Bandwagon, anyone?

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) published a new hymnal last year, a successor to the Lutheran Book of Worship (LBW) of 1978. That hymnal began a whole round of hymnal revision projects among Protestant denominations.

It seems they have started it again. I have previously discussed the new Presbyterian hymnal project, including most recently the personnel selected for the committee. Last week we got the names of persons to constitute a hymnal revision committee for The United Methodist Church, and this week the chairs of that group. The UMC book is scheduled for publication following the 2012 General Conference meeting of the denomination (similar to the Presbyterian General Assembly).

Here is the initial release from last week:

UM Hymnal Revision Committee Named

Nashville, October 9—The Hymnal Revision Committee, authorized by the 2008 General Conference of The United Methodist Church, is announced today.

The committee is charged with preparing and presenting to the 2012 General Conference a hymn and worship resource for adoption as an official hymnal of The United Methodist Church for congregational use in the United States.

As the first comprehensive resource since publication of the initial United Methodist Hymnal in 1989, the new resource will aspire to

• reflect the changes that are occurring in music and liturgy throughout the connection and the larger Christian world
• enable United Methodists to sing and worship in ways that honor God and transform persons and congregations toward personal piety and social holiness
• provide a common language of prayer and song
• remember and celebrate the rich Wesleyan (Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren), sacramental, evangelical, and diverse theological traditions
• incorporate expressions of worship in new and revitalized congregations to engage all persons, including new, younger, and diverse people
• hold broad appeal across cultural, geographical, age, and congregational settings
• incorporate the newest technologies and ways of communicating the music and liturgy of the Church
• offer a clear expression of hope that The United Methodist Church is growing in its love of God and neighbor to transform the world
• enable all who use it to express their own heart-language for God and to hear the heart-language of others

As provided for in action by the General Conference, a total of 27 voting members were named by the Council of Bishops, The Order of St. Luke, The Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts, the General Board of Discipleship, and The United Methodist Publishing House.

The first meeting of the Hymnal Revision Committee will be held from January 20-22, 2009, in Nashville. The voting members are as follows:

Bishops

William W. Hutchinson

Deborah L. Kiesey

Ernest S. Lyght

Lay Persons

Neil M. Alexander

Beverly Clement

Mary Jo Dahlberg

Stacy Hood

Heather Josselyn-Cranson

Jorge Lockward

Raquel Martinez

Marcia McFee

Shannon Meister

Mark Miller

Clergy

Laura Jaquith Bartlett

Grace Cajiuat

Patricia Farris

R. Carl Frazier

Karen Greenwaldt

Trey Hall

Hyoik Kim

Walter Kimbrough

Andy Langford

Robert H. McMichael III

Donna Strickland Smith

Eric Smith

John Thornburg

Mark J. Webb

The committee includes 13 women and 14 men. Three of the members are bishops, 7 female and 9 male clergy, 2 male clergy candidates, 6 female laity, 3 male laity. A further breakdown shows 17 Caucasians, 5 African Americans, 2 Hispanic/Latino/Spanish/ Portuguese, 1 Asian American/Pacific Islander, 1 Korean, 1 Native American. Members bring a vast array of experience to this new task, including work on the first United Methodist Hymnal, The Faith We Sing, Zion Still Sings!, and Mil Voces para Celebrar.

And here is information about the chairs announced this week:

Nashville,
October 17—Neil M. Alexander, President and Publisher of The United Methodist Publishing House, and Karen Greenwaldt, General Secretary of the General Board of Discipleship, The United Methodist Church, announced today that the role of editor of the new hymn and worship book authorized by the 2008 General Conference will be shared by Dean B. McIntyre and Gary Alan Smith.

Dean B. McIntyre is the Director of Music Resources at the General Board of Discipleship, where his responsibilities include development of music and worship resources, planning and leading field events related to music and worship, and continued development and expansion of GBOD’s music Web site. A native of New York City, McIntyre holds a Master of Music from Eastern New Mexico University and a Ph. D. in Fine Arts from Texas Tech University. He is a composer, author, and teacher and chaired the General Conference Music and Worship Study, 2004-2007. McIntyre chaired the national introductory event for The Faith We Sing and served on editorial committee for Zion Still Sings. He is a member of ASCAP and a Life Member of The Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts. He will continue as Director of Music Resources while serving as co-editor.

Gary Alan Smith is Senior Music Editor at Abingdon Press. A native of Milwaukee, Smith holds a Master of Sacred Music from Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and a Master of Theology from the Perkins School of Theology at SMU. He is an author, speaker, composer, clinician, and church music director and served as editorial manager of the Hymnal Revision Project that resulted in The United Methodist Hymnal; editorial manager of Mil voces para celebrar; sponsoring editor of The Faith We Sing; and consultant for Zion Still Sings. Smith will also serve as project director for the new hymn and worship resource.

Some dish on the UM committee members: Carl Frazier is a pastor in eastern NC; Andy Langford is a published author who is now pastor of Central UMC in Concord, NC; in additional to being a clergyperson, John Thornburg is a published hymn text author (his "God the sculptor of the mountains" appears in Sing the Faith #2060); Mark Miller is a composer of some reknown especially in Methodist circles.

It will be interesting to see how the two concurrent hymnal projects proceed and what similarities will be evident in the scope and design of the projects.