A few months ago, I had the privilege of putting together a college-wide prayer and praise night. In the midst of studies and essays and assignments, it was good to set aside an evening to pray, sing, read scripture, and enjoy God’s presence among His gathered people.
The theme of this year’s worship night was “Remember”. We split the night into two halves – in the first hour, we took time to remember God’s mercy to us in Christ. In the second hour, we shifted focus to remember God’s mission for the nations to know Christ.
I really enjoyed worshipping together during the first hour, which was led so well by Ellen, James, Chris and Kristy from the ReachOut 2019 band. It was a treat to move from praise to prayer so seamlessly and freely throughout the first half. We were served by contributions from students and lecturers as each helped us to remember and reflect on different aspects of God’s mercy to us in Jesus.
I led the Badminton Road band for the second hour – our first and last live performance together! A personal highlight was guitaring alongside Rob Smith and Jack Batchen, two incredibly gifted electric guitarists! Thanks to Jeremiah Liew, a friend of ours, we managed to capture some of the night on video as well.
If you’re interested, here’s the setlist from the night, including a Spotify playlist Ellen put together, and some video from the 2nd half.
Part 1 — Remember God’s mercy in Christ
- Welcome & Prayer: an invitation to prefer one another and “let all things be done for building up”
- Read Psalm 103
- Sing: Only A Holy God (CityAlight)
- Sing: How Deep the Father’s Love (arr. by The Dispatch)
- Pray: 1-sentence “popcorn” prayers praising God for His attributes
- Sing: Great Are You Lord (All Sons and Daughters)
- Pray: Self-directed prayer based on Ephesians 2:1-10
- Sing: All I Have Is Christ (Sovereign Grace Music)
- Pray: Thanksgiving for mercy in Christ
- Sing: Once For All (CityAlight)
- Listen: I Stand Amazed (How Wonderful) – Womens’ Vocal Group
- Sing: Be Thou My Vision (arr. Ascend the Hill)
- Sing: O Praise the Name / What A Beautiful Name mashup
- Pray: Close 1st Hour
Part 2 — Remember God’s mission for Christ
- Sing: Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me (CityAlight)
- Welcome Back – recap 1st hour, read Psalm 67
- Sing: Behold our God (World Edition) – in multiple languages
- Pray: in 3-4’s, pray for unreached peoples on your heart, near or far
- Listen: Poem – a lament for the nations
- Listen: Remember (Matt Lo)
- Sing: You Are the God Who Saves Me (Psalm 88)
- Sing: Love, You Will Not Let Me Go
- Pray: over those who have given up their identity for Jesus to enter creative access nations
- Sing: Christ is Enough
- Sing: We Will Declare Your Glory
- Sing: Crown Him With Many Crowns
You can also see what we did in 2018 as well here. While I won’t be at college in 2020, I hope there’ll continue to be opportunities for the college community to gather and respond to everything they’ve learned in praise and prayer!