Words are powerful. They have the potential to bring us together and the potential to tear us apart. Since the beginning of time, words have carried an incredible amount
of weight. In an address to the Canadian Parliament, President John. F. Kennedy declared, “What unites us is far greater than what divides us”. He sought to bring together two countries in agreement; focusing not on their differences, but on that which might bring them together. How much more is this declaration true for those who believe in the name of Jesus? (Matt 18:19-20)

SEE ALSO: BROKEN VESSELS SONG STORY

The Apostles’ Creed is one of the most extraordinary statements in history; one of the most unifying statements of Christian belief. It centres around the core beliefs that have united the Church for centuries, and is a great part of many corporate worship services around the world.

With this in mind, John Dickson, Director of the Centre for Public Christianity, tweeted a brief request on January 4th, 2014:

Dear @hillsong, could your brilliant songwriters please put the Apostles’ Creed to inspiring music. Do world-Christianity a massive favour.

— John Dickson (@johnpauldickson) January 4, 2014

John explained his reasoning behind his tweet,

“I just thought a song that really was reminiscent of the Apostles’ Creed, that covered its main points, would be a beautiful way of calling modern churches to reflect on the foundation of the faith that unifies us.”

Cass Langton and Ben Fielding quickly replied that our team would ‘have a go’, and 
a little while later, Ben and Matt Crocker sat down to write the song that became This I Believe (The Creed).

“We took seriously what we were setting out to do; putting music to the Apostles’ Creed, which for centuries has been such a revered set of words in the church. You don’t want to treat it lightly.”– Ben Fielding

A lot of time and revision went into this song being finished. When talking about the thought behind the structure and melody of this song, Ben explains, “We wanted it to be embracing and translatable across all the different expressions of the Church, just as this creed has been for so many centuries.”

Romans 10, says, “If we believe in our hearts that Jesus rose from the dead and we confess with our mouths that He is Lord, we will be saved.” There is a power when what we believe in our hearts is brought together with the confession of our lips.

When we introduced this song to our church for the first time, we read aloud the Apostles’ Creed together and then sang the song. It was truly an incredible moment, as we were again reminded of the long history and tradition of the Church. Every time we sing this song in our local Hillsong congregations, there is a palpable sense of unity as we sing these powerful and ancient confessions of faith.

I believe in God our Father I believe in Christ the Son I believe in the Holy Spirit Our God is three in One

I believe in the resurrection That we will rise again
 For I believe in the Name of Jesus

Reflecting on the first time John heard this song, he said, “It’s not just a beautiful tune with good theology. It’s a beautiful tune with good theology that has captured the essence of the most unifying Christian statement in world history. I can well imagine, right across the spectrum of denominations, people singing this and going, “Wow, this is the core. This is what unites us—the Father, Son, Spirit with a focus on the work of the Son on the cross for us.””

As this album is released, our prayer for this song, as a musical and creative representation of the Apostles’ Creed, will help bring people together around what we all believe to be most true; in unity with one another and ultimately with God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.