Our worship song for today comes from Türkiye, and was written by Özgür Tunç. The name of the song is ‘Bütün Övgülerim‘, which translates to ‘To You, All My Praises‘ in English. You can enjoy this beautiful worship song below, or here.
About The Song
By Isabella Hope
This beautiful worship song ‘Butün Ovgülerim’ (‘To You, All My Praises) is written by Turkish worship leader and church leader Özgür Tunç. When I moved to Türkiye 9 years ago to plant a local-speaking church, it quickly became one of my favourites. Learning to worship in another heart language not only helped my vocabulary, it helped me grow in love for the Turkish church, a beautiful bride that is getting ready for her groom.
My favourite lines in the song are: Ben sadakat yolunu seçtim, Hükümlerini uygun gördüm which means: I have chosen the path of faithfulness, Your decrees I see fit, and this perfectly sums up what it meant for me to move my young family to Türkiye, but it also succinctly describes what it means for my dear Turkish brothers and sisters to receive the gospel, turn their back on their former identity as Muslims, and choose to walk after Jesus, faithfully.
The more we press into new ground in sharing the gospel, I’m struck by the cost for people to tell their families and communities their choice to follow after Christ. To serve in leadership aside Özgür in our local church is a huge joy and honour. He is a brother, a friend, an ‘abi’ (big bro!) to my kids, and a gift to help the whole church in Türkiye awaken revival through his musical talent and songwriting gift.
In our small church in Istanbul, we don’t start worship with upbeat praise songs like we do in the UK. We tend to start with solemn, slow hymns to provide space to examine our hearts before the Lord. We also usually sing for up to an hour, before we turn to the Word.
I’m thrilled that the 12 Songs of Christmas project is sharing worship from Türkiye, and I hope you enjoy worshiping our Lord Jesus Christ this advent through ‘Butün Ovgülerim‘ and check out the rest of Özgür’s songs on his worship channel here.
Lyrics in Turkish
Sanadır, bütün övgülerim.
Yürekten gelen sözlerim
Sanadır, sanadır ya Rab.
Toza toprağa serildim
İçim eriyor kederden
Garibim bu dünyada.
Ben sadakat yolunu seçtim
Hükümlerini uygun gördüm
Sözün uyarınca yaşam ver bana
İçimden bir ses duydum
Yüzümü ara dedi bana
Ya Rab yüzünü arıyorum
Lyrics in English
To you, all my praises.
The words that come from my heart
To You, To You, O Lord.
I have been scattered into dust and soil,
My heart melts with sorrow.
I am a stranger in this world.
I have chosen the path of faithfulness,
Your decrees I see fit,
Give me life according to Your Word.
I heard a voice from within me:
It said. “Seek My face,”
O Lord, I am seeking Your face
Join us every other day of Advent 2025 for more worship songs in different languages from believers across the globe to celebrate this Christmas season together.
To learn more about this series, you can read our blog post introducing ‘Twelve Songs for Christmas’ here.
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