Canadian songwriter Brian Doerksen, 60, known for praise songs such as “Come, Now is the Time to Worship” and “Refiner’s Fire,” died July 21 at his home in Abbotsford, B.C., a few days after the family shared he was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.

Doerksen grew up in the Mennonite Brethren church and graduated in 1983 from Mennonite Educational Institute in Abbotsford. He was soon hired by Langley Vineyard Christian Fellowship, where he was worship pastor into the early 1990s. He had a central role in the Vineyard Churches movement when contemporary Christian worship music grew in prominence, and Doerksen was one of its most significant songwriters.

“Through his songs, leadership and friendship, he helped shape worship in the Vineyard and, far beyond that, the worship of the global Church,” said Vineyard Worship in a statement. “… Brian’s legacy is far greater than the songs he wrote. Those who knew him speak of a man marked by humility, kindness, generosity and deep faith. He was a worshiper before he was a songwriter, and his life reflected the One he so faithfully sang about.”

“Come, Now is the Time to Worship” and “Your Love is Amazing” are included in the 2020 Voices Together hymnal.

Doerksen was a co-pastor of The Bridge, an interdenominational church he and others founded in 2006 in Abbotsford, and led the School of Worship Arts at Prairie Bible Institute, an interdenominational Christian college in Three Hills, Alberta.

His wife Joyce and six children said in a statement on social media that he died in his sleep surrounded by those who loved him most.

“He was a beacon of light even in his final moments to his close family and friends, and loved well right to the end,” they shared. “May we all be like him, to love freely, be kind, and grateful even in the midst of the hardest of times.”