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Delegates authorize new UMC hymnal Mary Jacobs, May 1, 2008
UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE PHOTO BY PAUL JEFFREY
A choir sings April 27 at the 2008 United Methodist General Conference. Delegates approved adopting a new hymnal for the denomination.
By Mary Jacobs Staff Writer
Nobody was surprised when delegates at the 2008 General Conference approved on April 28 the creation of a new hymnal. But some were surprised by the narrow margin–57% in favor, 43% against–by which the measure passed.
Younger delegates were the ones voicing skepticism about the need for a new version.
“The idea is that a new hymnal will appeal to young people,” said Shannon Meister, 26, a lay delegate from the Missouri Conference. “But a new book will not bring new people to our church. Relationships will.”
“Once it’s published, the contemporary hymns will already be outdated,” said Casey Andrews, 20, a Missouri Conference delegate.
Many smaller rural and urban churches won’t be able to afford new hymnals, the young delegates added, and digital technology is quickly making “hard copy” books obsolete.
Directors of the General Board of Discipleship (GBOD) voted last August to ask the 2008 General Conference to form a hymnal creation committee following a four-year joint music study by GBOD and the United Methodist Publishing House. The publishing house will be responsible for the cost of development of the new hymnal.
If approved at General Conference 2012, the new hymnal would likely be published in 2013 and would replace the current hymnal, which was published in 1989.
“A generation is long enough to bring in some fresh ideas to better reflect the church today,” said Matt Kuzma, 30, a lay delegate from the Northern Illinois Conference, who argued that a new hymnal would appeal to young people.
While many of his peers treasure the old hymns, Mr. Kuzma says young people typically have wide-ranging musical tastes. “My generation did not grow up in a Top-40 world,” he said, in an interview after the vote. “We’re accustomed to listening to all kinds of music from all over the world.”
C. Michael Hawn, director of the sacred music program at Perkins School of Theology, says the concerns of the young people are valid. Selecting music from a wide range of sources, with lyrics displayed on a screen, offers flexibility and a wide range of choices, he says.
“On the other hand, what that means is that everyone who uses a screen becomes a hymnal editor,” he said. A denomination hymnal serves as a “connection with the church, historically and ecumenically” and connects worship leaders to the church universal, not just their individual perspectives.
Dr. Hawn said he wouldn’t be surprised if the next United Methodist hymnal will be disseminated in multiple formats, with online or iPod-type downloadable resources. “But books still have a place,” he added. Many people, for instance, use hymnals for home devotions.
Dr. Hawn noted that two other mainline Protestant groups have recently produced, or made plans to produce, new hymnals. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) published a new hymnal in 2006, replacing its 1978 hymnal. That book is already into several printings. Similarly, the Presbyterian Church USA has just authorized a new hymnal to replace the existing hymnal published in 1990.
And he’s glad to hear that United Methodists are following suit.
“I get excited whenever a church takes its songs seriously,” Dr. Hawn said. “It gives a church a chance to rethink itself.”
UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE PHOTO BY PAUL JEFFREY
