other people’ s songs, other people’ s voices. There is no ego in that. Just a proven desire to serve the Church.
If the modern Church were a room full of competing voices, and sometimes it is, Chris would be the one standing in the middle, making space for everyone. He is a worship leader’ s Switzerland:) A unifying force. Neutral and generous.
I already had a reason to call him. We’ d been talking about writing together for an upcoming project of his. But the moment I raised the prospect of the First Hymn, something shifted in the conversation. You could feel it through the phone.
He understood immediately what this could be. Bringing Chris into this project has proven, unsurprisingly, to be one of the best decisions we’ ve made.
[ WM ] Bringing back a song from over 1,800 years ago was something that you both took seriously. What was your approach to that?
[ Ben ] Chris and I got to work straight away. Voice notes and lyrical fragments flying back and forth across the Pacific, Australia to the United States, often in the dead of night, while the other was somewhere in their morning. There was a feverish energy to it. We both sensed we were handling something we couldn’ t afford to get wrong.
Beneath all the excitement sat the profound weight of honoring the person or people who had written this first hymn. These were persecuted Christians. Men and women who had every reason to stay silent and chose instead to sing. They sang to the“ only giver of all good gifts” with a faith so fierce and unshakeable that it has outlasted empires. We felt the responsibility of that deeply.
We had 80 % of their original lyric. And we were reluctant, almost protective, about adding too much to what they had left us. A few phrases gently rounded out. Nothing more. Their words deserved to remain their words.
The melody was harder. We wrestled with it. How much of the ancient tune should we keep? How much should we shape for modern ears? It felt like an impossible tension, faithfulness pulling in one direction, accessibility pulling in another.
Then John told us something that changed everything. Musicologists had confirmed that the original melody was written in the style of a tavern song. The kind of tune you’ d hear spilling out of a local bar or music hall. These ancient hymn writers had deliberately chosen a melody their community could sing. They wanted it to be accessible. They wanted it shared.
22 March 2026 Subscribe for Free...