450 people, so get your tickets early. Visit the website www.cck.org.uk to purchase tickets online, or phone the church office (01273 747687).

See you there!

Stuart Townend

Swindon gig

On Saturday we did the second concert in our "Stu and Lou" tour (with Lou Fellingham). It was a great evening, again sold out (350 people), and although the venue was smaller than Chessington, there was still a wonderful atmosphere, and people really went for it as we worshipped together in the second half of the gig.

We have a great team working with us on the tour. Chris Jones is on sound (we worked with him at the Brighton Leaders conference in Brighton), and Sam Tamplin is doing lights. These guys, together with the Phatfish band (with Dan Boreham on electric guitar), have really helped to make it look and sound special, without distracting from the dynamic of worship that is so important to us. And we're already getting reports from the two gigs of people's lives really being impacted by the Spirit of God as we worship and share.

So we are very grateful to God, grateful to Swindon Family Church for hosting us, and we hope to see you all in Streatham, Wrexham or Alton in the next couple of weeks! (Remaining dates and contact details are at the bottom of this page.)

Stuart Townend

Worship in the local church

Before we begin to think about worship in the local church, it’s important for us to make sure we have a vision for the local church. Not just ‘church’ in some abstract way – your local church, the place you go to every Sunday, the bunch of people you meet with, that bunch of weird folks who make up your church. Think about them, picture them in your mind – that’s God’s plan for changing the world! Frightening, isn’t it?

Now, if you were planning to gather together a group of people to change the world, or at least the area in which you live – would you have chosen that group of people? Would you have chosen yourself? Possibly not! Yet God’s ways are different from ours!

Songs of Praise Top Ten hymns

I was recently asked to take part in a BBC Songs of Praise programme, where we were giving our perspectives on the top ten hymns as voted by Songs of Praise viewers in a telephone poll earlier in the year. Remarkably, “In Christ alone” made it into the top ten, which either means it’s becoming accepted in a broad range of church settings, or my Mum’s phone bill was huge that month…

The more I thought about the programme, the more I realised what a fantastic opportunity it was to share the gospel with millions of people by talking about the content of these hymns. And I thought I would share these brief musings with you – done, in the finest traditions of top ten lists, in reverse order…

Chessington gig

On Saturday we did the first gig of our 'Stu and Lou tour' (with Lou Fellingham). We were delighted it was sold out (over 900 people), and are really grateful to the folks at Chessington for their organisation, their vision and their wonderful hospitality.

The style of the evening (mainly performance with some opportunities to join in) is different to what I've done before, and might have surprised a few people, but we did want it to be something that was musically more interesting, and also accessible to guests and unchurched people. And the feedback we got from people was really positive - folks seemed to enjoy hearing new and familiar songs accompanied by more thoughtful and varied arrangements!

If you came along, thanks so much for coming - please tell us what you thought by leaving a comment on this site If you missed it, check out the other dates (listed below), and come along to see us. Next stop Swindon on Saturday!

Stuart Townend