The Belonging Co // Worship Together 2022
Right before their “home team” performance at this year’s Worship Together, we caught up with The Belonging Co!
They shared their hopes for the weekend and how their latest album Now is a window into what God’s been doing in their church over the last couple of years.
How does it feel for your home church to host Worship Together? What’s the energy been like?
Andrew Holt: It’s been amazing - we love our Worship Together family. And for us even leading tonight, it feels like we’re on our home field, like we’re the home team (laughs). I was saying to someone earlier, we’ve already tilled this ground, and I just really believe in and feel expectant for tonight. It’s been amazing to have all these worship leaders in our church and be able to pour into them. It’s been really special.
Have you all had any unexpected moments/encounters with God this weekend? We just heard amazing worship from UPPERROOM this morning who provided a lot of space for that.
Mitch Wong: Yes. I love UPPERROOM. It’s just so beautiful to see different expressions of worship: which is really just embedded in what this conference is – Worship Together.
There are so many different ways to worship and I just love UPPEROOM’s expression: they flow so well with whatever the Spirit says.
And to see Brooke (Ligertwood) last night was just incredible. To be able to sing songs that you’ve been singing for years corporately, with so many different churches in the same building, was really special.
Hope Darst: I loved Brooke last night too. It really wrecked me. I was talking with someone on our team about how she just really carries an anointing to really get you into the holy of holies and take you into the throne room. That’s something that’s just so special about who she is and what she carries as a worship leader. And to reiterate what Mitch was saying: I think that’s the beauty of all the different expressions, that hopefully all the worship artists and leaders here can take back to their churches.
I hope they can also take back a confidence that whatever sound is coming out of their house is their sound, and it doesn’t need to be anyone else’s sound. We each get to be an arm, a leg, an eye, an ear, and a mouth that’s all part of the worship — and we need all of it.
And I know for our team, one of the hallmarks of our church is that over the years, we’ve been a place for people who feel weary, who feel dry, and are just wanting a fresh encounter with Jesus to come to this place and feel like they get to taste living water again.
I think that’s our real hope – because the truth of the matter is: a lot of the people that are here this weekend are tired and weary. They’ve been pastoring and leading in a 2-year span that’s been really, really hard. It’s been hard for people in general, but also specifically for people in ministry. I think that our prayer is that we’d be sensitive to what God is doing from the position of: “How do we serve the people that are here and how do we make a space for them to actually encounter the presence of God for healing, for freedom, for joy, for renewed strength and new vision — all of that tonight.” I think it’s exciting to be able to serve them well.
We want to ask about the new album but first, what kind of season is The Belonging in, and what do you think your church body is grappling with or leaning into the most right now?
Andrew Holt: It honestly kind of ties in with talking about the album. I feel like we’re in a season right now where I think we’ve always loved the presence of God and encountering Him – it’s been one of the marks of our church — but what I’ve learned about this season is that it feels like we’re all getting this revelation of: an encounter with God is not just for that one moment. It should actually transform us for many moments after – that we’d walk out different than how we came in and start to transform the world around us.
I’m seeing so many of my friends who are part of our community taking what God’s doing in our church and bringing it into their artistry, their creative endeavors, their workplace – teachers are taking it, nurses are taking it – and it feels like what’s happening here isn’t just staying in the building, it’s actually spreading through our city, through our nation, through out world.
I think for me personally, that’s the kind of season we’re in right now which is so exciting.
Mitch Wong: That’s so biblical too, because if you think about every significant encounter that people have with God in the Bible, like Moses and the burning bush, it wasn’t just for him. He encountered the presence of the living God who said: “I want you to go and deliver my people.”
And I think we need to come back to that realization that our encounters with God are not just to stay here, but ultimately, Jesus’s last words to his disciples were: “Go and make disciples of the nations” so I think it’s so cool to be in an environment where we’re encountering God, but then taking that outside of the building.
Because if we truly believe that church is not a building, it’s the people, then we’re outside of a building: we’re in so many different areas of our world and I think we need to be empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Hope Darst: I love that the sound of these two records is kind of an emerging sound – it’s different from past records.
It’s been a real window into what God’s been doing in our church over the last couple of years of us going: “You know what, we really want to be intentional about moving into sounds that don’t just feel one-dimensional.”
Kind of what we were talking about earlier, not trying to be a chameleon for everybody, but being purposeful in serving the diversity of our church. Our church has a lot of different people that come from a lot of different backgrounds and have different expressions, and I think moving into that direction (spearheaded by Austin Davis, Henry Seeley, and Andrew Holt), has been really powerful and I think it’s a very clear window into what God has been doing in our house sonically, relationally, and it’s been really significant.
Shantrice Laura: I think what this album speaks to for me is encountering Him wherever you are. It’s more than just showing up at a church service – it’s encountering Him in your car on your way to work, when your kids are going crazy or life just looks bad — I just believe these songs speak right to that: that you can just take a deep breath, and just acknowledge Him again in the midst of all those things.
It allows space for that reuniting to happen. It’s a reminder that God is present with us always, and whatever I need, He has right now.
I think it’s a beautiful thing for the person that’s weary and maybe can’t make it to church to be able to turn this album on wherever they are that’s going to bring faith and life and hope into this moment – that’s “Emmanuel, God with us.” I think this album speaks to that and I just pray that people all over the world are experiencing that wherever they are.
Listening to the record, there are a lot of standouts but one for us was “Be With You” led by Lauren Strahm - the album starts with all this energy and you really feel the urgency of Now, and then this one feels more like a pause (before the song eventually builds back up) and you really start to settle into the album. Can you all tell us about this one?
Andrew Holt: So, that song (written by Austin Davis, Daniella Mason, and Lauren Strahm) is so cool because it was written sort of with our Youth Group in mind.
The first time I ever heard it was at our youth camp, I had come halfway through the week and they had been leading it at camp, and I remember walking into that room and hearing these kids just screaming it at the top of their lungs. It really came alive in that place, and when we came back, we showed Pastor Henry the song. He said: “Well my kids love this song so I don’t really have a choice” (laughs) like, we’re gonna do this song.
It just feels like it has that energy: almost old school and fresh at the same time. It’s such a special moment from the record for sure.
As The Belonging Co is about to head onstage, why did you all choose the songs you’re about to lead?
Hope Darst: I mean, who knows what songs we’ll actually lead – we’re kind of known for that (laughs). Naturally though, when you’ve put out a new album and you’re the “home team,” you’re gonna do the songs that you’ve recently put out — but I also think Andrew who chose the setlist was intentional, and I’ll let him speak into that.
Andrew Holt: We’ve had so many amazing encounters with God the past two days, and I just feel like tonight, He’s about to crank up the faith level in the room for what He can do when He shows up.
My prayer is that the people that have come to this conference would literally have such a life-changing encounter with God tonight. That their faith would rise, that their hope would rise, and hopefully we’ll party, because He’s worthy of the greatest party, and hopefully we’ll go into a deep place within His presence.
Maybe we’ll follow the setlist, maybe we won’t. We’ll see what happens!
Hope Darst: I think that’s who we are, though. As a team, we are really intentional about declaring songs that do actually require a response. Both in the idea that I’m going to partner my faith right now because I’m in a season where it’s really easy, or, I’m going to partner my faith right now because I’m actually really struggling and this is prophetic over my life and my situation, and I’m basically moving in the opposite direction of what my flesh feels, and I’m partnering with what the spirit of God is doing and what the Word of God says is true.
We might go in a different direction from the planned setlist because this isn’t hype for us. It’s not like: “Hey let’s just have an uptempo song here so that you feel like we did a great set.” Even when you strip back the songs that have more energy, the lyrics are not fluffy. They’re not light-hearted.
They are really intentional and hopefully cultivating in you the Word of God in a way that shifts something internally in your faith and your belief in what God can do in that moment.
The Belonging Co is a church movement based in Nashville, TN. Since it’s inception in 2014, the church has become known as a place to find freedom, breakthrough, and healing through God’s Word, His presence and worship.
The heart of The Belonging Co is that every song released would empower both individuals and the collective body of Christ to encounter God through worship, and experience the freedom that comes through knowing Jesus.
We desire encounter over entertainment, intimacy over industry, presence over presentation, people over position... And most of all JESUS over everything.