Celebrating 10 Years SongCollection
How it all started
Out of the practice of an intercultural church, we saw a growing need for music that truly serves the people within these diverse communities. Music is a powerful tool in the hands of God, and we believe it should always fulfill its purpose: reaching the hearts of people, across cultures and languages. That conviction led us to gather heart music from different cultures and translate it into songs that can be sung naturally in the local language—music that feels authentic, accessible, and meaningful in worship. We began this journey with 30 songs, launched on March 1, 2016, during a European church planting conference in Rotterdam. What started small quickly grew into something much bigger. In 2020, the website underwent a major renewal under the leadership of Adriaan, Annemie, Corlinda and Rieneke. Since then, the platform has continued to grow steadily, now welcoming over 62,000 visitors each year, a sign that this music is finding its way into churches and hearts around the world.
Testimony of an early user
With shining eyes Noushin walks to the soundsystem and connects it to her phone while attending the refugee camp. “Last year I discovered Songs2Serve”, she said. “This is so beautiful. Here are these Iranian songs that I can sing with my friends from all cultures. This is so helpful to me!” One minute later many people in the room join her in singing ‘Roohol Ghoodosh’ and the room is filled with joy and praise.
2016-2026
10 years SongCollection
100
songs
64
languages
original &
translations
69,000 +
downloads
Stories from the field
How worship in many languages touches hearts
Some of the people behind the scenes
Jessie Tang
For over six years, Jessie has been writing new songs specifically for the intercultural church. Alongside her own songwriting, she plays an active role in gathering new songs for the website, always helping to edit them and shape them into resources that are practical and easy to use in worship. Her dedication, creativity, and heart for serving others through music make her one of our top contributors.
Ian Collinge
From the very beginning of the website, we have been deeply grateful to Arts Release for allowing us to use songs from their platform. All song rights were already fully covered by them, which made it possible for us to share this music with confidence and integrity. Ian was a tremendous help in making this collaboration possible, and we are sincerely thankful for his support.
Ilse Roskam
Ilse is a major source of motivation for the website. She has translated a large number of songs, created sheet music, and consistently searched for music that truly fits the needs of intercultural churches. Her commitment and eye for what serves diverse congregations best have been invaluable to the growth of the platform.
Marianne Bronsveld
Marianne has just recently started as a volunteer with us. Already, she has contributed many new songs from her home church, ICF Apeldoorn, enriching the website with fresh and meaningful worship music. We are grateful for her help and look forward to working together with her for many more years to come.
Corlinda& Annemie
They have been incredibly important in developing the website as it exists today. In 2020, they played a key role especially in shaping the layout and gathering songs from the Dutch context, adding them to the website and enriching its content significantly. Their work has been a true inspiration and a great benefit to all pour users.
A special word of thanks to Adriaan
While many volunteers contributed to this website, we especially want to honor Adriaan for his remarkable dedication behind the scenes.
Dear Adriaan,
Ten years ago, we embarked on something that has become far greater than we ever dared to imagine. It began with an idea, a dream, a vision, and a need. People from different cultures united in worship; each in their own way and in their own language. While we started with simply translating songs from our fellow church members’ cultures of origin, another need soon arose: collecting and sharing these songs with a wider audience.
That’s when you joined us. With your specific knowledge of website building and development, even more ideas emerged. Your own experience as a musician was also indispensable in the entire development of the database. As a result, you regularly came up with new ideas and tricks to make things as easy as possible for the musicians. Converting to a different key, downloading lyrics and chords at the touch of a button, making non-Latin scripts like Farsi or Arabic accessible. All technical feats for which you wrote the scripts yourself and to which the database owes its success.
It wasn’t always easy. There were times when you had to search for solutions. There were times when the work ground to a halt. But you persisted and continued to dedicate yourself, steadfast in the conviction and vision that people should be able to worship God in their own language.
Today we see the fruit.
Not just in numbers, but also in the lives touched, in prayers that were given words, in praise that crossed borders. The tears it brings from people who, having fled their familiar surroundings, can now sing a song of praise in their own language.
Adriaan, we want to thank you.
For all those hours that no one saw.
For the faith that endured.
For the trust that God would sustain this work.
And at the same time, we know: this work was never the work of one person.
It was built by many, sustained by prayer, and blessed by God.
May He reward you with peace, joy, and renewed hope.
And may everything that has emerged from this continue to point to Him.
With deep gratitude,
on behalf of everyone who helped build and sing.