MIssing Jewel by Les Moir

Author:Les Moir
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: worship;movement;nations, scripture
Publisher: David C. Cook
Published: 2017-02-03T22:47:20+00:00

Chapter 7

Songs of Fellowship and Other Resources

As much as the Holy Spirit was shaking up church services, there were also significant changes taking place throughout the wider church world. The early 80s were marked by innovative ideas which led to a growth in new resources, record labels and publishing companies, as well as conferences, songbooks and teaching. One of these developments by forward-thinking churches was the use of overhead projectors to project the song words onto screens. This was revolutionary and made it possible for new songs to spread from church to church rather than waiting years for the next edition of a songbook. By 1983 this had become widely accepted, and by 1985 was an alternative to standard songbooks.

The result was a sharp improvement in the ways in which worship leaders and songwriters were equipped and inspired.

One of the key players within all of this was Geoff Shearn who, almost two decades earlier, had been a founder member of MGO (Musical Gospel Outreach). Having now moved on from his role at Kingsway, Geoff had become Graham Kendrick’s manager and had also formed the Christian Music Association (CMA) and Just Music, both of which would go on to become significant influences in the world of worship.

As the appetite for Christian music in the mainstream started to dry up, MGO found itself getting behind a small recording project from a church in Cobham attended by Nigel Coltman, Geoff’s right hand man at MGO.

It was a simple affair, featuring contemporary worship songs that were popular throughout UK churches. It was recorded over a couple of weekends, but the album— A New Song —sold over 40,000 units over the next ten years. A second album, City of God, followed, and at some point the discussion turned to releasing an accompanying songbook.

By this time MGO had moved to Eastbourne and started to forge a close partnership with Kingsway, a Christian book publisher. Wandering around their warehouses one day, Nigel Coltman spotted something that made him stop.

It was a box of pink-covered songbooks called Songs of Fellowship. I thought it was a great title, and wondered if it was available. It turned out that the songbook had originally been put out by Fountain Trust but was no longer being published. After talking to Geoff I contacted Fountain Trust and said we’d like to use it as a title, and asked if they would mind. It was round about the time they were thinking of winding up anyway and they said it wasn’t a problem. So our very first songbook, which had fifty-three songs, was called Songs of Fellowship.

One thing Geoff and the team liked about the title was that ‘it was felt to be a little bit of a link with the house fellowships, but also it was a non-threatening phrase.’

The book was published by Kingsway Books, and CWR (Crusade for World Revival) placed an order for half of the initial print run. Volume 1 quickly became a bestseller. Geoff Shearn

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