'Beautiful News' from Matt Redman

'Modern worship' and 'Matt Redman' have indeed become almost synonymous. People humming 'Blessed be your name', 'The Heart of worship' and 'Better is one day' has made a special place in their hearts for Redman making him one of the most influential voices in modern Christian music spheres. And with that the singer has also evolved with a deeper and better understanding of people's inclination towards worship songs not just for praise but also for inspiration in life.

Matt returns back to the scriptures seeking the way out as he has observed that even though the joy is multiplying yet for many it is still not morning. He pondered about questioning Lord for what he will do about teh prevalent situation? He doesn't want to be stereotyped in to pen down worship songs that merely gloss over people's hurt and anguish as people's lives are not same and many are just jaded by the strong implications that life has on them.

He derives this from his own life experiences as at the young age of seven he had to cope with his father committing suicide and him learing that only when he was ten. He reflects back on that saying that, 'At these times when things are these crossroads in one's lives, one can either traverse the path of bitterness and complain or one can trust God. Even if young, I knew God was real and was good. So I chose this path and hooked on to the Lord'.

With his mother remarrying there was further more turmoils he had to endure with his step–father turning out to be quite abusive. At that time the inclination towards God and faith further heightened. And he attributes his experinces to those days as well as he can now look back and see how Lord had his own way of revealing his will towards him.

Escaping the anger and hatred back home he found solace by being part of an Anglican Church and that is where he started out leading the worship as early as 15 years of age followed by youth groups and traveling around on church teams. So he could grow up in a beautiful environment away from hostilities.


“I was happy to be in the Church of England, because the whole liturgical aspect of things showed me that there are certain truths that we need to be visiting regularly in our worship. It gave me a real foundation, and it gave me a passion for the historical expressions of worship, like hymns.”

Matt credits not only his early discipleship for the depth and meaning in his songs, but acknowledges that the hard times he’s experienced have played a role. “I get a lot of e–mail—I get more encouragement than anyone would ever need—and people are really kind, especially about ‘Blessed Be Your Name,’ and ‘You Never Let Go’ which share some real hard, life things. I could never have written those songs if I hadn’t gone through some of this stuff.


“So, I don’t want to smooth it all over, but I would love to give people an eternal perspective, and say, as the Bible says, that however terrible and deep and harsh and weighty their suffering seems right now, it is going to be outweighed. There’s a great line in that old hymn, ‘On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand’: ‘When darkness seems to hide His face/I rest on His unchanging grace.’ You perhaps can’t see it right now, but God is holding you still. I hope that people can walk out saying, ‘Even though my circumstance hasn’t changed, I know that God is holding me, and I will hold on until the storm passes.’

All these influences and thoughts can be deeply experinced and felt through the touching and thought provoking compilation from Matt titled 'Beautiful News' out now with hits like 'Shine' and 'You never let go'.