1. How and why did this joint study begin?
2. Who appointed the study team members?
3. How did the committee do its work?
4. What did the music and worship study recommend?

5. Why has GBOD recommended a new hymnal now?
6. Why were two hymnals proposed?
7. Why is the development time for the new hymnal so short? Why is it not preceded by a four-year study?
8. Were other recommendations considered?
9. Why not publish several supplemental volumes?

10. What is the process for publishing a new hymnal in The United Methodist Church?
11. How long does it take to publish a new hymnal?
12. How long does a hymnal last?
13. How old is the present hymnal?
14. What does it mean when it says official hymnal?
15. How many official hymnals do we have?
16. What is the difference between a hymnal and the other songbooks in our church?
17. Who will be on the hymnal committee?
18. How are hymnal committee members chosen?
19. How is the hymnal editor selected?
20. Who decides which hymns are retained and dropped from the existing hymnal?
21. How are new hymns and songs selected?
22. Will the liturgy, ritual, and worship resources change?
23. Will they change the words to familiar hymns?
24. Will the new hymnal be politically correct?
25. How will a new hymnal incorporate new technology?
26. When could a new hymnal be available?

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2. Who appointed the study team members?
Since General Conference called for a joint study by GBOD and UMPH, the study team membership was appointed by the administration of the two agencies and consisted of two and eventually three staff members from each agency.

3. How did the committee do its work?
The full study committee met twenty-one times between 09/14/2004 and 04/14/2007 in alternate meetings held at the two agencies. There were additional meetings of less than the full committee as needed to accomplish specific tasks as well as several meetings with the administration of the two agencies for consultation and reporting.

The committee was largely guided by the language of the authorizing petition which called for study in at least five areas: 1) trends and measurement of congregational singing; 2) Psalter, services, ritual, and service music; 3) texts and tunes, including global and ethnic music; 4) implications of digital and other emerging technologies for worship and congregational singing; and 5) the Wesley hymns. The committee used surveys, interviews, consultations, telephone, email, postal mail, fax, and Internet in seeking input and information from a variety of groups across the denomination (academic and seminary professors, bishops, congregational leaders, ethnic congregations and pastors, The Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts (FUMMWA), Order of Saint Luke (OSL), and worship and music expert practitioners, including authors, hymn writers, specialists, and leaders).

The committee worked closely with the UMPH Research Office in designing questions and survey instruments and in collecting, organizing, and reporting the data.

4. What did the music and worship study recommend?
The joint study committee members, in consultation with administration of both agencies, worked diligently and intensely to interpret the data and were able to agree on the list of observations and needs identified in Section Three of the report. The committee members did not reach a final consensus regarding the need for a revised UM hymnal and referred that matter for review and decision-making to their respective chief executives. Upon discussion between agency chief executives and the study committee, and with approval of the GBOD and UMPH Boards of Directors, GBOD sent two petitions to the 2008 General Conference, one calling for development of a revised United Methodist hymnal for the USA, and one calling for a four-year study into the need for developing an Africana and African American hymnal.

5. Why has GBOD recommended a new hymnal now?
There are a number of factors that led to the GBOD petition for a new hymnal for the USA:

• There is a trend now among denominational publishing for new hymnals: UCC, ELCA, Southern Baptists, Presbyterians have all issued or are engaged in producing new hymnals. The UMC should not be left behind. Some of these denominations’ last hymnal date from the time of our present hymnal. As one music study committee member said, "We see this as significant for all of the Christian church, including United Methodists. It represents a movement in Protestant church music and worship resources that UMs need to recognize and embrace. We are not in a race, but we are in an environment that invites comparisons. With this sort of sea change beginning, I believe we will be viewed as having our heads in the sand and perceived as late if we ignore it or delay action."
• To serve the current young, young adult, and younger mid-adult ages.
• To increase use of the hymnal in all services, not just primary services.
• A twenty-year life for a hymnal is common and enough. We waited too long to develop the current hymnal and we need not repeat the error.
• A hymnal can and would be a unifying and "connecting" resource, particularly in terms of traditional and contemporary music and worship styles.
• A new hymnal provides the platform or opportunity for accomplishing training in worship leadership, accompanying, singing, use of Psalter, Wesley hymnody, ethnic/global performance practice.
• The energy around the launch of a hymnal will help fuel the desire for training in all of the areas identified by the research in several ways:
• It provides a context (event) for the training.
• The attraction of a new "official" body of work.
• The readiness for "training" will be greater.
• Churches that bought the current hymnal when it was new are noticing increasing wear on them and there is for many a need to replace them. A new hymnal now means a one-time purchase or replacement vs. purchase new replacement 1989 hymnals and then a new hymnal later.

6. Why were two hymnals proposed?
To be accurate, one petition calls for a new hymnal for the USA and the other petition calls for a four-year study of the need for an Africana/African American UM hymnal. The GBOD board of directors called for the Africana hymnal study for the following reasons:

• African American United Methodists are the only major ethnic constituency in the USA for whom there has been no official hymnal, liturgical, or ritual resources approved by General Conference. Official hymnals have been published for Korean and Spanish speaking United Methodists.
• Africana people are a diverse and increasing presence in the UMC in the USA.
• African American and Africana congregations of today and the future are not well-served by the music and worship resources of The United Methodist Hymnal (1989).
• Supplemental music resources like Songs of Zion and Zion Still Sings are not intended as primary hymnals. They are supplements to an official hymnal and they do not contain ritual, liturgy, or worship resources.

7. Why is the development time for the new hymnal so short? Why is it not preceded by a four-year study?
A number of factors went into the proposed time line:

• If we wait until 2020 for a new hymnal, how many years does that mean we are using an "irrelevant" hymnal? Five? Six? A hymnal is most relevant when it is new and less relevant as it ages. We must not wait until 2020 for a new hymnal.
• A time frame of twelve years from research to publication is too long a period of separation; half a generation of preparation and research may make the material irrelevant.
• The rate of change is increasing. The need for new resources is shorter today than it was in the past. If we wait until 2020 for a new hymnal, we will lose people.

8. Were other recommendations considered?
The music study committee, executive officers of the two agencies, and the GBOD board of directors, considered a wide range of alternatives that included a variety of supplemental song and worship resources (Spanish, Asian, Native American, contemporary/alternative/emerging, Wesley, global/ethnic, and others) as well as different time lines and publishing schedules. In the end, the two current petitions were sent to General Conference and discussions will continue at the agency level regarding other worship and music materials.

9. Why not publish several supplemental volumes?
Increasing supplementation of the hymnal by UMPH, GBOD, Global Praise, and independent publishers, while providing a large number of songbooks to the church in a great variety of style and content, has also resulted in a loss of shared denominational identity and worship and music practice. A new hymnal will help affirm and reassert that shared identity.

10. What is the process for publishing a new hymnal in The United Methodist Church?
Para. 1114.3 of the The Book of Discipline gives to GBOD the responsibility to "Make recommendations to the General Conference regarding future editions of a book of worship and a hymnal, and, as ordered, provide editorial supervision of the contents of these publications, which shall be published by The United Methodist Publishing House." Thus, the process is: 1) recommendation from GBOD; 2) development of the hymnal; 3) approval by General Conference; 4) publication by UMPH.

11. How long does it take to publish a new hymnal?
The length of time it takes to publish a new hymnal depends upon the study, research, and development time preceding publication. Past modern hymnals have generally had an eight or twelve-year period of study and development. General Conference determines this pre-publication time line. It is important to remember that General Conference meets only every four years, currently scheduled for 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, etc. It can only take action to receive, recommend, and approve petitions and legislation only when it is meeting.

12. How long does a hymnal last?
The life of a hymnal varies, but publishing a new hymnal is traditionally regarded as a once-a-generation event. The life spans of the last five official hymnals have been as follows:

13. How old is the present hymnal?
The present hymnal was released in 1989, making it nineteen years old in 2008 and twenty-three years old in 2012.

14. What does it mean when it says official hymnal?
Hymnals in the UMC are official publications and resources. That means that they have been called for and approved by General Conference. Songbooks like The Faith We Sing, The Cokesbury Hymnal, The Upper Room Worshipbook, Songs of Zion, Zion Still Sings, Global Praise, and others, even though properly developed and published by agencies within The United Methodist Church, are unofficial publications since they have not been called for or approved by General Conference.

15. How many official hymnals do we have?
The official hymnals of our church are The United Methodist Hymnal (1989), Mil Voces Para Celebrar (1995, Spanish language), and Come, Let Us Worship (2001, Korean-English bilingual hymnal). These three hymnals, together with The United Methodist Book of Worship (1992), are the only official worship resources of our denomination.

16. What is the difference between a hymnal and the other songbooks in our church?
Some of the differences between hymnals and songbooks in our church include:

• Hymnals are approved by General Conference and are equally recommended for use throughout the denomination. Their publication is on a timetable set by General Conference.
• Songbooks may be developed and published by any individual, group, company, publisher, or agency, United Methodist or otherwise. General Conference is not involved.
• Hymnals generally are designed to cover a wide range of style and use, meeting the needs of numerous constituencies. Songbooks are often intended for a narrower audience or more specific constituency, often by language, age, musical style, or other consideration.
• Inclusive single-volume hymnals tend to assert and define denominational identity, history, worship and music practice. Songbooks, by virtue of their many intended use and very supplemental character, often have the opposite effect.
• Hymnals contain the approved official services, liturgy, and ritual of the church. Unofficial songbooks do not.

17. Who will be on the hymnal committee?
The enabling petitions that recommend hymnals to General Conference usually also recommend the make-up of a hymnal committee to ensure that the committee is representative of the entire church, taking into consideration such factors as gender, age, ethnicity, language, geographical representation, clergy/laity, and others.

18. How are hymnal committee members chosen?
Selection of specific individuals for the committee often comes from various groups within the church, which may include bishops, general agencies, caucuses, and other groups like FUMMWA and OSL. Often individuals are selected because of the knowledge, experience, and skills they may bring to the task.

19. How is the hymnal editor selected?
The hymnal editor is selected, employed, provided an office, and paid by The United Methodist Publishing House.

20. Who decides which hymns are retained and dropped from the existing hymnal?
Detail decisions like these are usually first recommended in a subcommittee of the full hymnal committee, like a subcommittee on texts. Their recommendation would come before the full committee for action, and finally to General Conference for final approval. While the work is done by the committee and subcommittees, it is General Conference that ultimately approves the hymnal’s contents.

21. How are new hymns and songs selected?
Part of the work of a hymnal committee is to determine the level of use enjoyed by the hymns and songs in a hymnal. This can be accomplished through surveys, Web site responses, consultations, focus groups, and through phone calls, email messages, and letters to the committee from individuals and groups across the denomination.

The committee also receives submissions of new hymns and songs as well as recommendations for inclusion or deletion. The committee takes into consideration many factors: number of pages available, the hymnal’s organization, seasons of the liturgical year, feasts and celebrations, etc. The committee decides which hymns to recommend for deletion and continued inclusion, and carefully considers each new submission. It may also commission the writing of new hymns. Through the deliberations of the various subcommittees, the full committee, and finally General Conference, the hymnal's contents are set.

22. Will the liturgy, ritual, and worship resources change?
At this point we anticipate maintaining the current core of basic resources while developing culturally relevant new options in some that have wide use (new forms of the Great Thanksgiving) and strengthening others that are currently used less often (marriage, death and resurrection, daily prayer). Some currently published resources will be revised to reflect changes in the Discipline. (Example: The vows in Baptismal Covenant III are non-Disciplinary and should no longer be used).

23. Will they change the words to familiar hymns?
Every new hymnal contains hymns whose texts have been edited, altered, revised, or otherwise changed. It is rare that a public domain hymn remains unchanged. There are good reasons for this practice: words may change meanings; some words and meanings become obscure; culture and times change and old language is more understandable if updated; language may need to be adjusted for theological reasons. It is quite likely that this practice will continue with any future hymnal.

24. Will the new hymnal be politically correct?
Will language that might be considered racist be changed or eliminated? Perhaps. Will language that is insensitive or hostile to certain groups (age, gender, race, nationality, physical or mental condition, etc.) be changed or eliminated? Perhaps. Will language that glorifies militarism or war be modified? Perhaps. As with other issues, these will be decided by the committee and recommended to General Conference for final approval.

25. How will a new hymnal incorporate new technology?
The trend with recent hymnal and songbook publications is to make use of as much current and future technology as is possible.

26. When could a new hymnal be available?
The petition sent to General Conference by GBOD calls for a four-year development period for a new hymnal for the USA. This would be brought back for consideration by General Conference in 2012. If approved, it could be released by 2013. This schedule is speculative and might be altered by any number of issues that could arise with printing, delivery, copyright clearance, liturgy and ritual development.