CAPTION: Singers and musicians from churches across Devon and further afield gathered for the retreat on the North Devon coast
Worship Leaders Gather for Lee Abbey’s First Songwriting Retreat
Songwriters and worship leaders from churches across the South West and beyond recently gathered at Lee Abbey Christian Retreat Centre in North Devon for its first Songwriters’ and Worship Leaders retreat.
The weekend was led by Stephen Crowther, who runs worship at Lee Abbey with his wife Fiona. It included a talk on the theology of worship leading from Sarah Grant, who leads a community singing group for new mothers in Dorset, and songwriting guidance from musician, Rev’d George White, who leads a church in Nottingham, but writes songs primarily for a non-church audience.
Stephen said “The Church in the South West is blessed with some truly extraordinary songwriters and worship leaders. Having some of them gather together has made it clear to me how unified we are in our heart and vision.
The weekend including teaching and time for songwriting
“We desire to glorify God, declare His praise and experience His presence.
“I hope that the power of the Holy Spirit continues to fall on these songsmiths and worship leaders and that as a result they might see their churches come alive with that same longing for the presence of God.
“Lee Abbey is looking to serve and enable these creatives to be a blessing to the Church because true beauty testifies to the gospel of Jesus in a way that informs and surpasses understanding. We can’t wait for more gatherings, full of worship and equipping and creativity.”
During the weekend there were times for gathered worship and space for people to write new songs – in groups or on their own.
New songs were performed on the Sunday morning
Su Bowler, who leads worship at St George & St Paul’s church in Tiverton with her daughter Mim, said “It was so special to go to Lee Abbey with my daugter, who’s starting her worship leading journey, and have some dedicated time away from the day-to-day, to seek God together and also learn from others.”
The people attending the weekend led worship at churches from different denominations and across different traditions.
Ann Williams, a piano teacher and worship leader from Bude, said “Having not really written any songs in the past, although I have composed a poem or two, I thought this would be a good experience and I was not disappointed. It was a very inspiring weekend.
“I think the highlights of the weekend for me were the incredible worship evening on Saturday and then on the Sunday morning a few people in the group performed songs they had written over the course of the weekend – which I thought were incredible.”
Steve Gibson, a Devon-based songwriter and musician who leads the Pursue worship network and leads worship at the Diocese of Exeter Mission Shed events, commented “The weekend provided the exact mix of inspiration and space, making it that much easier to work out what God might be saying to each of us as we attempted to put our thoughts to music.
“I can’t wait to record the songs that were formed during this time away.”
You can find out more about Lee Abbey and its programme of retreats here.
