Oli Nicholls: Why I wrote my award-winning song

We love sharing good news on the blog, so when we heard that our friend Oli Nicholls, the singer songwriter behind World Vision Artists One Step Lantern, had won a competition over the weekend we jumped at the chance to have him share his thoughts on being honoured for his faith, dedication and talent.

By Oli Nicholls, World Vision Artist

Well, it’s not every weekend you win a song-writing award and have it presented to you by a total legend! So what a complete honour it was for “the father of modern worship”, Graham Kendrick, to present me with an award for one of my songs on Saturday,

The song, “Good News”, won London School of Theology’s Crossing Song competition, which sought to find the best new worship song covering a gap in theme – something we don’t sing about much in church.

“Good News” is a response to God’s heart for the poor and broken. It seeks to connect worshippers to the justice heart of God and move them into action, so “the glory of the Lord will be revealed”.

As a song writer, I’d felt challenged to equip the church with songs of justice and hope for a while. The old hymn-writers used to cover the theme extensively, but modern worship writers not so much. So last year I released the album “5+2” under the name “One Step Lantern” in a bid to redress the balance a bit.

To say I’m thrilled that such a prestigious institution, in the London School of Theology, has recognised one of my songs is an understatement. I’m humbled, encouraged and hugely thankful.

As Christians, I believe we are called to care for the broken and vulnerable, and to be agents of hope and justice in the world. Yet we seem to sing so few songs about poverty and justice in church! Rich Stearns, president of World Vision USA and author, would say this is the “Hole in our Gospel”. And partly, it’s because worship songwriters simply aren’t writing many songs on that theme.

I’m really grateful to London School of Theology for highlighting the gap, and for recognising that songwriters play a key role in plugging it.

As a World Vision Artist, I am passionate about seeing the lives of the world’s poor and vulnerable transformed. And I feel very privileged to have travelled with World Vision and seen that with my own eyes. For me, this is what the Kingdom of God is all about! So let’s sing about it more!

Thanks to Oli for sharing his thoughts. Thanks to Oli you can also click here to download the chords and lyrics for “Good News” from the One Step Lantern website to in your own church.

We’d love to hear what your favourite worship songs are – ancient or modern – and what themes you feel new songwriters like Oli should be turning their attention to. Join the discussion on our Facebook page.