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Delegates to Decide If Denomination Will Receive New Hymnal; Members to Pick Which Hymns to Include

(January 18, 2008, GBOD) — When it meets this spring, the top legislative body for the United Methodist Church will consider publishing a new hymnal -- and the General Board of Discipleship wants members of all ages and stages to decide what hymns to include, should a new hymnal be given the nod.

The agency is conducting a series of online hymnal surveys between now and March 1. Each survey will feature a question related to musical or liturgical (worship) content. Participants will have approximately two weeks to complete each survey. The current survey question related to which hymns and songs to include in a new hymnal will be replaced after January 31. To participate in the survey, visit www.gbod.org/worship.

"A new hymnal is a once-a-generation event. The information we receive from local church members, pastors, and musicians will be compiled and made available to help General Conference make this important decision as well as to the next hymnal revision committee," said the Rev. Karen Greenwaldt, top executive for the General Board of Discipleship.

This research will also support the ongoing work of music and worship resourcing done by GBOD and The United Methodist Publishing House.

Greenwaldt hopes that United Methodists will take advantage of this opportunity to have an impact on the contents of the denomination's next hymnal.

Name your five faves

Participants may suggest up to five titles of hymns or songs from The United Methodist Hymnal, The Faith We Sing, or titles that are not included in either hymnal.

United Methodist pastors, musicians, choir members, congregations, children, youth, and adults may participate in the survey.

The deadline for completing the first survey is January 31, 2008. For more information, contact Dean McIntyre, GBOD director of music resources at dmcintyre@gbod.org.

Published nearly 20 years ago, the current United Methodist Hymnal replaced the church's previous hymnal released in 1966.

GBOD will take two music-related petitions to General Conference 2008. The first petition asks that a hymnal committee be appointed to develop a USA hymnal and present it for consideration and approval by the 2012 General Conference. Publication could come as early as 2013.

The second petition asks General Conference to approve a four-year study of the issues around developing an Africana hymnal and to appoint a committee to conduct the study and report back to the 2012 General Conference with recommendations.

The Africana hymnal would be a hymnal with music, ritual and worship resources for United Methodist congregations and people of African descent.

This would include the long-established African American constituency of the church, but also other Africana persons in and coming to the United Methodist Church from South and Central America, the Caribbean and from countries of Africa.

GBOD's mission is to support annual conference and local church leaders for their task of equipping world-changing disciples. An agency of The United Methodist Church, GBOD (www.gbod.org) is located at 1908 Grand Ave. in Nashville, Tenn. For more information, call the Media Relations Office toll free at 877-899-2780, ext. 7017.