We the Kingdom almost didn’t happen. The group came together at an unlikely time, while they were struggling with their church, in a season of hard losses when perhaps the least likely outcome was to start singing together. But as soon as they did, what they thought would be a one-time event became a passion project for all five members.

“It was actually a complete accident,” Andrew Bergthold tells Everything Nash. “It started about five years ago. I think if you would have put us in a room five years ago and said ‘You guys start a band,’ we all would immediately have been like, ‘Nope.'”

It was when the church they were attending went through what Andrew calls a “very unhealthy situation” that caused We the Kingdom to form, although they had no idea they were at the cusp of a new joint musical journey.

“We were recovering from that, and redefining what church meant for us, and what community meant for us. And even for me, individually what faith looked like,” Andrew shares. “I’m sure many people have had the same experience where you build a foundation of faith and then part of that crumbles. It might be someone that you trust, and you realize it wasn’t trustworthy, so then you’re trying to put the piece back together.”

The group convened at a Young Life camp in Georgia, leading worship, which led them to start writing together. Andrew is a longtime family friend of the Cash family, which includes Ed Cash, his younger brother, Scott Cash, and children Franni Rae Cash and Martin Cash also as part of We the Kingdom. As a way to pour out their complex feelings, the five all began writing together, penning honest, heartfelt and deeply personal songs.

“People were like, ‘Well, what are you guys gonna do with these songs?'” Andrew recalls. “A couple of months later we sat around the campfire and like, ‘Hey, what are we doing with this?’ I tried to start a band called We the Kingdom years ago. I always wanted to be in a band called We The Kingdom and do ministry together as a community. And so I brought the name and then everybody loved the name. It was really cool just how God put all the pieces into place at the right moment.”

We the Kingdom became a continuation of what Ed says is what his family has been doing for a decade. Already a successful producer, working with artists like Chris Tomlin, Amy Grant, Casting Crowns and more, Ed found a solace in creating music together.

“We’ve been leading worship as a family for about ten years, but that was never something that we ever thought about pursuing as a career,” Ed shares. “The kids were so young, and I had a full-blown production career with Scott. We were working together. I think it was very clear to all of us simultaneously. Nobody had this idea; it was God’s idea. As we were writing songs to heal from this painful experience, I feel like it became unanimously clear.”

We the Kingdom just released their self-titled sophomore album in September, following their freshman Holy Water album, which included the hit singles “God So Loved” and “Child of Love.” With their second record, We the Kingdom solidified their place as one of Christian music’s leading acts, a move that also caused a bit of trepidation among the group.

“It was scary,” Martin acknowledges. “‘Cause I think when you release your first album, and then if it happens to have some success, it makes releasing the second even scarier. All of a sudden you’re in your head, and you’re super insecure about if people are gonna like the new We the Kingdom sound, ’cause we’re trying to reinvent ourselves. I think we really feel called to that as artists, to continue to push on the walls of creativity and discover new things and new sounds.

“But then you’re fighting the thought of, ‘Holy Water’ connected, and not just out of the blue,'” he continues. “‘There’s gotta be something there, the sound of it. What is that sound? How can we replicate it?’ But then you’re just following a formula, and trying to write another ‘Holy Water.’ … There’s just so much fear that you’re working through. I think the release of the album, it literally felt like a release inside of us of just letting go.

“We know that we have gone to the coal mines, and put in the blood, sweat, tears of work, and the rest is just left up to God,” he adds. “So it was a really relieving feeling just to have it out. Our work is done. Except it wasn’t, ’cause we gotta go on tour now.”

We the Kingdom will perform as part of Winter Jam 2023, kicking off on January 13 in Tampa, Florida. Find music and tour dates at WetheKingdom.com.