Mandarin worship band Stream of Praise were recently in Singapore and held a worship concert at City Harvest’s Suntec auditorium on their final night. CHC’s Chinese translator attended the concert and shares her experience.
Stream of Praise (SOP) is a household name among Chinese-speaking believers. One could even say that wherever there is a Chinese church, there you will find the songs of SOP. Be it in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan or China, their songs are the most widely sung in Chinese-speaking Christian circles.
As a Chinese translator, I often get inspiration from their songs when I do translations for song. Having heard so much about them and listened to their songs for so many years, you can imagine my excitement when I found out that they were going to hold a worship night right here at CHC.
Although I was aware of their popularity, I was still astonished to find out that the tickets to their worship night had been snapped up in a mere few hours. Besides that, on the actual day of the event, the queue to enter the hall formed hours before the event commenced. As I walked into the auditorium, there was a buzz of excitement in the atmosphere. While waiting for the worship night to begin, the audience watched videos teaching people how to sing and warm up their vocals. SOP not only brought worship to Singapore in performance, the team also imparted technical skills to the audience and to worship bands that had attended workshops with them that week.
I looked around me before the event started and was pleasantly surprised to see people of different demographics and backgrounds gathered together. I spotted my friends from CHC’s English service and Chinese service, overseas School of Theology graduates, and families who brought their young and old —what a beautiful sight to behold. We were all here to seek the Lord and worship Him, and what was more amazing was that we were worshipping Him in a language that is so close to my heart—Chinese.
When the music started playing, the audience excitedly jumped to their feet. The worship night started with praise songs like 我们高举耶稣的名 (“Lift Up The Name Of Our King”) and 在你没有难成的事 (“Nothing Is Impossible). Everyone around me was fully engaged in praising God, and so many were jumping and dancing that the ground of the auditorium reverberated! It was such a phenomenal sight! We stood and sang praise and worship for about 45 minutes before taking a break back in our seats to listen to a sharing by Pastor Tiffany Cheng, one of the worship leaders. Following that, different song leaders came up and continued to lead us in worship.
Arguably, SOP’s most popular song is 能不能 (“Let Me Stay”). The live worship music video of this song has garnered 15 million views on YouTube. As SOP worship leaders Pastor Sandy Yu and Pastor Tiffany led us in this song, the crowd sang their hearts out in unison.
Jesus said in John 4:23 that the Father is seeking for true worshipers who will worship Him in spirit and truth. I believe that that night in that auditorium, He would have found not just one or two, but many true worshipers who were worshipping Him with all their heart and soul.
The other highlight of the night was SOP leading us in children’s songs! The band believes in investing in the next generation, so other than writing songs for adults, they also write for children. The children’s songs were engaging, fun and yet meaningful. I could totally imagine myself introducing these songs to my two daughters.
As Pastor Sandy took the stage to address the audience, we found out that many were attending the SOP worship night for the first time, me included. She shared how SOP desires to see an emergence of Chinese worship. Truth is, they have played a big part in reviving Chinese worship, and their vision is coming to past. She encouraged us that our worship is not just for ourselves, but as we worship, we can bring down the blessing and glory of God into our city and build up the altar of prayer and worship here.
Towards the end, Pastor Sandy opened up the floor for those who wanted to respond in genuine worship, asking for the glory of God to descend. Many responded and moved to the front. Through our worship, we once again dedicated our lives unto the Lord and asked the Lord to bless our land.
The night concluded with CHC Pastor Bobby Chaw giving a salvation altar call to those who had never accepted Jesus before, or those who felt far away from God. Hundreds lifted their hands to receive Jesus. It was a wonderful finale to the night, as we saw how our genuine worship caused the hearts of many non-believers and backsliders to be open to the Lord and in the end, they made a decision to respond to Him.
CHC worship leader Amos Ang shared that he had heard about SOP a few years ago. Even though he does not usually listen to Chinese songs, he felt that there was something about SOP’s worship that draws people, and that his whole family has been greatly blessed by their songs. He admitted that he even crashed their soundcheck rehearsals to learn from them. Chinese is not his first language, and though he could not sing along with every song, but he was really drawn into the presence of God that night, immersing himself in the atmosphere of worship.
As a Singaporean Chinese, I am aware of how Chinese has become increasingly less popular among the younger generation here, but what I witnessed that night defied this trend. There is something beautiful when people gather to worship in Mandarin. SOP’s songs are easy to sing, featuring catchy tunes and lyrics taken from the Bible. But because of their simple heart and desire, the Lord has used them to transform praise and worship in Chinese churches all around the world.
That night, I went home with a full heart and renewed hope. I saw how God has used SOP in a great way, raising up a generation of worshipers who worship in Mandarin. It is evident that God is working in the Chinese-speaking world, and I know that it can only be the work of God and not man. I am grateful I was able to witness how God has used a group of worship leaders who are faithful to His call, and raised them up in this generation for such a time as this.
