Victoria Louise "Vicky" Beeching (born 17 July 1979) is a British musician and religious commentator. She is best known for her work in the American

contemporary worship music Contemporary worship music (CWM), also known as praise and worship music, is a distinct genre of Christian music used in contemporary worship. It has evolved over the past 60 years and is stylistically similar to pop music. The songs are of ...

genre, and has been described by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' as "arguably the most influential Christian of her generation" due to her Twitter following and appearances on BBC's '' Thought for the Day''.

Musical career

Beeching's mother, who leads musical worship at her church, taught Beeching to play the piano and guitar when she was young. Beeching began writing songs at the age of 10, and leading worship music in church youth services in her early teens. From 1997 to 2001, she attended Oxford

Vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

Church, where she also led worship music during services. At Vineyard, she learned more about music writing from Brian Doerksen and Brenton Brown. Beeching moved to

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

around 2002 for her music career. In December 2002, she released the ''Shelter EP'' through

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

UK and was featured on various compilation albums. She disclosed in a 2003 interview that she had recently quit her job as a Management Consultant so that she could focus on worship music full-time. Beeching signed with

Sparrow Records Sparrow Records is a Christian music record label and a division of Universal Music Group. History Sparrow Records was founded in 1976 by Billy Ray Hearn, then artists and repertoire (A&R) director at Myrrh Records. Barry McGuire was the fi ...

and released a 2005 EP, titled ''The Journey''. Her first full-length Sparrow album, ''Yesterday, Today & Forever'', was released on 27 December 2005. Her second full-length studio album, ''Painting the Invisible'', was produced by Ed Cash and Nathan Nockels and released on 3 April 2007. Beeching wrote most of the album's material, although a few tracks include songwriting from Ed Cash,

Matthew West Matthew Joseph West (born April 25, 1977) is an American contemporary Christian musician and singer-songwriter. He has released five studio albums and is known for his songs "More (Matthew West song), More", "You Are Everything (Matthew West so ...

and Joy Williams. Several of the songs for the album were written on Keith Green's old piano, at the invitation of her mentor and friend, Melody Green. Hoping for a less conservative environment than Nashville, Beeching moved to

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

in 2008 and began performing in churches there. Her third studio album "Eternity Invades" released in 2010, was recorded in San Diego. It features a song co-written with Steve Fee, "Glory To God Forever". Beeching was a worship leader at the Spring Harvest Christian festival from 2010 to 2012, leading worship in the 'Big Top' at

Minehead Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It lies on the south bank of the Bristol Channel, north-west of the county town of Taunton, from the boundary with the county of Devon and close to the Exmoor National Park. T ...

and participating in the Spring Harvest Theme Group.

Media presence

Beeching's

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

, which enjoyed some popularity, covered difficult Christian issues such as the role of women in the Church. Her blog was the Winner for Best Blog in the 2011 Christian New Media Awards. Beeching began speaking out in favour of gay marriage beginning in December 2013. Her blog posts on support for same-sex marriage were widely read and received a mixed response - many LGBT Christians expressed their gratitude and shared their own stories of faith and sexuality, but some of her social media followers expressed disapproval, even 'quite vitriolic and quite personal' criticism. However, in response to the discussions she'd started in the church about sexuality, she received a nomination for the 2014 National Diversity Awards in the category of "Positive Role Model Race, Faith & Religion". (She did not end up on the shortlist for that year.) In August 2014, Beeching announced she is a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

. In November 2014, she was awarded third place in ''

The Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

s 2014 Rainbow List (a feature highlighting influential LGBT persons). As of mid-2015, Beeching is a regular

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

and

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

commentator on issues related to

ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

, women,

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

, music and social media. In June 2018, she published "Undivided", a memoir about her faith and sexuality, with

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

. Beeching also enjoys a large

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

following (over 50,000 people in August 2014 and over 64,000 as of June 2017).

Personal life and education

Beeching grew up in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

, where she attended the youth group at St. Mary Bredin Anglican church. She was enrolled in Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School from ages 11 to 18, and in her early teens she found it extremely difficult to reconcile her conservative Christian faith with her attraction to her female peers at school. She moved to

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

in 1997 to attend the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, where she obtained a Bachelor's degree in 2000 and a Master's degree in 2001, both in

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

. In 2009, she was diagnosed with linear scleroderma morphea, for which she underwent 18 months of chemotherapy. Beeching moved to central

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in December 2012. As of February 2013, she was pursuing a PhD in the Department of Theology and Religion at

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

, with religion, technology, "online connectivity," and ethics as her topics of focus. In June 2014, Beeching announced that she had changed her PhD focus topic to Christianity and sexuality. Shortly after she announced her sexual orientation, an interviewer wrote that her new PhD focus is specifically Christianity and

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

; she continues to identify as an

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

Christian who is a member of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

. Since the publication of her memoir, Beeching has received criticism. As a result, she has taken regular breaks from social media. In May 2019, Beeching tweeted that she had moved to the Kent coast due to expensive rent in London and because of her health conditions.

Health issues

Beeching has written about her health issues including

Scleroderma Scleroderma is a group of autoimmune diseases that may result in changes to the skin, blood vessels, muscles, and internal organs. The disease can be either localized to the skin or involve other organs, as well. Symptoms may include areas ...

, Ehler-Danlos Syndrome and

ME/CFS Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a disabling Chronic condition, chronic illness. People with ME/CFS experience profound fatigue that does not go away with rest, as well as sleep issues and problems with memory ...

. As of 2023, she is mostly housebound, significantly disabled and reliant on an electric wheelchair for mobility the majority of the time.

Honours

In June 2017, Beeching was awarded the Cranmer Award for Worship by the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

"for outstanding contributions to contemporary worship music".

Works

Discography

* ''Shelter'' EP (2002) *''The Journey'' EP (2005) *''Yesterday, Today & Forever'' (2005) *''Painting the Invisible'' (2007) *''Eternity Invades'' (2010)

Compilation appearances

* ''The People's Album'' - (1997, Soul Survivor) - "Search Me O God" (lyrics by Beeching, sung by Beth Redman) * '' Hungry'' - (1999, Vineyard UK) - "There's No One Like Our God" (later re-recorded for "Yesterday, Today & Forever") * ''Surrender'' - (2000, Vineyard UK) - "At All Times" (later re-recorded for "Painting the Invisible") and "All That I Need" * ''Holy'' - (2002, Vineyard UK) - "Awesome God" (later re-recorded as "Majesty and Mystery (Awesome God)" for "Yesterday, Today & Forever") and "Above All Else" (later re-recorded and featured in other albums) * ''Anthem of the Free'' - (2003, Soul Survivor) - "Yesterday Today And Forever" (later featured in other albums) * ''Festival Manchester'' (2003, Kingsway) - "Nothing is impossible" (later re-recorded for "Yesterday, Today & Forever") * ''Here I Am To Worship - Vol. 1'' (2004, EMICMG) - "Yesterday, Today, And Forever" * ''Precious'' (2004) - "Extravagant Worship" (originally from "Shelter" EP but re-recorded for this album) * ''Here I Am To Worship Vol 2'' (2005, EMICMG) - "Stronger Than The Storm" (later featured in "Yesterday, Today, & Forever") * ''Here I Am To Worship 3'' (2005) - "Above All Else" (featured in "Yesterday, Today, & Forever") * ''Help Me Hold On'' - UK worship (2005, Vital) - "Above All Else" * ''Almighty Sound'' by Johnny Parks (2006,

Survivor Records Survivor Records is a British Christian Music record label and is a sub-ministry of Kingsway Communications. The label launched in 1997 as a medium by which to publish music associated with the Soul Survivor events. One of the first artists s ...

) - "Season of Singing" * '' WOW Worship Aqua'' (2006, Provident) - "Yesterday, Today And Forever" * ''The Ultimate Collection - Worship'' (2006) - ''Yesterday, Today And Forever'' * ''Dancing Generation'' (2006, Soul Survivor) - ''Yesterday, Today And Forever'' (previously featured on ''Anthem of the Free'') * ''Survivor: 10 Years'' (2007, Soul Survivor) - ''Yesterday Today And Forever''

Books

* ''Undivided: Coming Out, Becoming Whole and Living Free from Shame.'' HarperCollins 2018. .

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beeching, Vicky 1979 births Living people 21st-century Anglicans 21st-century British singer-songwriters 21st-century British women singers 21st-century evangelicals Alumni of Durham University Alumni of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford British Anglicans British lesbian musicians British LGBTQ singer-songwriters British performers of Christian music Christian music songwriters Evangelical Anglicans Lesbian Christians Lesbian singer-songwriters LGBTQ Anglicans Musicians from Kent People from Canterbury