Brian Doerksen, renowned for co-composing the widely cherished worship anthem “Come, Now Is the Time to Worship,” passed away at 60.
His family shared that he succumbed to illness on Tuesday, just four days after publicly disclosing his battle with stage four cancer.
A heartfelt Facebook post revealed he died peacefully in his sleep at home in Abbotsford, British Columbia, at 6:45 a.m., surrounded by loved ones.
Doerksen, who rose to prominence in the evangelical Vineyard Movement during the 1990s, significantly contributed to a repertoire of Christian worship songs deeply embedded in church traditions.
His most notable works include “Hope of the Nations,” “Refiner’s Fire,” famed for its opening line “Purify my heart…,” and “Faithful One.”
He had been suffering what his family described as months of ‘severe pain’ from health issues that went undiagnosed until earlier this month, when he entered the hospital for treatment and was informed he was suffering from cancer.
Brian Doerksen, the Christian musician who co-wrote the hugely popular worship standard Come, Now Is the Time to Worship, has died at the age of 60
Doerksen, a member of the Mennonite Brethren Church, had a hand in writing a string of Christian worship songs that have become church staples
Last week, Doerksen’s intimates launched a GoFundMe that as of Saturday morning raised $133,790 American toward a goal of $50,000 Canadian ($35,454.71 American).
Born in 1965 in Abbotsford – about 15 minutes’ drive from the border of Washington State – he grew up in a family that had been Mennonite for generations.
‘We didn’t wear black or anything like though, just normal clothes!’ he noted in a 1998 interview with UK Christian media outlet Cross Rhythms.
‘It is hard for me to pinpoint when I really met Jesus. I talked with him my whole life, and grew up in a Christian home. I grew up on a farm, and it was when I was outside, with nature, that I think I really heard his voice,’ he said.
‘I was probably 15 or so, and this presence came into my room, and I just knew he was asking: “Will you give me your whole life to serve me?”‘
Meanwhile he developed an interest in rock ‘n’ roll that he kept secret from his parents, listening to James Taylor and Billy Joel out of their earshot.
His interests combined in his teenage years in the shape of his joining Christian bands, in which he and his confreres were ‘really writing about things that we really didn’t have a clue about, but what we thought a Christian evangelistic band ought to write about, such as drugs, sex and rock ‘n’ roll and how you need Jesus!’
For some time he tried to give up music and devote himself entirely to working with young people within the Mennonite Church, but he ‘usually did something controversial, which got me into trouble,’ he gamely recalled.
Although he ultimately left the church of his upbringing, he and his wife Joyce – his high school sweetheart whom he married at 19 – continued with missionary work
Although he ultimately left the church of his upbringing, he and his wife Joyce – his high school sweetheart whom he married at 19 – continued with missionary work.
They found a home in the burgeoning Vineyard Movement, a charismatic evangelical association of churches headed by the affably charming John Wimber.
‘Earlier on in the charismatic movement there was a lot of hype and exaggeration, but with John it was much more relaxed,’ Doerksen explained.
The Vineyard Movement had a musical arm that in the 1990s became the engine for Doerksen’s talent to reach a massive international audience of churchgoers.
Light the Fire Again, Refiner’s Fire, Faithful One, Come and Fill Me Up and his biggest hit Come, Now Is the Time to Worship were all from Doerksen’s Vineyard years.
Around the time that Wimber died in 1997, Doerksen decamped to England to train worship leaders for Vineyard under its local leaders John and Eleanor Mumford – the parents of Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons fame.
Alongside his career as a songwriter, Doerksen was also an evangelical worship leader throughout his life, an occupation that occasionally caused him disquiet.
‘One of the key dangers is that you start to feel like a prostitute,’ he reflected shortly after his move to England, explaining that being ‘intimate with God’ was ‘something so precious, so holy, that when you are constantly doing it in front of other people as your task, it actually becomes, like a prostitute looks at sex, just a job.’
Among his best-known contributions are Hope of the Nations, Refiner’s Fire – best known for its famous opening ‘Purify my heart…’ – and Faithful One
However he was ‘committed to being a servant’ and thus to creating a ‘setting’ for his congregants ‘to be intimate with God’ while he himself was ‘as invisible as possible.’
The juggernaut popularity of the songs he wrote in the 1990s mounted, such that his music proliferated through churches around the English-speaking world.
Doerksen continued leading services and writing songs throughout his life, releasing his latest music video this January for his song Shelter.
On July 10 his family posted to his Facebook that he had suffered ‘severe pain from undiagnosed medical issues for months’ and was at the hospital, where tests found a ‘mass in the pelvis and spots on the liver and lungs and close to the heart.’
One week later, Doerksen’s loved ones announced his diagnosis with stage four cancer, explaining that the ‘doctors are still working to determine the specific type of cancer it is’ and that ‘treatment’ as well as ‘pain management’ were underway.
A GoFundMe was launched, indicating that his health problems had been afflicting him since February ‘when he started being confined to his bed.’
The Doerksens had six children – two sons with a genetic neurodevelopmental disorder called fragile X syndrome, as well as four daughters – and the money raised was also meant to help with ‘provisions for their special needs children to be looked after while Brian and Joyce can’t be present.’
On Monday, the day before Doerksen died, the family announced: ‘As of this point, Brian’s kidneys have failed, and he has been declining rapidly.’
In their post announcing his death, Doerksen’s family wrote: ‘Till the very end, Brian continued to love those around him, encouraging them in who they are, and shared incredible gratitude to those in the medical field who tried their best to help him.’
They added: ‘He was a beacon of light even in his final moments to his close family and friends, and loved well right to the end. May we all be like him, to love freely, be kind, and grateful even in the midst of the hardest of times.’
