Hymns—for Home and Church
“Hymns—for Home and Church,” a sacred music collection of between 450 to 500 hymns and children’s songs, will be available digitally and in print for individuals and families to use globally at home and at church. “Hymns—for Home and Church” will be representative of the communal nature of music and worship with hymns and children’s songs together in one collection. “Hymns—for Home and Church” aligns with the Church’s emphasis in recent years of providing home-centered, Church-supported resources that help individuals and families learn and live the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This collection is a revision of the 1985 "Hymns" and the 1989 "Children's Songbook."
In June 2018, the Church announced plans to publish new, unified editions of both Hymns and the Children's Songbook. Members of the Church are invited to participate in the revision process in unprecedented ways. Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles noted, "We desire to offer a consistent core collection of hymns and songs in every language that reflects the diverse needs of the global Church in our day.” Elder Erich W. Kopischke of the Seventy added, "This core collection means that “members of the Church, no matter where they live in the world, will have the same hymns and the same songs and the same hymn numbers!” Members were asked to submit original music and lyrics and to provide feedback.[1]
The Church requested member feedback about sacred music and called for member submissions of original hymns, songs, and texts. Tens of thousands responded, and more than 17,000 songs were submitted.
The ongoing project is complex. Not only are the hymn and song collections being revised, but in some cases, individual hymns and songs are being revised to make them more globally relevant. Updates will clarify doctrine, replace outdated language where meanings have changed over time, and ensure that lyrics and musical styles are more universally inclusive.
Stated in a news release just prior to April 2024 general conference: "After six years of work reviewing thousands of submissions and gathering hymns from across the world, 12 hymns of the new “Hymns—for Home and Church” will be available on May 30, 2024. The selections will include “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and will be published in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. The hymns will be available in the Sacred Music and Gospel Library apps, and in the online Music Library."
"More groups of new hymns will be released every few months until the full hymnbook is complete in 2026. The same advance release plan will begin for many other languages over the next two to three years."
Up to 50 total languages will be published by 2030. This means that Latter-day Saint congregations throughout the world will worship with the same consolidated and unified hymnbook, numbered the same across the languages most spoken in the Church.
Many additional languages in which the Church is still being established will receive a smaller collection of approximately 60 hymns and children’s songs called “Selected Hymns” as soon as reasonably possible.
“We are just so excited about the opportunity that a new hymnbook will give us as a Church to become unified, to meet those sacred music goals, and to come closer to our Heavenly Father and worship not only at church but at home every day,” said Steve Schank, chair of the new hymnbook committee. “These are the ultimate goals that we hope every Latter-day Saint achieves by using the sacred music of the Church in this new collection.”
