Richard Gillard

Richard Gillard (b. 1953) is an English-born New Zealand folk musician, guitarist, and songwriter. Lacking formal conservatory training, Gillard approached composition from a self-taught, grassroots acoustic perspective.

Despite his quiet, unassuming footprint in the music industry, he is the author of one of the most widely sung and deeply cherished modern acoustic hymns on mutual care, discipleship, and Christian community in the global church: "The Servant Song."

From Wiltshire to New Zealand

Born on May 22, 1953, in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England, Gillard was the eldest of six children. When he was just three years old, his family emigrated across the globe, settling permanently in New Zealand.

Growing up in the mid-20th century, Gillard gravitated toward the burgeoning acoustic folk revival. He picked up the guitar on his own, developing an understated, fingerstyle accompaniment technique. "I've had almost no formal musical training," Gillard later recounted in a 1987 letter to hymn archives. "I'm a self-taught guitarist and play mostly in a folk style."

The Birth of "The Servant Song" (1977)

In the late 1970s, the global church was experiencing a major "Scripture in Song" movement, heavily centered in New Zealand and Australia. This movement sought to move away from rigid, heavy pipe-organ arrangements toward intimate, guitar-driven worship that small home groups and youth ministries could easily sing.

Gillard penned a gentle, cyclical ballad based entirely on the concepts of Christian humility, shared suffering, and spiritual companioning.

The song was first published in 1978 on a highly influential New Zealand worship record album titled Father Make Us One. From there, it was compiled into the New Zealand songbook Songs of Praise, where it rapidly became a standard staple for local congregations.

A Lyric of Mutual Vulnerability

Unlike historic hymns that often frame the singer as a passive observer or a single warrior, "The Servant Song" frames Christian community as a reciprocal journey of equals walking a difficult road together:

"Brother, sister, let me serve you,

Let me be as Christ to you;

Pray that I may have the grace to

Let you be my servant, too.

We are pilgrims on a journey,

We are travelers on the road;

We are here to help each other

Walk the mile and bear the load."

The genius of the hymn lies in its third and fourth verses, which outline a raw, empathetic ministry of presence, promising to hold a "Christ-light" in the nighttime of fear, weep when the other is weeping, and share in communal joy.

Global Leap and Enduring Reach

The song’s journey out of New Zealand was catalyzed by specialized choral ensembles like the St. Paul's Singers of St. Paul's Anglican Church, who featured the piece on their album New Harvest.

As mainstream hymnal committees in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada began compiling new, ecumenical worship books in the late 1980s and 1990s, Gillard's folk piece leaped across denominational lines. Today, it can be found in Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Anglican, and Roman Catholic hymnals worldwide. It is frequently chosen for:

• Ordination and Commissioning Services

• Foot-Washing Ceremonies (Maundy Thursday)

• Mission Trip Sending-Offs

• Small-Group Discipleship Conventions

Gillard remains a testament to the fact that complex musical notation and classical pedigree are not prerequisites for cross-generational impact; a simple, sincere poem backed by three guitar chords can echo across global pews for decades.