Look inside

Singing the faith has been at the heart of the Methodist story from its beginnings. Our common history and experience bear witness to the power of melody and poetry in worship. They lift our hearts, minds and voices to "a 'thin place', where the veil between heaven and earth is almost invisible, as we join with the angels in giving praises to our Creator God". (Revd Ruth Jeffries, member of the Music Resources Group)

This tailor-made collection begins the next chapter in our story. It echoes the distinctive voice of Methodist worship today, in all its diversity, and calls us to renewal of prayer, praise and the offering of our lives in joyful response to God's all-embracing love.

It is a balanced collection that is eminently suitable for personal, private devotion and collective, public worship:

Successive Methodist hymn books have been a pivotal means by which we have explored and expressed our emphases of Christian beliefs as well as grown in our faith and understanding. Singing the Faith continues that tradition. This little manual of practical theology will be your constant companion as it comforts and challenges, inspires and encourages you on your pilgrimage of whole life, lifelong and world transforming discipleship.

The collection is sensitive to our heritage but also to today's fellowships through its careful arrangement of classic and contemporary worship styles. It will enable and enrich collective worship by instilling variety and vitality while underpinning everything with the breadth and depth of our theology. In so doing it carries forward our Methodist values into the worship expression of a new generation.

Singing the Faith is something tangible and enduring in our increasingly virtual and transient world. It has been built to last and designed as a gift to be given away to old and new members alike. It is the gift of a worship companion for the journey of Christian discipleship.

You can find out more about what is inside Singing the Faith by selecting any of these:

Contents list
Musical arrangements
Worship styles and traditions
Theology
Language
Topics and themes

Contents list

This is the confirmed list of contents. A small number of hymns and songs from the original list (authorised by the 2010 Methodist Conference) do not appear in the final collection due to copyright and space constraints.

• Download full contents list (excel file)
• Download full contents list (pdf file)
• Download section headers only (pdf file)

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Musical arrangements

The guiding principle of the Music Resources Group (MRG) has been to ensure that all items are suitable for congregational singing and that tunes are presented and arranged so that they are accessible to musicians of varying abilities while maintaining the integrity of the original composition.

• Well-known associations of texts and tunes have been preserved.
• Descants to a number of popular hymns have been provided.
• Over 100 arrangements for modern songs and hymns have been made.
• Over 40 newly-composed tunes have been included with the aim of providing stylistic variety.

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Worship styles and traditions

The contents of Singing the Faith have been chosen from the extraordinary and sometimes bewildering variety of worship music now available. The MRG reviewed over one hundred collections published since 1983 (when Hymns & Psalms launched), examined literally thousands of texts and weighed the merits of each. Their long and thoughtful consideration ensures that you now have a collection that reflects the best worship material available today – conveniently brought together all in one place.

• It is a rich blend of musical styles with, for example, the hymns of our heritage standing alongside contemporary worship songs for all ages.
• There are 790 hymns and songs written and composed by Charles Wesley, Bernadette Farrell, Brenton Brown, Brian Doerksen, Brian Hoare, Brian Wren, Carl Daw, Cecil Frances Alexander, Chris Tomlin, Christopher Norton, Darlene Zschech, David Lee, Fred Kaan, Fred Pratt Green, Geraldine Latty, Graham Kendrick, Guy Turner, Isaac Watts, John Bell, Keith Getty, Margaret Rizza, Martin Leckebusch, Marty Haugen, Matt Redman, Michael Forster, Shirley Erena-Murray, Stuart Townend, Tim Hughes, Timothy Dudley-Smith, Vicky Beeching and many more.
• The collection crosses ecumenical boundaries with material from, for example, the Iona and Taizé traditions as well as the world-wide Church – from Africa, North and South America, Asia and Australasia, as well as Europe.
• It includes liturgical settings (for example, the Kyrie, Sanctus and the Lord's Prayer), canticles and psalms. (Note: the psalms are not set to music.)
• The contents are drawn from a wide range of sources including Hymns & Psalms, Songs of Fellowship, Complete Mission Praise, Church Hymnary 4, Common Ground, The Source, Kidsource, Out of the Ark Music, Sing Glory, Songs for the New Millennium and many more.

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Theology

The hymns and songs have been chosen not just as instruments of worship but for the teaching they contain. Their theology has been meticulously scrutinised by the Faith & Order Committee and Network on behalf of the Methodist Conference. Consequently, Singing the Faith carries the doctrinal standards, emphases, tradition, values and ethos of the Methodist Church.

• The book expresses the core beliefs of the Christian faith and distinctive Methodist values; particularly Arminianism, assurance, perfect love and social holiness.
• It encompasses the breadth of Methodist theology today.
• The balance of the collection is towards hymns (ancient and modern) to ensure a depth of theology appropriate for personal reflection, meditation and prayer.

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Language

“Here are, allow me to say, both the purity, the strength, and the elegance of the English language; and, at the same time, the utmost simplicity and plainness, suited to every capacity.” (John Wesley's preface to A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists (1779))

Through its balance of the classic and the contemporary, Singing the Faith will enable you to express your faith through hymns, songs and psalms which use modern as well as traditional imagery and language. A particular focus of the MRG has been on providing material that will help you to communicate your faith in words that speak effectively to today's society.

• Where it could be sensitively done in relation to the context and style of the hymn, gender exclusive language with reference to people has been replaced (in unison with other collections where possible).
• ‘Thee' and ‘thou' have been replaced where the usage is not rhyme-dependant and where such a change does not damage the overall quality of the hymn.
• Where an author has produced a definitive version of a text which is still in copyright this has been used.
• Translations of non-English language hymns and songs have been provided.

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Topics and themes

Singing the Faith adheres to the approach of its predecessors by containing:

... all the important truths of our most holy religion, whether speculative or practical; yea, to illustrate them all, and to prove them both by Scripture and Reason: and this is done in a regular order. The hymns are not carelessly jumbled together, but carefully ranged under proper heads, according to the experience of real Christians, So that this book is, in effect, a little body of experimental and practical divinity. (John Wesley's preface to A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists (1779))

• The collection touches upon the range of Christian as well as human experience; from birth, death, work and marriage to calling, repentance and reconciliation.
• It contemplates abiding and contemporary world issues like peace, justice and care of the environment.
• In keeping with tradition, its topics and themes are arranged both for ease of use and guiding faith.

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