Glory To Our God is an exciting prospect: A worship album produced by a Kiwi Baptist church (Northpoint, New Plymouth). In general, homegrown material for congregational worship is scarce, so this sort of thing is great to see. And in that department, this album excels.

Almost all of these songs would work well in a congregational worship setting, and a song like “Just As We Are” is every bit as musically skilful and melodically elegant as anything by Chris Tomlin. Lyrically, Glory To Our God is clear, concise and God-focused (always good to see).

Musically, I have to say, at this point I’d support a moratorium on “Where The Streets Have No Name”-style delayed guitars in worship music, and occasionally this record falls into those familiar Brit-rock patterns. Still, it’s a minor complaint, because the music here is mostly thoughtful and well done. I’d take this over the latest Hillsong United album any day of the week, and I’d love to see Baptist churches getting hold of this stuff and using it in their own setting.

Four out of five stars