Commissioning Hymns

Many of us bemoan the fact that there really aren’t very many new, fresh, yet profoundly conservative hymns with rich, doctrinal texts and stable, lasting tunes being written today. There are some. The best I know of are being written by Paul Jones in collaboration with a few pastor/theologians. You can find those hymns here. I would encourage you to get a hold of those as soon as possible and introduce them to your congregations. They’re deep, profound, and good, and yet compositionally they’re fresh sounding in terms of harmonies, etc. Dr. Jones will send you the Alexander hymns for free congregational use if you e-mail him.

Other than those, however, there is relatively little being written.

So I ask, are we willing to put our money where our mouth is? Are we willing to commission some good hymns?

Many people assume that Christian composers should just write hymns for free — hey, it’s ministry right? But composers have to feed their families, too, you know! We support pastors and missionaries financially even though they are “doing ministry.” We should do the same for those writing congregational hymnody. “The laborer is worthy of his hire” is stated in the context of ministry (1 Timothy 5:18). We should be willing to recognize the value of their labors for the cause of Christ and his Church.

The arrangement could be simple. Pay a good composer a flat fee for him or her to compose a series of hymn tunes for you with the understanding that those hymns will then be made available for free public use. He or she can maintain full rights to them but at the same time refrain from copyrighting them so that they can be distributed widely and freely. Really, such an arrangement would not cost very much (certainly much less than commissioning a choral anthem or something larger), and would be greatly beneficial to the Church.

If we are serious about the need for a fresh focus upon congregational singing (which I am), then let’s put our money behind it. Paul Jones, Dan Forrest, and others would be perfect choices. And if you do get some hymns written, send them to me so that I can promote them!

I, for one, am planning on taking some of my designated church music budget and commissioning some hymns. Will you join me?

© 2008, Scott Aniol. All rights reserved.

Scott Aniol

Scott Aniol holds a bachelor's degree in church music from Bob Jones University (Greenville, SC), a master's degree in musicology from Northern Illinois University (DeKalb, IL), and has studied theology at Central Baptist Theological Seminary (Plymouth, MN) and Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary. He was ordained to to the gospel ministry by First Baptist Church (Rockford, IL) in April of 2004. As the executive director of Religious Affections Ministries, Scott speaks on the subjects of music and worship at various churches and conferences. His most recent speaking engagements include the Preserving the Truth Conference, Central Seminary’s Foundations Conference, International Baptist College, and Bob Jones Seminary. Click here to read and/or listen to important talks from Scott Aniol. Curriculum vitae

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