A Clarion Call
With its new album, The Mission Bell, Brit rock/worship band Delirious is challenging the church to take more of a stand for the things it believes in.
by Jackie A. Chapman | posted 2/06/2006
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The face of modern worship for over a decade, Delirious released its newest (some would say finest) collection of worshipful rock music last month, The Mission Bell. Together for 13 years, Martin Smith (vocals, guitars), Stu Garrard (guitars), Tim Jupp (keys), Jon Thatcher (bass), and Stew Smith (drums) continue to innovate a band and its music while watching how their own lives and worldviews evolve and expand. Frontman Martin Smith explains how a new season in life invades a career called Delirious, resulting in an urgent message for the global church.
Delirious—Tim Jupp (left), Stew Smith, Martin Smith, Stu Garrard, and Jon Thatcher—are as serious as ever about inspiring the global Church to become active in the world.
What exactly does the title The Mission Bell refer to?
Martin Smith In the old days in England, the town crier would ring the bell to call everyone to the town square to hear the news. There is urgency now. There is a call to the church to reevaluate what we believe and what we are going to do about it. Where the theme for our last record World Service was grace, the theme on this record definitely is mission.
Is there something you see in the church today that worries you or excites you to the extent that you would deliver a whole record to the body?
Smith I've always been a fan of the church. I'm part of it; I grew up in it. It's what Christ is coming back for. What we write and sing about is always coming from where we are locally. But we need a shake-up: What do we stand for? What other things should we stand for? Things like justice and worship. I can't comment on whether the whole church is doing well, but I do know what God is doing in Westhampton [on the UK's west coast]. And there is a big shift that is happening—to get our hands dirty. I know that phrase is used a lot, but there is a move to infiltrate our locality. The song "Now Is the Time" was written for our own people, and when it's sung at our own church, it's really exciting to hear, "Now is the time for us to shine, to shine the face of Christ divine."
As a band, how did Delirious come to this theme, about making The Mission Bell a wake-up call to the church?
Smith It's both a coming of age and a different season we're in. We're all two years older [since World Service] and a lot can happen in that bit of time. God can do a lot in that time. It's a new time, a new season.
This coming of age, for us guys, we're not 18 or 19 years old anymore. All these issues and topics come with age, with having kids and families. We love playing in a band, but we have concerns outside. Our heart is enlarged for the world. In the beginning you want to sell a lot of records, but priorities become different—to do our bit and fulfill the call of God for our lives.
Delirious is definitely at the stage where, this is it. There won't be another band. Individually, there might be other opportunities, but we've given our life to this and we are a big team. We are absolutely grateful to do this; it's a fantastic job, to go around inspiring a generation of young people. But as you get older, the purpose becomes more than gold discs hanging on the wall. Those become very hollow. We make sure to ask ourselves, "Is the music we're writing touching people?" For those who are selling millions of records, their music doesn't necessarily move anybody or change the atmosphere in the room toward God.
It's been 10 to 13 years, leading worship conventionally and unconventionally. We have had fantastic seasons, but another season always comes and we ask ourselves, "What are we now going to do with it? Where are we going with all this?" If you don't channel all this into a record or help someone next door, if you don't take in the full spectrum and channel that into change, what you learn in the new season is no good to anyone really. So, we thought, "Well, maybe we need to be writing songs about this and challenge the church to be living this."
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