Protest Songs – Do They Have A Place In Worship?
August 26, 2009
Do protest songs have a place in the life of a worshiping community?
On my recent US trip/tour I did a cover of Brian Houston’s “We Don’t Need Religion”. It’s a song that was written against the backdrop of the heady cocktail of politics and religion which has intoxicated our culture here in Northern Ireland for a long time. It voices the cry to be free from all that and has gotten him into trouble as result – some radio stations refused to play it!
According to Wikipedia “A protest song is a song which is associated with a movement for social change”. By that definition some songs that the church sings should be protest songs. If we are being ‘salt and light’ in our sphere of influence then social change would be an expected by-product.
Leave a comment and let me know what you think and I’d love to hear about other great examples of Christian protest songs.
I see the people in the balconies, in the streets an in their cars
All the party going animals out in the backrooms and the bars saying:
we don’t need religion, we don’t need religion
I’ve been a timber jack, I’ve been a labourer, a shipyard man and a shirker
worked with builders building houses and heard a million McDonald’s workers saying:
we don’t need religion, we don’t need religion
we don’t need religion – but we could use the love of God!
Woh, oh oh oh…
I’ve got false prophets on my TV tellin me this union’s doomed
while all the spirit filled believers shake up the floor space in the room saying:
we don’t need religion, we don’t need religion
Come on you pastors and you preachers, all you priests, nun’s and scholars
Come on walk down the road without those robes, crucifixes and orange collars
we don’t need religion, we don’t need religion
we don’t need religion – but we could use the love of God!
Woh, oh oh oh…
Well is it Saturday or is it Sunday, to tell the truth I’m never sure
There’s a sabbath in there somewhere, how come we never try Yom Kippur
we don’t need religion, we don’t need religion
And while we’re all so busy fighting using up God’s precious time
There’s a thousand starving homeless saying buddy can you spare a dime
we don’t need religion, we don’t need religion
we don’t need religion – but we could use the love of God!
Woh, oh oh oh…
B.O.G.O.F.F – Wanna Help Give Away Free Worship CDs?
August 10, 2009
Buy.One.GIVE.One.For.Free
Yep, when you buy a copy of Mercy Tracks Me Down you will also be giving away another CD!
Here’s how it works.
Over the past few years I have been traveling with teams and bands to various parts of the planet, Europe (East & West), the Far East as well as closer to home working in partnership with local churches and ministries. And one of the most effective ways of connecting with and influencing folks who have yet to meet Jesus is by giving away FREE worship CDs.
Let me give you an example.
Last year as a result of playing in an ex-KGB drinking haunt in Lithuania, which is now a bar/restaurant, our band got booked to play at a science conference – yeah, really!
We got invited to play at the party night for an international gathering of marine biologists on the shores of the Baltic sea in Lithuania . In these scenarios whilst the crowd are partying and being entertained what they probably don’t realize is that we are worshiping and they are being drawn into the experience.
It’s a long story but we met one of the organizers a few days before the event and gave him a copy of a CD.
When we arrived to set up for the conference he said that he had been playing one of the tracks on repeat for 3 days because it kept the stress at bay as he was managing all the last minute emergencies that crop up when organizing an event like that.
Although not a follower of Jesus, the song that really ‘hit the spot’ for him was the guitar driven anthem version of Be Thou My Vision from Mercy Tracks Me Down. He said that he felt a real sense of peace as it played in the background and it has led to an ongoing connection with the local church there.
Here’s how you can partner with this initiative.
For every CD you buy through this link I’ll arrange for another to be given away for free on your behalf and together we can influence others towards a life changing encounter with Jesus.
Buy One GIVE One For Free
All this for only $14.97 + P&P
Let’s Get Social
'I've known Andy for 18 years - both as a worship leader in the church I attended as a teenager, and then as a friend and co-leader as we grew a little older together.
