Transforming Congregational Singing For The 21st Century

This new book for 2024 deals with every aspect of congregational singing.

It begins with a practical study on Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 as the model of exactly what God says we are to be doing. It has an extensive history of congregational singing with lots of practical things, covering the Bohemian Brethren, Huguenots, Moravians, Luther, Calvin, Anabaptists, Welsh hymn singing, Scottish Presbyterians, old British Baptists, First Great Awakening, Second Great Awakening, Shape-note Singing, and the Fundamentalist-Revivalist era.

There are chapters on weighing the music and weighing the lyrics. There is an extensive study on song leading and there are chapters on choosing hymnals and expanding the church’s hymn repertoire and analyzing hymns.

There are sample statements on standards for music personnel and standards of church music for church constitutions or covenants.

There is an extensive list of recommendations of little known hymns and practical lessons on how to study hymns. Example studies are provided.

The book has biographical sketches on Cecil Francis Alexander, Charitie Bancroft, Frances BevanPhilip Bliss, Horatius Bonar, William Bradbury, J. Wilbur Chapman, William Cowper, Fanny Crosby, James Deck, William Doane, Philip Doddridge, Charlotte Elliott, Charles Gabriel, Frances Havergal, Reginald Heber, Elisha Hoffman, Benjamin Keach, Thomas Kelly, John Leland, Robert Lowry, Martin Luther, Samuel Medley, John Rippon, John Roberts, Homer Rodeheaver, Ira Sankey, George Stebbins, Cecil Anne Stelle, Samuel Stennett, Will Thompson, Augustus Toplady, William Walford, Isaac Watts, Charles Weigle, Charles Wesley, Frances Williams, William Williams, Daniel Whittle, and Nicolaus Zinzindorf.