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Tim Hughes is Director of Worship for the Anglican Holy Trinity Brompton Church, central London, and a nationally-known worship leader across many other denominations.
What’s important about coming together in prayer?
TH: There’s obviously a very powerful dynamic that occurs when believers gather together from different denominations, different backgrounds, different cultures, and are united behind the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord. We can see in the scriptures that it’s a very powerful thing that happens, and it also talks about God commanding a blessing when brothers and sisters dwell together in unity. There’s such a need – we just need to watch the news to see the desperate need all around us in terms of poverty, injustice, people being oppressed and abused. Never has the church needed to gather together more urgently than today to pray - to call on God to come, to bring justice, to bring comfort and healing, and for us to actually not just offer up the prayer, but to become the prayer. To go and try to make a difference.
How does prayer change us?
TH: I think it’s a very interesting question, and it’s something I would never call myself an expert on - it’s an ongoing process. I think something happens when we pray. It’s often said that to pray is to change, and also to worship is to change. And I think it’s when we come into God’s presence, when we seek him and when we look at him and we’re filled with his presence we become like him. Our hearts are softened and suddenly I think we notice the need around us. We find ourselves perhaps stirred to compassion more quickly. We find ourselves, in a righteous healthy way, more angry about something. And so we choose to give our time, to be more generous with our money and our resources and just to try and make a difference.
I think the danger can be is we hear these stories and these sermons and we take on ourselves this responsibility and this sort of sense of guilt and burden. One thing Bono once said about trying to be a people who can see an end to world poverty. He says this is not a burden, this is an adventure. And I love that because there’s an amazing opportunity for us a God’s people to demonstrate and share God’s extravagant love. But we won’t do it by just trying in our own strength. It will only happen if our hearts are changed by God’s grace and love.
When faced with these huge issues like climate change and HIV, where can you draw the strength and motivation to pray and feel you can make a difference? Having an understanding of prayer is the starting place. And we have to believe that prayer makes a difference. I’ve seen it in my life and in the church that I’m part of (I’m part of HTB – Holy Trinity Brompton), in our staff meet every Tuesday, we pray for God to move, for different situations, for specific examples. And then each week we hear feedback on how God’s answered these prayers. So that builds a sense of faith. The bible’s very clear. In Luke it talks about asking and seeking, it talks about knocking on the door and God will respond. God will give us what we ask for. There’s a belief that prayer works. But also, I think that there’s no prayer that God is more desperate to answer than these issues - water, sanitation, poverty, widows, orphans, children who have nothing, education. These are things that are on God’s heart. So when we unite, and combine, and add our weight in prayer towards these things, you have to believe that God will move. And it might not look or happen in the way we expect. And also I think the other thing I always found really helpful is that, again I‘ve caught myself doing this, you think about the big world problems, climate change or whatever, and you think, what on earth can I do? It’s like someone once asked Mother Theresa, ‘what you’re doing is like a drop in the ocean’, she said ‘yes, but the ocean is made up of many drops’. And so my prayers, my acts of kindness might be a drop in the ocean, but you know it makes a difference.
What’s important about being part of a church?
TH: Well, I think that church is so important. You know, it talks about God’s plan being the church, about building the church, about not getting into the habit of failing to meet up with other believers. For me in my personal life, as I look back on my walk with God, if I hadn’t have been rooted in a local church, I don’t know where I’d be. It’s like the picture of coals – if you pick a coal out of the fire and put it elsewhere, pretty quickly it loses its heat and effectiveness. There’s a sense of being accountable, grounded in a local church, which is so important for me in what I do. But also that friendship, that stirring each other up to love and good works is absolutely vital.
And you’re just meeting lots of new people, and there’s not that kind of depth of friendship that you have when you’ve just been committed to a church, where you know it’s very humbling for me when one night I’m leading worship at an event for 5,000 people, and everyone’s really excited and into it, and the next morning I’m leading at church, and the bass player turns up late, and the drummer can’t play the right song in time, and you’re like aargh. But, actually, that’s life and that’s so unbelievably good and helpful. I get challenged when people see my weaknesses and can speak into my life, and you’re with a team of people you love, and you’re much stronger together.