Songs For The New Millennium: Breaking The Chains book published

FOR THE new millennium, a collection of 200 songs with some prayers and responses the book Songs For The New Millennium: Breaking The Chains has been published. Over a pint in a pub in 1996, two Methodists, Martin Drewry and David Hardman,began discussing the need for more creative Christian worship. They gathered support from other Christian agencies who shared their vision and then, in order to discover new writers, ran a series of regional workshops and a national songwriting competition. Professional and amateur songwriters submitted 2,000 new works.

The resulting songbook is a mix of work by new writers and established names like John Bell (of the lona Community), Matt Redman, Martin Smith, Graham Kendrick and Jo Boyce. The songs address pain and suffering, hope, faith, justice and peace. Of his song "Come With All Of Your Pain", Simon Hester, one of the youngest contributors, said, "So many songs express the joy and hope of the Christian life. I wanted to show another side -how God is always open to us even if we come to him with only pain." Other songs in the book include "AIDS, AIDS, Give Us A Break", written by pupils from the Nsangi primary and secondary school in Uganda, and Stephen Fischbacher's "Family Blues" offering a humorous take on family life.