“We’re super excited to be worshiping God in Singapore”: Hillsong London’s Worship Pastor Jay Cook

Hillsong London Live happens tomorrow (November 11) at Star Theatre – this is the first time the worship team is playing in Singapore. 

Hillsong Worship, the global worship team of the church, recently launched a new EP, Great I Am – its first album since 2019. Hillsong London will be leading some of these new worship songs tomorrow night.

The worship night will feature the worship team from Hillsong London, led by Worship Pastor Jay Cook, who spoke to Salt&Light ahead of the concert to share what worshippers can expect.

Salt&Light: Please tell us about Hillsong London’s tour – is it tied to Hillsong Worship’s new EP launch? What can Singapore audiences expect tomorrow?

PASTOR JAY COOK: The tour is not actually tied to the EP, but we are going to be singing some of the new songs.

It’s funny how this tour came about. We’ve been going to the Philippines – this will be our third consecutive year – and each time some more cities get added in. The guy we were working with in the Philippines said: “Why don’t we do something a bit bigger across Southeast Asia?” Hillsong Worship has different teams, and we’ve traveled to Southeast Asia before, but this is the first time for us as Hillsong London. Hillsong has lots of different churches locations around the world but we’re going out as a London team for the first time out to Singapore.

We’re so excited for what God is going to do across these worship nights. That’s what they are, they’re worship nights – it’s not about putting on a concert. It’s about the gathering of the people of God together to worship His name. 

It’s been a big, busy year, and we’re excited to finish off the year this way, to be worshiping in Singapore, and Jakarta and across the Philippines. We’re super excited to see what God is going to do.

The Hillsong Worship team.

Tell us about Hillsong’s new EP is Great I Am.

It’s a Hillsong Worship EP, which it really represents our church, not just any one particular location. It’s the sound of worship for our whole church. We’ve been singing them in our churches, in our Sunday services, and seeing what God is doing in our own church. That’s why we’re we’re excited to kind of be singing them outside our own four walls this week, which is going to be great.

It’s probably no surprise that we haven’t released any songs for a few years now. But even across that time, (Hillsong) writers have been writing, seeking God for what’s ahead, for what’s new. What do we want our church to be singing? We still believe that there’s a sound of worship within our own church that we can contribute towards, and the primary focus for us is actually (to write songs) for our own church to be singing. And if anything goes beyond that, that’s a bonus for us.

What is the message behind the songs on this EP?

The focus of these songs is just directed solely towards God. It’s what wanted these songs to be all about. Thematically, it’s “He is, He is, He is”. No focus on ourselves, but these songs are about God and for God.

I think it’s just the season that we’re in. We want to be, singing songs that talk about the goodness of God, that talk about the character of God, of who He is. Because when we do that, we remind ourselves of actually who God is. It helps us get our eyes and off ourselves, our focus off ourselves and on to God, Who is always the better focus.

Pastor Jay leading worship at a Hillsong London Live tour in Manila.

We understand that Hillsong is partnering Compassion International on their tours. Can you tell us how this partnership started and what fruit has it borne?

Hillsong has been partnering with Compassion for decades now, and we’ve seen that in many different settings: Across our conferences, in our local churches. Every year there’s a huge focus around Compassion. We have thousands upon thousands of people sponsoring children through Compassion.

The partnership has only gone from strength to strength, and we want to use the opportunities to further that partnership, to see as many children sponsored as possible.

We have the water project as well, and so just being able to put tools in people’s hands where they can actually make an actual difference in people’s lives, that has always been a huge part of what we who we are as a church.

Yes, we’re gathering for worship nights; we’re gathering for conferences; we’re gathering on Sundays. But we can also make a difference where we can in the lives of others who need it.

Have you and your worship team ever visited places where Compassion serves?

Yeah, we did a worship tour a couple of years ago too. We were in Kigali, in Rwanda and that was my first opportunity to actually go to one of the projects that Compassion was working in. We got to meet the Pastors in the church and meet some incredible people. Some of our team on that trip, ended up sponsoring a couple of children for the very first time on that trip, which was super special. Not many people would get to actually meet the children for the first time.

Pastor Jay in Kigali, Rwanda with one of the sponsored children under Compassion International.

I remember, we went back there two years later, and we went to visit the very same family whose child one of the team had sponsored the first time he went there. The first time the mom, the dad and three or four kids were sharing this very small hut where they were living with this whole other family. When we went back a year or two later, this family had built their own home. The dad was working. And so, just within a such a short space of time, we got to see, not just the transformation within the child, but actually how it affected the whole family.

So I was like: “Man, this works!” That was one of my favourite things: Being able to go back and see the very same family was just mind-blowing; just seeing the difference was amazing.

Hillsong as a global church has been through quite a difficult half a decade. You’ve been with Hillsong London 20 years. What have you personally learned about God through these years?

I think it’s seeing the faithfulness of God when you pursue God, when you keep your eyes on God. Every single one of us has stormy seasons at some point in our lives, and those storms look different. But I’ve honestly seen the faithfulness of God through, not just through those years but across the 20 years. God always comes through, and He is faithful to His word. He wants the best for His people.

The recent Hillsong Conference Europe held at Hillsong London looked amazing. Tell us about it.

I think just under 4,000 people came from churches all across Europe and across the UK – Pastors and leaders and their teams. It was amazing.

This was our second conference back since COVID, and it felt so special. From the speakers, to seeing  our own team, our own volunteers and the spirit in which they were serving and and giving their time to come in early, to stay late, to do to do the rehearsals, to do the setup with such a generous and joyful spirit – that was just one of my favourite things to see. I absolutely loved it.

Pastor Jay with his wife Zoe and their children.

I’ve got three kids: My eldest is in the youth programme. My two younger kids who are eight and four – they’re in Kidsong which is for all the kids – and they just had the time of their lives. And leaders just going above and beyond and and just making that such a special experience for all the kids and youth were there personally impacted me, because I’m seeing the fruit of that in my own family’s life. I’m just so grateful.

There have been reports that there are rising numbers of next generation worshippers in the UK and in France. Is that a move of God you are experiencing?

There is a definite move of God when it comes to Gen Z across the UK. We’re seeing young people coming to church for the very first time. It has seemed like, across this year, almost every week there’s been some news article in our major major newspapers here in the UK talking about this hunger in Gen Z for God and and for finding purpose and meaning.

I believe God is doing something pretty special at the moment, drawing young people to Himself. And they’re almost leading the way at the moment for what is happening as a move of God. And I believe that’s just going to continue – it’s going to it’s going to go wide as well, just outside of Gen Z. It feels like they’re a bit of a catalyst to what is happening.

As a father of three children 12 and under, what is your hope?

It would be simply that they actually discover and find a true, true relationship with Jesus for themselves – nothing more than that. Because I think if you have that, that is the foundation for everything. There are so many incredible movements and so many incredible churches across the world, but at the foundation of that has to be a relationship with Jesus. So that’s my hope for my kids: That they would come to that moment themselves where it’s like “Jesus, I need You.”  

Why is worship is important, and what happens when people come together to worship God?

Worship is so important in our lives, and obviously, music and gathering is one aspect of worship – it’s not the only form of worship. We worship with our whole lives, we know that. Worship is integral to us: As Christians, we are created to worship.

GK Chesterton said: “For when we cease to worship God, we do not worship nothing, we worship anything.” Regardless of who it is we worshiping, we’re going to worship something, and so the question isn’t “Are we going to worship?”, it’s “Who is our worship directed towards?”

So we’re going to continue to gather as the people of God to worship together. But as much as that, we need to be worshiping in our homes. We need to be worshiping in our families. We need to be worshiping in our friendships, and in the small details of life, not just the not just the big moments, not just the highlights, but in the day to day life – that’s where the rubber hits the road.

It’s not just worshiping when we feel good, when things feel right, when the circumstances are perfect, and we’ve got the band behind us or on stage, but: Are we going to worship God when we wake up in the morning, when we put our kids to bed, when we’re praying with them, when things feel a bit tough, when it feels like we’re kind of up against walls or barriers in front of us. 

Can you share a personal experience with having to worship through a difficult time?

For me, it’s been trying to make the act of worship a default. So rather than fear, worry or anxiety being the default – when things happen, or things don’t go away, when disappointment happens, when we’re let down by people – going to God to worship becomes the default. Even though these are happening, God, You are still good. You are still faithful, Your word is still true. I think when we do that, God walks with us through those things. We don’t always just get taken out of those situations immediately, but His promise is to walk with us through the valley, and I think worship keeps our focus on Him as we walk through those things. 

How has being worship pastor influenced you or challenged you as a leader, a husband, a father and also a lover of God?

I think the challenge with being a worship Pastor and doing those kinds of roles is to make sure that things don’t become too routine, that you don’t go through the motion with things when you’re doing something. I guess so often, things can almost become too familiar sometimes.

So, I think it’s always reminding yourself, amongst all the doing – the rosters or the admin, the pastoral, all the things that need to be done to run teams and run Sundays and what happens on the platform – amongst all those things that actually you are never going through the motions, but reminding yourself: “Why are we doing it? What and who are we doing it for?”

Christians are made to worship God with our lives, Pastor Jay reminds us.

It’s not just for the sake of doing things well for the sake of doing things well to impress anybody. But it’s bringing excellence to honour God, because God is excellent. So we want to bring our finest – and and our finest looks different in different contexts – but I think we we just want to bring our best, not just in music, but also when it comes to loving our family, when it comes to leading our teams, loving the people who come to church.

Have you ever seen God move in a way that was totally unexpected during Hillsong tours in any city?

I think we were in the Netherlands. This is many years ago, and we were doing a worship night there. It felt like a really tough, tough night. In the natural it felt like we didn’t break through where we were hoping, or even visibly get the response that we might have wanted.

At the end of that night, I felt like God remind me: “Don’t underestimate what I’m doing in those moments. Just because you don’t see the results that you want to see in the physical, don’t think I’m still not moving; don’t think I’m still not speaking to people; don’t think I’m not still restoring marriages or bringing healing into bodies.”

It reminded me to not chase after just what I see in front of me, but that God is at work, and God will do what He needs to do in those moments, whether I see what I think I should see or want to see. 

Singapore is the first stop in the Hillsong London Live tour. The worship night happens November 11 at Star Theatre, 8pm. Tickets are available here.

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