Getty: My melodies tend to be heavily influenced by Irish music, and the Irish melodic style is essentially congregational. Our song originally was called “My Hope Rests Firm in Christ Alone,” but we later changed it to “In Christ Alone My Hope Is Found.” Let’s have as many verses as we want, and let’s just go for it.” But we said, “Let’s write one song.” I knew I wanted the song to be story-driven, so I said, “Let’s do a song that tells the whole story of Christ coming to earth-the whole gospel story in one song. I then had the privilege of connecting with songwriter Stuart Townend, who had penned the hymn “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us.” When we first met, there wasn’t an immediate personal connection. By the time I came through this, my faith was stronger, and I really wanted to write songs for the Church that brought the full, rich, life-giving story of the gospel into believers’ hearts and minds. Around that same time, I struggled to understand and fully embrace my faith amid an unbelieving, universalist, and multi-religious culture. It was a journey to believe in the uniqueness of Christ, the Scriptures and the gospel story. This continued at university, when I lived beside Durham Cathedral, and experienced the music there-the genius and artistry of timeless melodies married to the texts of some of the most fabulous poetry ever written. During high school I was influenced by teachers and musicians who loved historic church music. Getty: I grew up in a home where we sang contemporary Christian songs and also traditional church music. Tell us your side of the journey towards writing “In Christ Alone” and towards your passion for writing modern hymns. But you still have a deep connection to the origin of this song.
WL: We know that you co-wrote “In Christ Alone” with Stuart Townend, him on the lyric side and you mostly focusing on the melody and music. It includes his personal journey towards worship leadership and the many nuances of art and craft that he has learned along the way. And as it turns out, the story behind the song is the testimony of Keith Getty, one of the song’s co-writers. It is one of the best modern examples of storytelling conveying the power of the gospel.
#Passion conferences in christ alone archive#
Subscribe today to get access to the entire archive of Worship Leader magazine, going back 20 years.įor this issue of Worship Leader with a thematic focus on the use of “story” in a service of worship we decided to tell the story of the song “In Christ Alone.” Really, it was an obvious choice. This article was originally published in the Worship Leader magazine, September 2010.
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