Since 1950, there has been more music published for congregational singing than at any other time in the history of the church. Nearly every major denominational body, as well as many independent congregations and publishing companies, have produced official and supplementary hymnals and related collections of songs. In almost every case, these collections evidence a recovery of traditions once lost and relentless pursuit of contemporary music that is both faithful to the gospel and representative of the languages—both verbal and musical—of modern culture.
The 1950s
Several trends continued throughout the decade of the 1950s. Many new publications indicated an increase in the use of some one hundred to two hundred common historic hymns which later became the basic repertoire of congregational songs found in most hymnals. At the same time, the multiplication of simple choruses, sung chiefly in evangelical gatherings, made differences in the musical styles used in the church more pronounced.
Most hymn singing of the 1950s came to sound all the same, almost always sung to organ accompaniment. With the development of technology for sound amplification, numerous sanctuaries were “remodeled” to nullify the distraction of any sound except that which originated from the preacher or singer stationed behind a microphone. This discouraged wholehearted congregational hymn singing.
However, during the same period of time, a new working of God’s Spirit was evidenced in the phenomenon of glossolalia (i.e., speaking in tongues). This new movement claimed participants in the mainline denominations as well as churches of Pentecostal persuasion.
By the end of the decade criticism against traditional forms of worship and musical styles increased. And, although it was most intense among the youth, adults too voiced concern against archaic language and what seemed to them to be medieval music.
The 1960s
The great divide between the past and the present in congregational singing erupted in England with the publication of Geoffrey Beaumont’s Folk Mass in 1957. Written for young people, this work was composed in an innovative manner, calling for a cantor to sing a phrase of the text, which was then repeated by the congregation. This responsive form, along with the popular style of its melodies and harmony, made this work an instant success.
Similarly, in the early 1960s, Michael Baughen, later Bishop of Chester, along with some friends, sought to provide new songs for a new generation. Even though no publisher would support their first endeavor, they published Youth Praise (Michael A. Baughen, ed. [London: Falcon Books, 1966]). The Church Pastoral Aid Society subsequently published Youth Praise 2 (Michael A. Baughen, ed., [London: Falcon Books, 1969]) and Psalm Praise (Michael A. Baughen, ed. [Chicago: GIA Publications, 1973]). This cluster of friends, known as the Jubilate Group, includes such outstanding writers and composers as Timothy Dudley-Smith (b. 1926), Christopher Idle (b. 1938), Michael Perry (b. 1942), and Norman Warren (b. 1934). It has grown to forty members, becoming well known in the United States due to the consistent effort of George Shorney, Chairman of the Hope Publishing Company. Their modern language hymnal, Hymns for Today’s Church was published both in England (by Hodder and Stoughton, London) and in the United States (by the Hope Publishing Company, Carol Stream, Ill.).
Fred Kaan, a one-time pastor of Pilgrim Church in Plymouth, England, also wrote contemporary hymns for his congregation which was used far beyond those sanctuary walls. His first collection of 50 texts was called Pilgrim Praise (Plymouth, England: Pilgrim Church, 1968). After moving to Geneva, Switzerland, where he collaborated with composer Doreen Potter, he published twenty new hymns under the title Break Not The Circle (Carol Stream, Ill.: Agape, 1975). Later, in 1985, Hope Publishing Company issued the complete collection of his work, The Hymn Texts of Fred Kaan (Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing, 1985).
Other publications appeared with new texts and music. In London, Josef Weinberger became the publisher of a series of supplemental books beginning in 1965. These contained representative works written in a pop style by the Twentieth Century Church Light Music Group. Some of these songs also became available in the United States in the 1970s. In addition, Gailliard (London) published the Sydney Carter song, “Lord of The Dance,” in l963, followed by a collection of other songs by Carter which were recorded and made available in the United States.
Continuing in the tradition of Hymns Ancient and Modern, 100 Hymns for Today (John Dykes Bower, ed., [London: William Clowes and Sons, 1969]) was published as its supplement. Some years later, a similar supplement to The English Hymnal was completed with the title English Praise (George Timms, ed. [London: Oxford University Press, 1975]).
The United States. The earliest work in the United States similar to Beaumont’s Folk Mass was Herbert G. Draesel, Jr.’s immensely popular Rejoice (New York: Marks Music Corp., 1964). Later recorded, this sacred folk mass promoted the use of electric guitars and drums in the regular worship services of churches. Then soon after Vatican II, young Roman Catholic musicians introduced a large number of folk masses intended for unison singing with guitar accompaniment. Each of these was made available both in print and on records, which accelerated their popularity.
The great success of F.E.L. (Friends of English Liturgy) Publications widened the acceptance of these and other new songs into Catholic and non-Catholic circles. Their Hymnal for Young Christians: A Supplement to Adult Hymnals (Roger D. Nachtwey, ed., Chicago: F.E.L. Church Publications, 1966) was released in Roman Catholic and ecumenical editions in 1966. A second volume appeared in 1970. Songs such as “We Shall Overcome,” “Allelu,” “Sons of God,” and “They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love” were commonly sung by Christian young people.
At the same time, many Methodists sang songs found in New Wine (Jim Strathdee, ed., 2 vols. [Los Angeles: Board of Education of the Southern California—Arizona Conference of the United Methodist Church, 1969,1973]), and some Presbyterians adopted Richard Avery and Donald Marsh’s Hymns Hot and Carols Cool (Port Jervis, N.Y.: Proclamation Productions, 1967).
In evangelical churches, the rapid development of the youth musical (such as Buryl Red’s Celebrate Life [Nashville: Broadman Press, 1972]) coincided with the popularity of compositions for youth by Ralph Carmichael that appeared in films and on record. A number of these songs were printed in the little pocket edition (melody line and texts) of “He’s Everything To Me” (Los Angeles: Lexicon Music, 1969).
More traditional in its orientation, the most important Protestant hymnal published in the 1960s was The Methodist Hymnal (1964), released under the expert supervision of editor/composer Carlton R. Young.
The 1970s
In the 1970s, ecumenical and denominational hymnals continued to be published. A staggering number of smaller supplemental books, often experimental in nature, also appeared.
The continuing ecumenical emphasis of earlier years was evident in the fourth edition (1970) of The Lutheran World Federations Hymnal, Laudamus (a fifth edition was published in 1984). And the more comprehensive work of hymnologist Erik Routley was evidenced in the 1974 Cantate Domino (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), compiled for the World Council of Churches. In 1971 the impressive Hymn Book (Toronto: Anglican Church of Canada and the United Church of Canada, 1971) drew together quality selections from past centuries as well as some of the finest new songs, such as Sydney Carter’s imaginative “Lord of the Dance.” During the following year, 1972, the Presbyterian Church in Canada issued its own revision of an earlier book, The Book of Praise edited by William Fitch (Ontario, Canada: The Presbyterian Church in Canada, 1972). This collection adopted the more modern practice of placing all stanzas of the text between the staves of music. The Baptist Federation of Canada followed with their 1973 book, The Hymnal (Carol M. Giesbrecht, ed.) And a joint American/Canadian venture, the General Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Churches, published the Worship Hymnal (Hillsboro, Kans.: Mennonite Brethren Publishing House, 1973) with Paul Wohlgemuth as chairman/editor. The Covenant Hymnal (Chicago: The Covenant Press, 1973) of the Evangelical Covenant Church of America was the result of a careful search for the finest hymns of the past as well as new works, particularly hymns written in response to requests of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. Its supplement The Song Goes On (Glen V. Wiberg, ed. [Chicago: Covenant Publications, 1990]) was issued in 1990. Meanwhile, Donald P. Hustad served as editor for one of the more scholarly books to be published by the Hope Publishing Company. That book, Hymns for the Living Church (Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1974) proved itself to be a valuable resource for churches with a broad musical taste. At the same time William J. Reynolds, another outstanding national leader in the area of church music, served as editor of the new edition of the Baptist Hymnal (Nashville, Tenn.: Convention Press, 1975).
In the middle of the decade, the editors of the Roman Catholic Worship II (Robert J. Batastini, ed. [Chicago: GIA Publications, 1975]) were free to admit that the Roman Catholic Church has its own sacred music tradition, but that tradition does not include a long history of singing in the English language. Unlike their fellow Americans of the same American “melting pot” culture, Catholic parishes for the most part have yet to experience the same vitality of song that echoes from their neighboring Christian Churches.
That vitality of song had already existed in the worldwide Lutheran church for over 450 years. Lutheran immigrants to America sang their chorales in their original languages. However, by the time of the 1960 and 1962 Lutheran church mergers, those various nationalistic branches had become “Americanized,” adopting a larger number of English hymns, along with translations of their ethnic songs. The Lutheran Book of Worship (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1987) is a culminating work that includes these translations and a number of contemporary texts and hymn tunes by recognized American Lutheran authors and composers such as Charles Anders (b. 1929), Theodore Beck (b. 1929), Jan Bender (b. 1909), Paul Bunjes (b. 1914), Donald Busarow (b. 1934), Gracia Grindal (b. 1943), Richard Hillert (b. 1923), Frederick Jackisch (b. 1922), Carl Schalk (b. 1929), and Jaroslav Vajda (b. 1919). Members of the committee which produced this book represented all of the participating American and Canadian churches in the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship.
Also of importance was the innovative and highly influential collection Hymns for the Family of God (Fred Bock and Brian Jeffery Leach, eds. [Nashville: Paragon Associates, 1976]). A new era in congregational singing was proclaimed in its preface:
Whereas it used to take decades or centuries for a hymn or song-style to become an established part of the Christian’s repertoire, today this can happen in a matter of a few month’s time. For example “Alleluia” and “They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love” are sung almost everywhere by almost everyone.
In addition to the appearance of these new hymnals, there was a flurry of publications of a quite different nature, published to fill the need for more contemporary songs with updated language, and using a greater variety of popular musical styles.
In England, the work of the Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland introduced the newest texts of Albert Bayly (1901–1984), Fred Pratt Green (b. 1903), Fred Kaan (b. 1929), and Brian Wren (b. 1936) as well as the most current music by Peter Cutts (b. 1937) and Michael Fleming (b. 1928). Galliard of Norfolk had a continuing series of books that were made available in the United States, such as Songs for the Seventies (James D. Ross, ed. [New York: Galaxy Music Corporation, 1972]). This collection contained Sydney Carter’s controversial “Friday Morning.”
In America, Hope Publishing Company’s subsidiary, Agape, and editor Carlton Young had their own series of imaginative and innovative books. In both a pocket-size edition and a larger spiral-bound edition, they presented a collection of seventy eclectic songs called Songbook for Saints and Sinners (Carol Stream, Ill.: Agape, 1971). The Avery and Marsh folk-song pieces were printed next to Catholic Ray Repp’s “Allelu,” Lutheran John Ylvisaker’s “Thanks be to God,” Southern Baptist William Reynold’s “Up and Get us Gone,” Episcopalian Herbert G. Draesel’s “Nicene Creed” and numerous black spirituals. The Genesis Songbook (Carol Stream, Ill.: Agape, 1973) which followed in l973 contained such popular songs as Stephen Schwartz’s “Day by Day,” Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin,” James Thiem’s “Sons of God,” Sy Miller and Jill Jackson’s “Let There be Peace on Earth,” and Gene MacLellan’s “Put Your Hand in the Hand.”
The Exodus Songbook (Carlton Young, ed. [Carol Stream: Agape, 1976]) was next in 1976 with an amazingly different gallery of songwriters: Burt Bacharach, Leonard Bernstein, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Paul Simon, Kurt Weil, Malcolm Williamson, and Stevie Wonder. Some of the titles indicated the unusual nature of the group of songs in this collection: “We’ve Only Just Begun,” “What the World Needs Now,” “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” “A Simple Song,” “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head,” “Come Sunday,” “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother,” “Somewhere,” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”
By 1977 editor “Sam” Young had turned his attention to a uniquely adventuresome supplement project. Ecumenical Praise (Carlton Young, ed. [Carol Stream, Ill.: Agape, 1977]) came to be the most experimental and influential work of its kind. The list of its contemporary composers was quite impressive: Samuel Adler, Emma Lou Diemer, Richard Dirksen, Richard Felciano, Iain Hamilton, Calvin Hampton, Austin C. Lovelace, Jane Marshall, Daniel Moe, Erik Routley, Ned Rorem, Carl Schalk, Malcolm Williamson, Alec Wyton, and Carlton R. Young.
In addition, the evangelical “youth” booklets came forth in a steady and seemingly endless stream. Many had only lyrics, melody lines, and guitar chords. They were intended to be used for unison group singing in Sunday school, at camp, in youth meetings, and in coffee houses. The youth in the Lutheran church used a number of books such as David Anderson’s The New Jesus Style Songs (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1972) while those in evangelical churches sang the songs in Ralph Carmichael’s He’s Everything to Me Plus 103 (Los Angeles: Lexicon Music, 1972). Those who participated in Young Life or Campus Life on high school and college campuses sang from Yohann Anderson’s Songs (San Anselmo, Calif.: Songs and Creations, 1972). In time many larger, independent hymnals included other songs of the seventies, such as Andre Crouch’s “My Tribute” (1971), Kurt Kaiser’s “Oh, How He Loves You and Me” (1975), the Gaithers’ “There’s Something About That Name” (1970), Jimmy Owen’s “Clap Your Hands” (1972), and a large number of spirituals that had been revived during the years of civil unrest.
The 1980s
Ecumenical efforts in the publication of hymnbooks continued. The successor to the 1933 English Methodist Hymn Book was the 1983 Hymns and Psalms: A Methodist and Ecumenical Hymn Book (Richard G. Jones, ed. [London: Methodist Publishing House, 1983]) Prepared by representatives of the Baptist Union, Churches of Christ, Church of England, Congregational Federation, Methodist Church in Ireland, United Reformed Church, and the Wesleyan Reform Union, it produced one hymnbook for several denominations, not unlike the idea of the unified Korean Hymnal of 1984 and similar efforts in Sweden. The contemporary British authors represented in this large (888 items) Methodist book include Albert Bayly, Sydney Carter, Timothy Dudley-Smith, Fred Pratt Green, Alan Luff, Erik Routley, and Brian Wren. Some of the notable hymn tune composers are Geoffrey Beaumont, Sydney Carter, Peter Cutts, Erik Routley, Norma Warren, and John Wilson.
The “hymn explosion” that had taken place in Great Britain became the “hymnal explosion” of the 1980s in the United States. This was due in part to the exceptional efforts of George Shorney, chairman of America’s largest publisher of nondenominational hymnals, the century-old Hope Publishing Company. As host to visits of leading English hymn-writers and the publisher of single-author books of texts, he did more than any single person to promote the use of those new texts on this side of the Atlantic.
One of the early volumes contained The Hymns and Ballads of Fred Pratt Green (Bernard Braley, ed. [Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1982]), complete with notes on each text. This collection contained “General Hymns,” “Hymns for Special Occasions,” “Ballads,” “Translations,” “Early Hymns,” and “Anthem Texts.” It seems as though every new American hymnal has adopted his oft-quoted “When in Our Music, God Is Glorified” (Later Hymns and Ballads and Fifty Poems, Bernard Braley, ed. [Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1989]).
In 1983 The Hymns & Songs of Brian Wren, with Many Tunes by Peter Cutts was published in the United States as Faith Looking Forward (Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1983). “Christ is Alive!,” one of his innovative works, found its way into a number of hymnals during the eighties. Another collection followed in 1986. Then in 1989, thirty-five new Wren hymns were issued under the title Bring Many Names (Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1989).
The following year the collected hymns of Timothy Dudley-Smith were published as Lift Every Heart (Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1984). And in a very short period of time, a number of his widely accepted texts were printed in a variety of denominational and nondenominational books. Likewise, the work of Canada’s leading hymn-writer, Margaret Clarkson, was collected in A Singing Heart (Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1987), while American counterpart Jane Parker Huber had her texts published in A Singing Faith (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1987). In the same year, Lutheran Jaroslav J. Vajda had his hymns, carols, and songs published in a volume entitled Now The Joyful Celebration (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1987). In the early 1990s, New Zealander Shirley Erena Murray’s work was introduced in the United States by the collection In Every Corner Sing (Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1992).
A few years later the collected hymns for the church year (after the model set in Keble’s Christian Year) were assembled in Carl P. Daw, Jr.’s A Year of Grace (Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1990). Eighteen of the metrical canticles from this significant work were published subsequently, each with two musical settings, in To Sing God’s Praise (Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1992).
Finally, the single-author collection Go Forth for God (Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1991) introduced the complete hymn-writing opus of English clergyman J. R. Peacey to editors and worship leaders in the United States. The British “hymn explosion” had become a significant part of the “hymnal explosion” in the United States.
This decade of the hymnal began with the publication of Lutheran Worship (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1982), the authorized hymnal for the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. It restored original unequal rhythms to a number of the early chorales and included important contributions by such contemporary Lutheran composers as Anders, Beck, Bender, Bunjes, Busarow, Manz, Sateren, and Schalk.
However, it was The Hymnal 1982 (Raymond F. Glover, ed. [New York: The Church Hymnal Corporation, 1985]) which set the standard for future denominational hymnals. A revision of The Hymnal 1940 (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1940), had several noticeable differences: (1) the use of guitar chord symbols; (2) added instrumental parts; (3) metronome markings; (4) black note notation, and (5) music within the musical staff.
In l985 the Reformed Church in America issued its own book, Rejoice in the Lord: A Hymn Companion to the Scriptures (Erik Routley, ed. [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985]). It is chiefly the work of editor Erik Routley and it bears the stamp of his genius.
A year later two very different collections of congregational songs were published. In Worship III (Robert J. Batastini, ed. [Chicago, Ill.: GIA Publications, 1986]), Roman Catholics made an effort to move into the mainstream of congregational hymnody. Distinguished composers included in this new revision of the l971 and 1975 editions were Marty Haugen, Howard Hughes, and Michael Joncas.
Remarkably different was The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration (Tom Fettke, ed. [Waco, Tex.: Word Music, 1986]). Its brief services (and medleys) with choral introductions and codas and the complete orchestration of its contents made this a distinctively new collection. Moreover, the eclecticism of its contents may best be illustrated in the titles of some of the songs: the “Hallelujah Chorus” (Messiah); Timothy Dudley-Smith’s setting of the Magnificat, “Tell Out My Soul”; Andre Crouch’s solo song “My Tribute”; the country/western song, “I’ll Fly Away”; the spiritual, “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”; Ralph Carmichael’s hit song, “He’s Everything to Me”; and Jack Hayford’s praise chorus, “Majesty.”
Another pair of hymnals was published in 1987. The carefully constructed Christian Reformed Psalter Hymnal (Emily R. Brink, ed. [Grand Rapids: CRC Publications, 1987]) featured metrical versions of all 150 psalms, settings of biblical songs from Genesis to Revelation, and hymns for every act of worship and season of the Christian year.
This may be contrasted with the evangelical Gaither Music Company publication, Worship His Majesty (Fred Bock, ed. [Alexandria, Ind.: Gaither Music Company, 1987]). Here the reader will find Christian contemporary solos by Paul Stookey, Dottie Rambo, and Bill and Gloria Gaither, along with nineteenth-century gospel songs by Fanny Crosby and Ira D. Sankey. The Church of God also used contemporary Christian songs in their new hymnal, Worship The Lord (Alexandria, Ind.: Warner Press, 1989).
Until the publication of their new hymnal in 1989, the United Methodists used the 1982 Supplement to the Book of Hymns (Carlton R. Young, ed. [Nashville: The United Methodist Publishing House, 1982]) as well as a 1983 Asian-American collection, Hymns from the Four Winds (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1983) edited by the distinguished ethnomusicologist, I-to-Loh.
At the end of the decade, a superb collection of congregational songs was completed by the members of the Hymnal Revision Committee of the United Methodist Church under the editorship of Carlton Young. This 1989 book was the result of a careful review of traditional and contemporary materials. Well-known hymns from Greek, Latin, German, Scandinavian, Wesleyan, English, and North American traditions were placed alongside representative and meaningful evangelical songs. Selections from the contemporary popular repertoire were printed with English and American hymns of the “hymn explosion” period. A wide variety of ethnic songs were also given some prominence.
Apart from these large collections of congregational songs, a large number of supplemental books appeared during the eighties—books of every possible kind, many with accompanying cassette recordings. And with the recording of the songs in these very diverse books, the adoption of the new music became increasingly rapid.
Roman Catholics purchased cassette tapes of single artists/composers such as John Michael Talbot as well as the music and tapes of Gather to Remember (Michael A. Cymbala, ed. [Chicago: GIA Publications, 1982]). Moreover, the many cantor-congregation publications encouraged an easy form of responsive singing. The Music of Taize (Robert J. Bastastini, ed. [Chicago: GIA Publications, 1978]), a Protestant community in France, was promoted by Robert Bastastini, editor of GIA Publication.
Episcopalians made a significant contribution to the growing repertoire of ethnic hymnody in the publication of Lift Every Voice and Sing: A Collection of Afro-American Spirituals and Other Song (New York: Church Hymnal Corporation, 1981), and the Catholics followed with Lead Me, Guide Me: The African-American Catholic Hymnal (Chicago: GIA Publications, 1987).
The Hope Publishing Company, Agape division, published a 1984 Hymnal Supplement (Carol Stream, Ill.: Agape, 1984) followed by Hymnal Supplement II (Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Co., 1987) with new material from leading British and American writers and composers. Then in 1989, Tom Fettke compiled and edited Exalt Him (Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1989) which was issued in a words-only edition, a music edition, and a piano/rhythm book, and was recorded on cassette and CD, along with a variety of accompaniment tapes.
Three major groups emerged as leaders in the publication of praise-and-worship music. Maranatha! Music had early been the leader with its famous Praise (Costa Mesa, Calif.: Maranatha! Music, 1983). Integrity’s Hosanna! Music also developed a continuing stream of both printed and recorded materials, while the Vineyard Ministries spread both their style of worship and their musical repertoire to a number of countries. All three repertoires have been used extensively.
One of the most unusual series of publications of the late 1980s came from the Iona Community in Scotland. The wild goose, a Celtic symbol of the Holy Spirit, was adopted as the symbol of this community of prayer, which is made up of ordained and lay men and women of all denominations sharing a common rule of faith and life. The chief author of each collection of unaccompanied songs was John Bell. Some sixty percent of the fifty songs in each volume were his own compositions. The remainder were mostly British folk tunes such as “O Waly Waly,” “Sussex Carol,” “Scarborough Fair,” and “Barbara Allen.” The first collection, Heaven Shall Not Wait (Costa Mesa, Calif.: Maranatha! Music, 1987), was issued in 1987 and revised in 1989. The second volume, Enemy of Apathy was issued in 1988 (John Bell and Graham Maule, eds. (Chicago: GIA Publications); Heaven Shall Not Wait was revised in 1990. The third in the series, Love from Above (John Bell and Graham Maule, eds. [Chicago: GIA Publications, 1989]) was published in 1989. The main themes here pertain to the Trinity, Jesus as a friend, creation, and the oneness of worship and work. A recording of each compilation was also made available.
The 1990s
The publishing of new hymnals continues and shows no sign of abatement. Under a directive to develop a hymnal using inclusive language with an awareness of the great diversity within the church, the Presbyterian hymnal committee included 695 selections in its Presbyterian Hymnal and its ecumenical edition Hymns, Psalms & Spiritual Songs (Linda Jo McKim, ed. [Louisville, Ky.: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1990]). Their aim—“to provide a book for congregational singing with the expectation that all who use it may be enriched by hymns from gospel, evangelical, Reformed, and racial and ethnic traditions in the church”—is clearly stated in the preface (p. 7). True to the Presbyterian heritage, the book includes one hundred musical settings of selections from the Psalter, including six settings for Psalm 23. And there are 157 congregational songs included in the Christian Year section, indicating the continuing interest in the denomination to observe the Christian year. The remaining 347 songs in the Topical Hymns and Service Music sections comprise a varied selection including music provided for Spanish, Korean, Chinese, and Japanese texts.
The leadership of George H. Shorney and the enthusiastic efforts of hymnal editor Donald P. Hustad, one of America’s leading church musicians and hymnologists, resulted in The Worshiping Church: A Hymnal (Donald P. Hustad, ed. [Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1990]). Of particular interest in this important book are its several adjunct volumes. The three accompaniment books have been published for keyboard, brass, and handbells. The Worship Leader’s Edition contains helpful articles related to worship and congregational singing as well as a brief analysis of each song printed. The concordance tabulates the texts which contain any important word that the user wishes to find. Moreover, the dictionary companion contains complete historical information about all texts and tunes.
The latest Baptist Hymnal (Wesley L. Forbes, ed. [Nashville, Tenn.: Convention Press, 1991]) is a magnificent contribution to the ongoing development of heartfelt congregational singing in the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination. A hymnal for people of the Book, each text has been carefully examined as to its theological content. From the beginning of congregational singing in Benjamin Keach’s London church (1691) until 1991, the published books for Baptist congregations have included a wide variety of forms and styles. This book features the greatest variety to date, including traditional hymns and gospel songs as well as contemporary classical hymns, contemporary gospel songs, renewal songs, choruses, and ethnic selections.
Likewise, the 1992 Mennonite Hymnal (Kenneth Nafziger, ed. [Scottdale, Pa.: Mennonite Publishing House, 1992]) contains a wide variety of texts. There are twenty by Watts and twenty-three by Wesley, fifteen by Brian Wren, and eight by Fred Pratt Green. The music is also varied. There are fourteen American folk tunes here and thirteen Afro-American songs, ten tunes by Lowell Mason, and thirteen by Vaughan Williams. Ethnic songs are represented by Swahili, Swedish, Taiwanese, Welsh, South African, Slavic, and Spanish melodies.
In England, the work of the early church music reformers continues in the endeavors of the Jubilate group. Hymns for Today’s Church (Michael Baughen, ed. [London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1982]), Carols for Today, Church Family Worship, and Songs from the Psalms were followed by Psalms for Today (Michael Perry and David Ibiff, eds. [London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1990]), also available in the United States from Hope Publishing Company. Intended for Anglican worship, this volume is certain to be widely used in both England and America. Extensive use has been made of folksong-like tunes, as well as newly composed melodies to supplement those selections which continue the use of familiar traditional music.
The printing of supplemental books continues and is well illustrated by Come Celebrate!: A Hymnal Supplement (Betty Pulkingham, Mimi Farra, and Kevin Hackett, eds. [Pacific, Mo.: Mel Bay Publications, 1990]) with its very singable songs. Written for the Community of Celebration of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, a community drawn together for daily worship, this collection, which is a supplement to The Hymnal 1982, is intended to be “a resource for enriching parish family worship with simple songs and hymns, on Sundays, at home, at work, and in the dailiness of life” (Preface). Here one will find unison and part songs (with piano or guitar accompaniment and other instruments, including a bass instrument and percussion) for the Daily Office and for celebrations of the Holy Eucharist and the Church Year.
An additional 1992 book of hymns from the Hope Publishing Company is 100 Hymns of Hope (George H. Shorney, ed. [Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1992]) commemorating the company’s 100-year history. Its contemporary hymn texts and music are by English, American, and Canadian authors such as Michael Baughen, Margaret Clarkson, Peter Cutts, Carl P. Daw, Richard Dirkson, Timothy Dudley-Smith, Fred Pratt Green, Hal Hopson, Alan Luff, Jane Marshall, J. R. Peacey, Michael Perry, Richard Proulx, William Reynolds, Erik Routley, Jeffery Rowthorn, Carl Schalk, John W. Wilson, Brian Wren, and Carlton Young, all members of congregational song’s “Hall of Fame.”
Finally, Word Music has issued a comprehensive collection of Songs for Praise and Worship (Ken Barker, ed. [Waco, Tex.: Word Music, 1992]), an anthology of 253 songs and choruses providing material from a number of praise-and-worship-style music catalogs to serve as either a stand-alone collection or a supplement to any hymnal. The several editions include the pew edition, the singer’s edition, a worship planner’s edition, a keyboard edition, and fifteen instrumental editions. Transparency masters and slides are also available. Its table of contents reveals a growing sensitivity to the need for topical songs and includes sections such as God Our Father, Jesus Our Savior, The Holy Spirit, The Church, The Believer, Opening of Service, and Closing of Service.
Conclusion
Because so many materials are available for congregational singing, and since only a small fraction of the various texts and song forms can be assimilated by any one congregation, worship leaders are constantly required to make difficult choices. Also, because there is such rapid change taking place in American society and within the church itself, worship leaders must be sensitive to the needs and requests of a shifting multigenerational and sometimes multicultural membership.
Lyle E. Schaller says it well in his descriptive work, It’s A Different World!: The increase in the range of available choices has made the task of being a leader in the church more complex and more difficult than it was in the 1950s. Being able to recognize that every choice has a price tag, encouraging people to understand the matter of trade-offs, and being able to identify those trade-offs makes the responsibility of serving as a leader in the church today far more difficult than it ever was in 1955. ([Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1987], 239)
One of the major problems which emerged from the church music renewal movement of the 1960s and 1970s is the division between those churches that chose to continue singing traditional songs and those assemblies which adopted praise-and-worship-style music exclusively. Also, there are those church leaders who opted for both by scheduling two services, one traditional and one contemporary. However, this practice has been just as divisive, though confined to the local church. Congregational song, however, is for all of the people of God in united acts of worship. Thus, the convergence so wonderfully advocated by Robert Webber and Chuck Fromm is the most rational and pragmatic response to the problem. In Signs of Wonder (Nashville: Abbott Martyn, 1992) Webber points out the following:
There is a movement among the people of the world to find out each other’s traditions and to share from each other’s experiences. We the people of the church have even more reason to learn what is happening in other worship cultures and to draw from each other’s spiritual insights and experiences. After all, there is only one church, and although there are a variety of traditions and experiences within this church, each tradition is indeed part of the whole. The movement toward the convergence of worship traditions and the spiritual stimulation which comes from borrowing from various worship communities are the results of the worship renewal taking place in our time.
In the final analysis, those responsible for leading congregational singing are required to know the entire repertoire of congregational songs appropriate to the culture in which they live. They need to know the most meaningful and relevant songs from the past, and they must exercise a growing sensitivity to the heartfelt needs of those whom they lead. And they primarily must seek the mind of God—together with pastoral leaders in their churches—in making the crucial decisions of what is to be sung.