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Guest Interview
THEOLOGICAL MUSIC:
AN INTERVIEW WITH KEITH GETTY Recently, Keith Getty took some time to have a conversation with the managing editor of “Faith and the Academy,” Benjamin K. Forrest. Getty, perhaps best known for his hymn, “In Christ Alone” is a hymn-writer, producer, worship leader, and author (“Sing” B&H, 2017). Along with his wife, Kristyn, he has been called to a ministry that encourages the singing of God’s people. The hope and passion for their ministry is that they will create and produce music that shapes the theology of the church and is a witness for the church — unto the Glory of God.
Forrest: Most of Our faculty and our audience are
familiar with the music you and Kristyn have written, but for those who are not, please share a little of your story and how you were called to this ministry of songwriting and music.
Getty: Well, I grew up with a bunch of guys in the
North of Ireland who, during their university years, decided they wanted to become pastors. Five of them went to Oxford or Cambridge and all were motivated to enter the ministry by the glaring need for depth among 21st century believers. We believed then and still do now, more than the previous generations that we are on an absolute precipice in history. While the Bible is in more languages than before and there are more Christians in the world, the challenges to Christianity have increased and the depth of the average Christian believer is shallower than at any point since the [Protestant] Reformation. To coin a phrase from Charles Dickens, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” It was this need, then, that made those guys want to become pastors. For me, I was neither intelligent nor holy enough to become a pastor, so I thought instead, at the age of 25, that I could write hymns that taught the Bible. The first one that was released was “In Christ Alone”, a hymn I co-wrote with Stuart Townend. Since then, the whole journey has been building on that idea, building a catalogue
In this book, Keith and Kristyn Getty write to church members to remind them why the Church should sing, when the Church should sing, and how the Church should sing. A congregation that gains a greater understanding of why they sing won’t dread a worship service, with arms crossed and shoulders slumped, but see singing as an opportunity to proclaim the gospel together in obedience to God. Sing! guides individual church members together with their congregation on a campaign to declare with one voice, This is why we sing!
Getty, Keith and Kristyn. Sing!: How Worship Transforms Your Life, Family, and Church. Nashville: B&H Publishing, 2017.