Kingdom Dreamers
By Tom Eccleshall
We believe these songs are a timely resource for the church today. The EP contains five songs and Tom shares the story behind each one here.
Fighting Back
‘I wrote this song with my wife, Sarah, during the lockdown to help our church respond to the pandemic. At the time I was starting to feel ill with some of the symptoms of Covid-19 and I began to feel fairly anxious. In the Bible, during the darkest moments, people worshipped and it changed things. One of the most powerful things we can do when we are in the middle of a struggle is to defy that struggle with praise and worship. We believe that this is a song of hope for the church in times such as these.’
God Of Freedom
‘This song started as a simple prayer for God to release his freedom in our times of worship at our church. It was intended to be a small refrain to open our worship set, and nothing more, but it soon became clear that God was really using this song in an exciting way. The song is based on 2 Corinthians 3:17, “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom,” and this is repeated throughout the song. I wanted to repeat the line enough times until we would see it come into being, like the way ancient monks would chant a phrase over and over again.’
Enough
‘I wrote this song with some friends, Elias Dummer and Jeff Johnson. It was one of those incredible moments, where I had a song idea prepared which I was stuck on and it was all about Jesus being enough. Then at the start of our writing session, Elias said “I really want to write a song about Jesus being enough.” The rest was beautiful to write, as we dug deep in the verses to try to articulate why Jesus is enough. Success, money, or even songwriting and leading worship would never satisfy. If our identity is rooted in any of these things then we’re going to be left unsatisfied. This song reminds me that my identity needs to be firmly rooted in Jesus – and nothing else.’
Kingdom Dreamers
‘Bill Johnson once said, “Songwriters: sing what you want to see the church look like in 5, 10 or 15 years time.” When I first read this I was really moved, and instantly began to picture what I’d love to see our church and city look like in five years time. The verses of this song are a prayer, for what God could do in our community over the coming years. This song encourages our church to dare to dream again, and to choose hope that we might see God move in ways we’d never seen before in our community.’
Father (For Noah)
‘This song is a really special song to me. It’s not one I’d play in times of worship at our church, but it still felt really right to put it on this EP. Recently my wife and I had our first child, Noah, and as many parents have discovered it is a huge adjustment to life, but also a time of great fragility. I remember in the first few months of Noah’s life, just trying to imagine what sort of father I wanted to be, and then it hit me: even if I dedicated my whole life to being the best father in the world, I would sadly still fall short. Unfortunately, despite my best intentions I will let him down. So with that in mind, what can I wish for him? This song is like a message in a bottle to my son in the future. I want him to know that I love him unconditionally, but more than that, I want him to know that his Father in heaven will not let him down. I hope this song is helpful for any parents out there, that you won’t forget you need God’s grace too. Also, for anyone whose earthly father is not around anymore – whatever relationship you’ve had, and we all know that no earthly father is ever perfect – but we all can unite and relate around our Father in heaven who always loves us perfectly. And finally, I hope this song is a prayer for anyone who longs to see their children know their Father in heaven as their saviour.’
Tom + Sarah Eccleshall (Worship Pastor, KXC) and Pete + Bee Hughes (Leaders, KXC)