Hymns: For I’m Building a People of Power

I’ve been exploring some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy 😀. But now, I’ve decided to alternate between very modern hymns, old hymns, and in-between hymns, namely the worship songs from the 60s to the 90s that feature in hymnbooks such as Mission Praise. Today it’s the turn of the in-between hymns.

Today’s song is For I’m Building a People of Power, a song associated with the charismatic movement of the 1960s and 1970s and generally attribute to Dave Richards.

We’re not talking here about military power. It’s more about the power to do good. Generally speaking, people think of doing good to other people. God is often left out of the picture. But we mustn’t forget what Jesus said about the greatest commandment:

Mark 12:29-31
²⁹ “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ³⁰ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

At various times throughout church history, movements began that encouraged people to get back to basics, to the fundamentals of the Christian faith. Such movements are sometimes controversial because to existing churches, it sounds like they’re saying “Come out of your existing apostate churches and follow us” 😀.

Throughout my evangelical Christian life (now nearly 46 years) I’ve seen many movements come and go. Some of my friends despise them all. Others are eager to join in with the latest trend. Personally, I probably maintain a distance from them, though I did take a greater interest in them for the first few years of my Christian life. Yet so much wonderful music emerged from these movements, and many of the innovations have been taken up by traditional evangelical churches. For example, the Alpha Course emerged from Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) in London, and HTB was one of the most prominent UK churches associated with promoting and hosting the Toronto Blessing in the mid‑1990s. This was a hugely controversial fad/movement, yet I see the Alpha Course being promoted in many Roman Catholic churches in Ireland nowadays. And YouTube has many videos that criticize more modern movements such as Hillsong, but again, the music gets everywhere. You don’t need to endorse or join a movement to enjoy its music. I know little about Hillsong. I just think that any movement that experiences huge growth is going to include bad apples, sometimes even at the top.

Back in the early 1980s, many new fellowships wouldn’t have “formal” services, old style buildings or music, or “one-man-ministry” pastors. They saw all that as too “churchy”. But nowadays, a new Baptist church in an Irish town might feel much more like these new churches did 40 years ago. When I lived in London, I used to attend Bermondsey Christian Fellowship (BCF), which was part of a new movement, and Westminster Chapel, which was quite traditional. Now both are part of New Frontiers, a charismatic evangelical network. BCF evolved into City Hope and Westminster Chapel kept its original name and location. But I would imagine that they differ little in the style of worship, though I’ve been to neither. And it works the other way too. Some of these radical churches ended up meeting in traditional buildings and having pastors, and some take a deep interest in Christian history and aren’t quick to dismiss what has been accomplished in the last 2026 years.

I think that I heard “For I’m Building a People of Power” for the first time around 1982. A key memory is hearing David Pawson speak at St Mark’s Church, Kennington in October 1982. He got us all to sing it and to do actions. At that time, I was very keen on the charismatic movement. I became a bit skeptical in later years, but even in reformed baptist circles (my comfort zone in later years), many were open-minded about some aspects of it. They just wanted to steer clear of the silly and sinister side of it.

One interesting thing about “For I’m Building a People of Power” is that it seems to include a prophecy and a prayer. The verse has God speaking, but He doesn’t say these specific words in the Scripture, which makes some uneasy:
For I’m building a people of power
And I’m making a people of praise
That will move through this land by my Spirit
And will glorify my precious name

Some might even think that this is claiming that God was building whatever movement was the source of the song. So, why did we sing it in Baptist churches? Well, even the old hymns display a bit of poetic license at times. And even if the Scripture doesn’t use these exact words, God is building his church, so even the older churches are probably happy to sing the song. Whatever movement or faction that you’re aligned to, God is building his church. Movements fade but the church of God goes on.

Matthew 16:17-18
¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 

I still find the song exhilarating. Some hymns focus on personal devotion, but this one focuses on the corporate aspect of worship, and even if I’m not physically present with people, this song makes me feel surrounded by fellow believers. In fact, you can get a sense of togetherness with people all over the world, and right down through history.

Heb 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,

Here are some interesting versions of the song: