We are sharing Jesus with people
Interview with Allan Barbazza, singer-songwriter and minister of King’s Cross Baptist Church in London
Allan Barbazza has composed songs from his early teens. He set up a band in his native Brazil, where he released an album, and initially joined King’s Cross Baptist Church as its worship pastor when he moved to the UK in 2016.
Many of his tracks are worship songs, written about his own faith. Others are directly for the church, often composed collaboratively (Allan’s wife Anya Rose is also a songwriter). A desire to encourage intimacy with God and sing the scriptures lies at the heart of what he does, as the titles of his most popular tracks on Spotify testify: Purpose, Fill Me Again, Romans 8, Faithful and Love Of My Life.
He recorded and filmed a live worship album at his church, with the tracks collectively racking up thousands of views on YouTube.
“But it’s not about the songs becoming hits,” he says. “It’s really about the purpose of this music, how can we actually push the message to more people, because the more people the gospel is rolled out to, the more people can be reached.
“I don’t always receive feedback, but when you hear testimonies that a song helped someone, you’re like, wow - there is a bigger purpose to this.
“We are sharing Jesus with people. How to be intimate with God, how to sing scriptures, with all the power of the word and the power of Jesus. This can impact lives.”
The composition of his songs is different each time, and there is no set formula – but all rely on an openness to God and the Spirit’s promptings.
“Some are born out of a prayer time; some have come to me while reading the Bible,” he explains. “With Romans 8 I’m reading the Bible and I record a voice note - and I just start singing. That’s how the song came. It can have only been the Holy Spirit.
“I wrote The Love Of My Life during a week of prayer and fasting at my church. It was from Psalm 18. You can hear me crying on the original voice note, singing the words ‘Jesus is the love my life’. It was powerful.
“Other times it’s trying to figure out what God is saying to the church – there’s a corporate aspect. In a song writing retreat in 2019 we wrote a song about the faithfulness of God, that he would never let us go. That when we’re weak or feeling lonely, he is our strength. And that was important during Covid.
“If you don’t find the space, whether to write something down as you’re reading from scripture or spend time reflecting, you might miss what the Spirit is prompting.”
A former policeman in São Paulo, Brazil, Allan Barbazza moved to London in 2016 as he was invited to join King’s Cross Baptist Church (KCBC) to lead the worship ministry by the late minister Steve Latham.
In 2020, Allan completed his training for Baptist ministry at Spurgeon’s College, becoming the Senior Pastor of KCBC in June 2023.
Access Allan’s worship songs on:
YouTube: youtube.com/@AllanBarbazza
Instagram: @allanbarbazza
Linktree: linktr.ee/Allanbarbazza
All Allan’s songs are licensed through CCLI so churches can access and use them in worship.
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