"Here I Am to Worship" is a song written by

Tim Hughes Timothy David Llewelyn Hughes (born 23 July 1977) is a British worship leader, singer, songwriter, and Anglican priest. Formerly the director of worship at Holy Trinity Brompton, a large Anglican church in central London, he has since been o ...

and was released as the title song of his debut album ''

Here I Am to Worship ''Here I Am to Worship'' is an album of Christian music by singer-songwriter Tim Hughes. Track listing All songs written by Tim Hughes, except where noted. {{Authority control Personnel * Tim Hughes – lead vocals, backing vocals, add ...

''. The song is a popular worship ballad. It is commonly sung at Christian churches, festivals and youth gatherings. The song was ranked No. 1 on the

Christian Copyright Licensing International Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI) is a privately owned company that was founded in the US in 1988 by Howard Rachinski. CCLI was launched after being developed by Rachinski for 3½ years while he was a music minister at a large ch ...

(CCLI) two years in a row and was still ranked on their Top 25 Songs list in 2016.

Writing and inspiration

Hughes wrote the song in 1999 as a response to how he felt after reading

Philippians 2 Philippians 2 is the second chapter of the Epistle to the Philippians in the New Testament of the Christianity, Christian Bible. It is Authorship of the Pauline epistles, authored by Paul the Apostle about mid-50s to early 60s AD and addressed to ...

. The passage speaks about Christ's humility and how He willingly left His throne in heaven, came to earth as a man, and sacrificed Himself on the cross all because of His love for us. With this passage in mind, he picked up his guitar and, as he sang, the words to the song flowed out, but he was not satisfied with the chorus and felt that it did not flow well with the song. For several months, he struggled with the chorus and even put the song aside for about six months before finally finishing it. However, he was still not confident in the chorus. It was not until he played this song at his home church Soul Survivor, and his pastor told him to play the song more often, that he realized the potential the song had. Since then, this song has spread and become widely known. Hughes himself said. "No one has been more surprised than myself at seeing how God has used this worship song." The themes in the song are the life of Jesus, thankfulness, and worship.

Composition

"Here I Am to Worship" is a slow worship ballad with a length of five minutes and fifteen seconds. The song is set in

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

and has a tempo of 75

beats per minute Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ( ...

. It is written in the key

E Major E major (or the key of E) is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equivalent, ...

. The verses follow the chord progression E - B - F♯m - A - E - B - A, the chorus follows the progression E - B - C♯m - A, and the bridge follows the progression B - E - A.

Versions

It has been covered by other

contemporary worship music Contemporary worship music (CWM), also known as praise and worship music, is a defined genre of Christian music used in contemporary worship. It has developed over the past 60 years and is stylistically similar to pop music. The songs are fr ...

ians, including: *

Michael W. Smith Michael Whitaker Smith (born October 7, 1957) is an American musician who has charted in both contemporary Christian and mainstream charts. His biggest success in mainstream music was in 1991 when "Place in This World" hit No. 6 on the ''B ...

('' Worship Again'', 2002) *

Chris Tomlin Christopher Dwayne Tomlin (born May 4, 1972) is an American contemporary Christian music singer, songwriter, and worship leader from Grand Saline, Texas, United States, who has sold over 7 million records. He is a member of Passion Conferences an ...

(''Passion: Our Love is Loud'', 2002) *

Michael Gungor Michael Gungor (born September 14, 1980) also known as Vishnu Dass is an American singer-songwriter, producer, music editor, author, and podcast host. He led the musical collective Gungor, which received multiple Grammy nominations. The group's ...

(''

Bigger Than My Imagination ''Bigger Than My Imagination'' is the debut album of contemporary worship musician Michael Gungor. Track listing # "Closest Friend" # "Friend of God" # "Bigger Than My Imagination" # "Move Me" # "Meet With Me" # "Waiting" # "I Am Yours" # "L ...

'', 2003) * Hillsong (''

Hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large. As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...

'', 2003) recorded in a medley with "Call" *

Phillips, Craig and Dean Phillips, Craig and Dean (rendered as Phillips, Craig & Dean on albums) is a contemporary Christian music trio composed of pastors Randy Phillips, Shawn Craig, and Dan Dean. Since forming in 1991, the group has sold over two million units. They ...

(''Let Your Glory Fall'', 2003) * Plus One ('' WOW Worship: Red'', 2004 and ''Exodus'', 2003) *

John Tesh John Frank Tesh (born July 9, 1952) is an American pianist and composer of pop music, as well as a radio host and television presenter. He hosts the ''Intelligence for Your Life'' radio show. In addition, since 2014, he has hosted ''Intelligen ...

(''Worship Collection: Awesome God'', 2003) *

Rebecca St. James Rebecca Jean Fink (; born 26 July 1977), known professionally as Rebecca Jean or Rebecca St. James, is an Australian Christian pop rock singer, songwriter and actress. She began performing in Australia in the late 1980s and released her first ...

(''Live Worship: Blessed Be Your Name'', 2004) * Salvador (band), Salvador (''Worship Live'', 2003) *

Sonicflood Sonicflood (sometimes stylized as SONICFLOOd) is an American contemporary worship music band from Nashville, Tennessee, that has been touted as "The Fathers of the Modern Worship Movement." The group took the name "Sonicflood", a reference to a l ...

(''Cry Holy'', 2003) *

Jeremy Camp Jeremy Thomas Camp (born January 12, 1978) is an American contemporary Christian music singer and songwriter from Lafayette, Indiana. He has released eleven albums, four of them RIAA-certified as Gold, and two live albums. Camp's original musi ...

(''Empty Me, Vol. 1'', 2004) *

Israel & New Breed Israel Houghton (; born May 19, 1971) is an American contemporary Christian music singer, songwriter, producer and worship leader. He is usually credited as Israel & New Breed. Musical career Houghton produced an album by Michael Gungor, ''Big ...

(''Live from Another Level'', 2004) *

Terry MacAlmon Terry MacAlmon (born May 12, 1955) is an American Christian singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, worship leader and author. He is known for writing the popular song 'I Sing Praises', that has been a Top 40 Christian song around the wo ...

(''The Sound of Heaven'', 2004) * Hillsong (''

Ultimate Worship ''Ultimate Worship'' is a compilation praise and worship album of contemporary worship music by the Hillsong Church. The album appeared on the '' Billboard'' Top Heatseekers and reached No. 19 on the Top Christian Albums Chart. Album detai ...

'', 2005) *

The O.C. Supertones The Orange County Supertones (a.k.a. The O.C. Supertones, or simply The Supertones) were a Christian ska band from Orange County, California. The band was signed to Tooth & Nail Records and its imprint, BEC Recordings, before becoming an indepen ...

(''

Faith of a Child ''Faith of a Child'' is the ninth CD released by the O.C. Supertones. The first five tracks are unreleased worship recordings, while the remainder of the album consists of previously released material. This was the first album to be recorded bac ...

'', 2005) *

Randy Travis Randy Bruce Traywick (born May 4, 1959), known professionally as Randy Travis, is an American country music and gospel music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. Active from 1978 until being incapacitated by a stroke in 2013, he has recor ...

('' Glory Train: Songs of Faith, Worship, and Praise'', 2005) *

Lincoln Brewster Lincoln Brewster (born July 30, 1971) is an American contemporary Christian musician and worship pastor. As a guitarist, singer, and songwriter, Brewster became a sought-after session guitarist in the early 90s. Brewster is the former senior wo ...

('' Let the Praises Ring'', 2006) *

Lenny LeBlanc Lenny LeBlanc (born June 17, 1951) is an American musician and songwriter. He started his career with Pete Carr in 1975 and later separated ways when both had different plans for their profession. A resident of Alabama, he is known for the song ...

(''Songs 4 Worship: Country'', 2007) *

VeggieTales ''VeggieTales'' is an American Christian media, computer generated musical children's animation, and book franchise created by Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki under Big Idea Entertainment. The series sees fruit and vegetable characters retelling ...

(“Here i Am To Worship, 2007”)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Here I Am to Worship (song) Contemporary Christian songs 2001 songs