Grace Worship is a family of worshipers serving to unite the church to treasure Jesus through theologically-rich and creatively-beautiful art. Their debut album, Christ Be All, is an intentional and tangible expression of Grace Worship’s vision and a glimpse into what God is doing at Grace Presbyterian Church.
“The motivation of this album was to create songs and content that would bring believers of different backgrounds and traditions to praise Jesus together,” says Kevin King, Director of Worship for Grace Presbyterian Church. “These are songs that maintain connection to the historic church while also welcoming modern cultural expressions and sounds, showing that, even in our art, we desire to be a church for all generations and all peoples.”
The artists at Grace Worship are privileged to belong to a church that is now over 150 years old. What once began as a small body of believers meeting in a railcar in 1862, as the Civil War was just beginning, has now continued and grown into a church that has a global reach, broadcasting its services to 85 nations daily. The goal of being a church rooted in historic foundations while reaching to future generations and diverse peoples has given birth to the distinctives of Grace Worship.
“Our historic church is in the position of many other churches, striving to link together generations and cultures in order to minister beyond tradition or preference,” says Dr. Bryan Chapell, Senior Pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church. “One of our greatest challenges and joys is shepherding our people to worship together.”
Grace is a church in the heart of central Illinois that translates its content each Sunday into five different languages, sees attenders of every age (infants to centenarians), serves a large college population, and, at the same time, ministers to about 2,000 congregants made up of engineers and doctors worshipping side by side with farmers and carpenters. Due to major international companies having their home in Peoria, IL, Grace is a hub of a vast range of cultures, educations and traditions.
With a longstanding tradition of writing hymns and songs the church can sing, one of Grace’s original Sunday School teachers was Julia Johnston, who in 1910 penned the beloved hymn Grace Greater Than Our Sin. This hymn is still sung today by congregations all over the globe and has become a staple in Christian hymnody.
Longing to continue Johnston’s heritage and to aid other churches in bringing together diverse congregations, the Christ Be All project was born. “As you experience this project, we hope you hear this unifying story coming through each track,” says King.
The song “Unlimited Grace,” themed after Dr. Chapell’s book with the same title, presents a new hymn with modern sounds, allowing the theology sung to be expressed in anthemic doxology. “Psalm of Thanksgiving” combines scriptural lyrics with melody and sound common to Top 40 radio. The chorus quotes Psalm 73 with the rest of the song referencing a scripture in every line.
The title track retells with the historic and renowned words of Andrew Murray in his book Humility, as the song unfolds the joy of following Jesus’ example to “become nothing” (Phil 2:7) and, as Jesus did, lose one’s life to find it in Him. “The Love of God” takes a well-rooted hymn in Christendom and, with both classical and pop influences, is adapted into a story-style presentation. “Calvary’s Anthem” incorporates a traditional Appalachian melody with both new and old hymnody (as the verse lyrics are new and the chorus lyrics quote “Nothing But the Blood”) along with a hand off of a band-driven and orchestra-driven arrangements.
While the endeavor of Grace Worship looks to meet a global need, the cause is quite personal. “I did not grow up a Christian,” says King, “and when I entered into Christianity, I found such unity in fellowship, communal devotion to follow the word, and yet such dissention on the topic of worship. Because of this, we are impassioned to connect to the heartbeat of Jesus in this project when Jesus prays in John 17 for his church to be one.”
Christ Be All is more than a worship album – it is a call to the church at large to join together in singing praise to Jesus. It is a nod to what has come before us and open arms to what God brings next. For each song on the album, Grace Worship has created a song story video to help better communicate this vision. They have also made available all the resources for the songs, including chord charts, lead sheets, choral scores and orchestrations. These songs flow from a desire to equip the people of Grace Presbyterian Church as well as churches around the world.
Grace Worship desires to make much of Jesus’ unifying mission through music that equips the church for worship across generations. Whether a church accents a past generation or a current one -- whether the label is formal or informal -- Jesus has not forsaken any in his church. These songs aim to celebrate that gospel message. Every story and generation matters, because each represents unique ways in which God is displaying his glory through his Body and Spirit. It is the prayer and hope of Grace Worship that these songs point one to Jesus, help one understand and commune with Him often, and offer opportunities for one to stand beside brothers and sisters of all ages and backgrounds in joyful, united praise.