Hymnal revision stopped due to lack of funds

By Kathy L. Gilbert

NASHVILLE (Tennessee) – Work has been halted on a proposed new United Methodist Hymnal, making it the latest victim of the economic crisis.

Bishop Ernest S. Lyght, Chairman of the Hymnal Revision Committee, said: “The resources required to sustain a dedicated staff and pay for the planned activities are simply not available at this time.”

The United Methodist Publishing House would have to invest at least US$2 million (S$2.9 million) to develop a new hymnal and funding is not available from ongoing operations or from reserves, said Mr Neil Alexander, President and Publisher.

The 2008 United Methodist General Conference approved “with joyful excitement” creation of a committee to bring a proposed hymnal to the 2012 session of the denomination’s top legislative body.

The 2005-2008 study identified a need for a better mix of traditional hymns and new ones, the desire for more types of music and specific appeals for improvements, additional worship tools and official materials in different media formats.

The study also revealed that similar types of hymnals have about a 25-year life span, and many denominations that produced hymnals around the same time as the last United Methodist Hymnal have recently published or plan to publish new versions.

The Rev Karen Greenwaldt, top executive of the Board of Discipleship, and Mr Alexander said the two agencies would collaborate with each other and with worship leaders across the denomination in the next months. Special projects in the development of resources for the church’s liturgical life and music ministries would be pursued. The Facebook New United Methodist Hymnal Group will continue as a resource for new publishing projects in worship and music for the church. 

The United Methodist Hymnal was published in 1989 and the proposed revision would have been the second since the merger of the Evangelical United Brethren and Methodist churches in 1968. – United Methodist News Service.

Kathy L. Gilbert is a news writer for United Methodist News Service in Nashville.