British singer-songwriter Matt Redman clinches his first No. 1 single with “10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord)”.
By Yong Yung Shin
Redman is the writer behind “Heart Of Worship” and “Our God”. PHOTO COURTESY OF SIXSTEP RECORDS.
With the release of his latest single “10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)”, written with Jonas Myrin, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Matt Redman has become the first Brit to top the US Christian music charts, US Christian Soundscan and the iTunes Christian Album Chart.
The worship track, taken from his eighth album of the same title, speaks of the “many, many reasons there are to worship God. And, of course, when I say ‘10,000 Reasons’ that’s obviously a huge poetic understatement. When it comes to worship, there are an eternity of reasons to respond to God and His worth,” he said in an interview with Christian Post.
City News chats with Redman about worship music of the future and the one constant challenge he faces in his craft.
How has worship music in the Church evolved for the Body of Christ in the past two decades and what role is it going to play in the coming age of Christianity?
Worship music has always played a big part. Just look through Scripture, there are so many times that the people of God journey together with worship music. And there’s even a whole songbook in the Bible! The Psalms would have been the hymnbook of Jesus as He walked the earth. So worship music is always there in the mix, and it always will be—look at the book of Revelation for proof! Right now, there’s a lot of excitement around new songs and sounds in worship music, and that’s great. But the real challenge is going to be in making sure there’s a depth to what we are singing.
There is a generation gap between Christians today and the older Christians who grew up on songs from Maranatha Music in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Are you conscious of this and how does your music bridge the gap?
Yes, I’m aware of different sounds and styles, and that most people have some kind of preference. I think the key is to write and lead in a way that feels real and natural to you—but all the time celebrating (and never judging) the ways that other people express their worship through music. I love a five-minute-old song, and I love a five-year-old hymn. If you think about it, there’s a power in celebrating both, for they display that the Church is not just some random, temporary club which is here today and gone tomorrow. We are the singing Bride of Christ, and there will never be a time when our song doesn’t rise to Him.
You recently released “Twenty Seven Million”—a song that aims to raise awareness for the anti-human trafficking movement. Tell us more about it.
My wife Beth was very impacted by this theme, and had a real sense of God’s heart for the stolen, the abused and the forgotten. They say there are 27 million people trapped in modern day slavery around the earth today. We decided that one thing we could do was to write a song to raise awareness, and that’s how “Twenty Seven Million” came about.
It reached number 12 on the national UK chart and showed up on iTunes charts all around the globe on release week. In the first month it had over 100,000 views on YouTube. So we were really pleased that it raised some awareness, but of course, the real key is what we do with that awareness. For anyone interested, visit www.theA21campaign.org.
Having been a worship leader for almost 20 years, what would you say have been the biggest challenges for you as a Christian contemporary music singer-songwriter?
The main challenges stay the same, trying to stay dependent on God, that kind of thing. One of my favorite quotes is from Oswald Chambers: “Complete weakness and dependence will always be the occasion for the Spirit of God to demonstrate His power.”
For more information, log on to www.mattredman.com.
