After having read and reviewed Jonathan Aitken’s biography, John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace
I was left wondering what it would be like to sit and share a coffee with the man himself, ask him some questions about writing songs for the worshipping community and the power of music to proclaim the gospel. Of course, Newton’s been dead 200 years now, but thankfully, God has blessed me with an “unusual imagination” as my grandmother used to say. The following interview is how I think it may have gone down if John Newton was transported to San Diego in 2007 and met me at a Starbucks.
BT: Reverend Newton, thanks for being here and agreeing to do this interview posthumously. Your hymns, especially Amazing Grace, have had such an impact on the church for so many years; it is a real honor for me.
JN: Please, call me John. Although I may be, er…rather have been, an Anglican, I was a low churchman that always focused on the gospel rather on my specific tradition or church pedigree.
BT: Cool. After reading your biography by Jonathan Aitken, there are so many things we could discuss since the pages of your life turned like an epic adventure movie, but my audience is more concerned about your role a hymn writer, since that is why you are still celebrated today. Could you share a little background on how you began to develop this aspect of your ministry?
JN: Well my life did have a lot of ups and downs, but I don’t if it was all that exciting, especially since I do not know what an epic adventure movie is, but I will tell you that my love for song goes back to my years of being a seafarer. Music was just a part of every day life at sea, singing shanties, generally whooping it up with my fellow sailors during the course of what were often very hard and long days. I wasn’t always a Christian, you know? I hated authority figures, and therefore, I took it out on my superiors – most of them, anyway. I was always good with a verse and found that I could unify the crew in my hatred for the captain or the other officers by creating silly songs that would poke fun at their expense. I acted quite wantonly in those days. But as God in his grace sought to renew and restore me by his loving power, I was given something new to sing about, such as it were. I journaled for years about my life, prayers, and of course, the poetry that would later be put to song. But it wasn’t until my first pastorate that I truly began developing the songs that would make up our little hymnal.
BT: This would be the parish in Olney, right? And that not-so-little hymnal was a collection of several hundred songs that were written by you and your friend William Cowper.
JN: Yes, of course. Olney was my first official church pastorate, and it was a little rural parish, largely attended by lace-makers, blacksmiths, field laborers and general tradesman, so much of that collection of hymns grew out of my love and ministry for this group of saints.
BT: Could you explain the philosophy of writing the hymns, and how you employed them in worship?
JN: Well in those days congregational singing was very poor, and in many sectors general hymnody as you know it was not very popular. It began to grow in the independent movements through the Wesley brothers, which I had an affinity for, because of their desire to see the lost come to faith. At Olney we had a thriving children’s ministry on Thursdays, and because many of the children, as well as their parents, were not literate, I began employing simple songs that I wrote based upon Scripture passages as a means to teach these young ones by memorization. At this time, I had a wonderful woman in the church by the name of Mary Unwin who possessed a beautiful voice, so I often used her to help work out the song arrangements and lead the children. This practice became so well liked that it spilled over into other church meetings and often to Sunday morning services, where singing in this free and joyful manner was considered quite experimental, but the parishioners seemed to enjoy it.
BT: So you employed singing as a means of instruction. How would you determine what topics from Scripture to write songs about?
JN: The majority of the music was written around the particular topics I was preaching on. I used the power of music, rhyme and rhythm, the use of memory to help buttress the preached word. I found that by focusing on one major theme each week it helped to reinforce the entire service, and particularly, to illustrate the Biblical passage from which I was preaching. Of course, early on, we didn’t have a lot of songs to choose from, but Mr. Cowper and I spurred one another on each week and we would write about four or five new songs each month. And we used some of the songs from the Isaac Watts and the Wesley brothers, too.
BT: What particular elements of writing church music do you think you could share with our readers that may help them follow in your footsteps?
JN: My hymns were always much simpler than many of my contemporaries, especially Cowper, who was a first rate poet. The first thing I would say is that your songs must be based upon Scripture, or at least Scriptural truths. Secondly, they must be written for a particular audience to sing, and therefore…singable. I wrote these songs for my congregation. They expressed the desires, needs, and adoration of our particular community and as such, were very personal. That is not to say that they cannot transcend your particular community, because the truth of God does so, and of course, many Christians will share common experiences, but your community must be the starting place in which to create.
BT: When you say your songs were much simpler, what do you mean?
JN: Again this goes back to my community which were common laborers and uneducated. The content of the music expressed the deep wisdom and riches of God, but I sought to convey that in lyrics that were simple to sing. If I did anything well I guess it was that I was able to employ music in a way that made complex ideas more understandable to the man or woman in the pew that just wanted to praise their God. The two most common books in church in those days were the King James Bible and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, and both proved to be difficult for the common man to understand, so the poetical forms I used were very simple: easy cadence, few syllables, and a simple rhyming structure, which helped with memorization, so the church could learn the tune in just a couple passes. [By way of example, Newton burst into verse, which did turn a few heads in the coffee shop.]
And may the gospel’s joyful sound
Enforced by mighty grace,
Awaken many sinners round,
To come and fill the place.
JN: I guess you could say that clarity and simplicity were the cornerstones of my hymn writing.
BT: Yes, that makes sense, because the song you are most known for is both profound, and yet simple, and I guess you could say profoundly simple, since it employs only 146 words, and of those no fewer than 125 are words of one syllable.
JN: Are you speaking of Amazing Grace?
BT: Yes. It has become the most sung, most recorded, and most loved hymn in the world. Could you tell us a little about its background?
JN: I believe I conceived this song back in December of 1772 in preparation for a sermon I was going to preach on New Years day. I often used the beginning of the new year to challenge my congregation to take stock of their spiritual lives, and I believe I was going to preach on the life of David from 1 Chronicles 17, if my memory serves me aright. I saw great spiritual parallels in the life of King David and myself, both the worst of sinners, and yet, undeserved recipients of God’s amazing grace. Amazing Grace had many personal overtones in it, so you could say this song had the two-fold advantage of illustrating God’s grace and a bit of spiritual autobiography in it, which every sinner who was lost but found could grab hold of and make their own song. By using the personal pronouns – I, me, my, mine – I was able to illustrate each person’s spiritual journey of faith, which I guess is why this song has become so prominent. We can all relate to God’s amazing grace found in Christ alone.
BT: Amen to that. Thank you for your time, Reverend Newton. Any last words?
JN: What is this beverage that I’ve been drinking?
BT: A Carmel Macchiato.
JN: Yes. A Carmel Macchiato, you say. It’s delightful!
To learn more about John Newton, please checkout Jonathan Aitken’s biography, “John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace”, by Crossway Books, which can be found here.
Brian Thomas is a Director of Worship and the owner of a missional worship label Semper Reformanda Records in San Diego, CA.
Can you imagine the difference it would make on your band or worship team if they felt the passion, the privilege, and responsibility of a Holy Calling rather than the duties of a volunteer.
In his book entitled "Heart of the Artist" Rory Noland poses that your ministry teams must not be merely Volunteers but must have a "Holy Calling" on their lives for that specific ministry.
Below is his list of differences between "Volunteers" and people with a "Holy Calling".
1. Volunteers see their involvement at church as community service, but people called of God see it as ministry.
2. Volunteers whine about what it's going to cost to serve, but people called are committed to serving.
3. Volunteers shrink back from resolving relational conflict, but people called of God seek to resolve relational conflict for the sake of unity in the church.
4. Volunteers look upon rehearsal as another commitment they're obligated to fulfill, but people called of God look forward to rehearsal as another opportunity to be used by God.
5. Volunteers do no outside practicing or preparation, but people who are called of God come to rehearsals and a performance as prepared as possible.
6. Volunteers are not open to constructive criticism; they get defensive about it. But people of God are grateful for feedback because they want to be the best they can be.
7. Volunteers feel threatened by the talent of others, but people called of God Praise Him for distributing gifts and talents as He chooses.
8. Volunteers want to quit at the first sign of adversity or discouragement, but people called of God dig in and persevere.
9. Volunteers find their main source of fulfillment in their talents and abilities, but people called of God know that being used of God is the most fulfilling thing you can do with your life.
10. Volunteers can't handle begin put in situations in which they're going to be stretched, but people called of God respond to God's call with humble dependence on Him.
How much more would your team members be motivated, if they were fueled by a Holy Calling rather than by simple duty? Let me encourage you as leaders who are fulfilling your own calling. We must be intentional in the ways which we lead our teams. Remind them of their calling. And if necessary remove them if they are more like volunteers than people with a "Holy Calling".
ow that a great musical from the 70's was inspirely written about it, IF MY PEOPLE;
it has been sung in churches from coast to coast; giving the church a new dose of this powerful prophetical passage.
La Vie en Rose (2007) -
Ray (2004) - the story of Ray Charles
Walk the Line (2005) -
Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)-
Bird (1988)- the story of Charlie (Bird) Parker
Lady Sings the Blues (1972)- the story of Billie Holiday
Shine (1996) - the story of pianist David Helfgott
Amadeus (1983) -
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