A quick snoop on Instagram, Spotify or YouTube reveals that Hannah is a key worship leader and songwriter at Hillsong. She has co-written worship songs, such as Touch of Heaven, Thank You, Jesus, God Song and Never Walk Alone, which have been streamed millions of times and sung in churches around the world.

As a worship leader at Sydney’s Hillsong City Campus, Hannah shares that her salvation at 13 years of age and her faith have been her guiding light.

“I feel like that life-changing moment, that salvation moment all those years ago, has been the nucleus of everything in my life.”

Her prayer is that this album would be a “sundown moment” for those who listen – a sacred time to turn from the distractions of life and rest in the goodness of God.

A new album and a Sabbath moment

Hannah’s new worship album, Sundown, was born of her desire to create something that might serve people in the way corporate worship encounters have served her during the defining moments of her life.

“It could have been a Sunday night service where worship went on for ages or in my teenage years at summer camps – those were some of the moments God really marked my life.”

Her prayer is that this album would be a “sundown moment” for those who listen – a sacred time to turn from the distractions of life and rest in the goodness of God.

For the live recording, she invited 120 people from her church and all walks of life to a night of worship. They shared communion, ate a meal together and prayed before they began worshipping God as the sun went down. The intimate live recording captures the singing and sounds of people communing with God. Like most of Hannah’s writing and ministry, it was a beautiful collaboration with a community she loves.

Broken into beautiful

One song on the album, Broken into Beautiful, has had a profound impact on both Hannah and her church community. She wrote the song with three friends at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, not realising how deeply it would resonate. Based on Isaiah 61, the song is about healing and restoration, which became even more real as the world and their church faced compounding challenges in the years that followed.

She shares that it was the last song they sang on the night of the live recording: “People sang it from a different place – from a real and vulnerable place.”

Hannah still finds it hard to sing the song sometimes because it’s a confronting reminder of what she knows different people in the congregation face.

“Every human being carries brokenness, if it’s as simple as a disappointment in life or something as traumatic and tragic as loss of life and sickness.”

“Talk to the people in your church. Pray for the people in your congregation and watch your heart start to mould and shape with compassion and empathy and faith for those people.” – Hannah Hobbs

As a seasoned worship leader, she encourages younger singers and musicians to step off the stage after every service to talk to people in the congregation. “It changes the way you lead and the songs you choose to sing in a service.”

She emphasises the importance of worship teams being aware of and connected to the stories of the people in their church.

“Talk to the people in your church. Pray for the people in your congregation and watch your heart start to mould and shape with compassion and empathy and faith for those people.”

A passion for songwriting

Her love for Jesus and people fuels her passion for songwriting: “I grew up playing music, but I really love to write songs for the church. It’s been one of the great joys of my life beyond family and friends.”

Despite having co-written several hit songs, Hannah remains balanced in her approach to writing. “There’s an awareness that these songs have the potential to reach a lot of people, but in the initial stages, we are just thinking, ‘OK, what’s needed in our local campus?’”

Hannah speaks of holding a tension between stewardship and letting go, acknowledging that 95 per cent of the songs they write will never be heard.

“It’s that paradox; it’s all unto God but also millions of people sing the songs. It’s very weird and you can’t really ignore it or pretend it’s not happening because it’s amazing. But that tension is important to steward because at the end of the day, we’re not taking hit songs with us to heaven. You want to try to stay open-handed about that whole process.”

Sundown

Hannah reveals one unexpected and powerful moment during the live recording. They had finished the final song and were ready to close the night, but people kept worshipping and praying. One of the guitarists and producers on the album, Michael Guy Chislett, spontaneously began playing prophetically as everyone in the room leaned into the moment, which lasted for 20 minutes. It became the instrumental track on the album called Sundown and Hannah prays it will serve people as they pray.

The Sundown album is a timely reminder that amid the uncertainty of life, we can find hope and restoration in the presence of God and the fellowship of a faith community.

Sundown is now available to stream on Spotify and Apple Music. You can find more from Hannah on YouTube and Instagram. You can join her Live restream and watch party on Tuesday 28 February. Follow Hannah’s socials to get details as they are announced.