Heart Of Worship

This famous song was written after a season of dryness. In the late 1990’s Matt Redman’s hometown church was having a dry spell with their praise and worship. The Soul Survivor church located in Watford, England decided to get rid of it’s high tech sound equipment for a season. Things had become so repetitious the members and leaders of the church were looking for something to spark the life back into the worship.

Matt Redman recalls “He decided (Pastor Mike Pilavachi) to get rid of the sound system and band for a season, and we gathered together with just our voices. His point was that we’d lost our way in worship, and the way to get back to the heart would be to strip everything away.” Mike Pilavachi asked those in the congregation, “When you come through the doors on a Sunday, what are you bringing as your offering to God?”

Heart Of Worship

Pastor Mike Pilavachi jokingly says he fired Redman “We needed to take drastic action. For a while, in order to truly learn this lesson, we banned the band. We fired Redman!” Pilavachi didn’t know what needed to be done, but was desperate to stop what he felt like what the judging of the worship going on. “In our hearts, we were giving the worship team grades on a scale from one to ten: ‘Not that song again,’ ‘I can’t hear the bass,’ ‘I like the way she sings better.’ We had made the band the performers of worship and ourselves the audience.”

Matt Redman stated that at first everyone in the church was hesitant but slowly began singing without the music to back it up. Heartfelt prayers began all over the church. Everything was stripped away. Redman remembers writing the song coming to him quickly in his bedroom. The song was not meant to be a Christian anthem. Redman says the song was simply to explain what had happened personally to him. Pastor Pilavachi suggested a few word changes so that it would fit the members of the congregation and the song was born.

The song was not meant to be a Christian anthem. Redman says the song was simply to explain what had happened personally to him. Pastor Pilavachi suggested a few word changes so that it would fit the members of the congregation and the song was born.

The song appeared on Matt Redman’s 1999 album “Heart of Worship”. Redman recalls the song was made to sound much like the scene in the church. Nothing fancy added, just an honest song of praise. Since the song’s release it has been rerecorded by numerous artists and sang in Churches all over the world.

The Soul Survivor church itself has spread as well as the song has. The church started in 1993 has spread to Canada, Holland, South Africa, Australia and The United States.

The Heart Of Worship is taught in Volume Two of Jean Welles Worship Guitar Class.