Mighty to Save -- Reuben Morgan and Ben Fielding

It may be impossible for these two writers to say just how many people’s circumstances in a church in 2006 helped spur the poetry they wrote over a several-month stretch of time. Ben Fielding and Reuben Morgan were in Sydney, Australia and thinking of the body of believers there, and hearing many of their stories as they worked on “Mighty to Save”. Ben’s recollection of that time suggests these authors think of their own surroundings first when they mull over the words that eventually travel far and wide among other believers, a phenomenon that underscores the common needs and emotions of people across the planet. Their work habits further indicate they access the deep truths of ancient texts for inspiration, another cohesive element that gives their creation such widespread reception.

The local church of which Ben and Reuben were thinking in 2006 was the Hillsong Church in Sydney, a place where not only people but also biblical teaching has impact on songwriters like these two. Ben shared in an interview years after ‘Mighty to Save’ was published that restoration of hurting people at the church was a recurring theme that made the song’s emergence so natural. ‘Compassion’, ‘love’, ‘mercy’, ‘forgiveness’, and ‘kindness’ were not just convenient words for their composition (v.1), but acts that Ben and Reuben saw regularly at Hillsong. These demonstrations of a godly influence imprinted on their imaginations as they sat and thought about what they wanted to write that could resonate with these people. Though it was an immediate impact that Fielding and Morgan saw the first night the song was sung by the church, the journey to get there was nevertheless anything but a speedy one. Many months lay between the first time they experimented with word phrases, the music, and the final product. Ben also quotes three different scriptures (Luke 6:45; Zephaniah 3:17; and Romans 10:9) as he related the development of their thoughts and the special care they took in fine-tuning what they wanted to say. That biblical precision and inspiration they emphasized as part of the songwriting adventure was a key element, along with their collaborative spirit, Ben says. He concludes that ultimately, what made ‘Mighty to Save’ effective was how it intersected God’s truth and spirit with human life in all its reality.  

Fielding and Morgan can be expected to collaborate on future musical projects. They’ve been teaming up since they were in their mid-teens, but surprisingly, ‘Mighty to Save’ was the first one Ben says they completed together. Perhaps that was a result of the Hillsong influence that helped incubate the song. Reuben’s life has taken him to the Hillsong church in the United Kingdom, but he and Ben have continued their music-writing adventures, including at least a dozen other songs they’ve co-written since 2006. Evidently, that spirit they used in ‘Mighty to Save’ is still at work. That’s not a surprise, is it? Just where does that Spirit originate, and is He musical Himself? Check out 1 Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22, think about that poetic character, and then see what you think.          

See here for information about the song: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mighty_to_Save_(song)

See the authors’ story of the song’s development here: https://worshipleader.com/music/mighty-to-save/