The first 13 songs for the new hymnal – Church News – have been released

Six years after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced that it was working to create a new hymnal for members to use in worshiping and studying the gospel, the Church has released its first batch of 13 hymns.

New songs are immediately available to listen and sing on the church music website, Sacred Music apps and Gospel Library.

During a media event held at the historic Salt Lake Tabernacle on Thursday, May 30, Elder Isaac K. Morrison, General Authority Seventy; Primary General President Susan H. Porter; Elder Michael T. Ringwood, also a General Authority Seventy and executive director of the Department of Priesthood and Family; and Ed Krenicky, product manager for the new songbook, talked about the process that led to today’s release and the role of sacred music in the worship of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Elder Morrison and President Porter, along with Brooke Hirst, a member of the songbook committee, also joined the Church News podcast to discuss the first batch of songs.

President Porter stated that she greatly enjoyed being a part of the project and seeing how everyone’s talents and inspirations played a role in the final product.

“It was a beautiful combination of everyone bringing their piece to the table to enrich the experience we have in our church meetings and at home – which is a big element of this project – to do everything we can to make this music available to people to sing at home,” she said.

The 13 songs were released in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. Each song comes with sheet music and audio recordings. Audio files include piano accompaniment, guitar accompaniment, and vocals with piano. Additional small batches will be released every few months between now and 2026. The same staggered release will occur in additional languages ​​starting in the next few years.

The Temple Square Tabernacle Choir performed one of the new inclusions — “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” — during general conference in April 2024. The choir has also sung another of the new hymns, “It Is Well With My Soul,” many times in the past.

The church anticipates releasing up to 500 songs in one volume, “Hymns – for Home and Church,” which will include music for all ages in one place. The goal is to release all songs in a maximum of 50 languages ​​by 2030.

“Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” returns to the English language songbook after being excluded from the 1985 songbook. However, the hymn remained in some language editions of the hymn book. President Porter said it was the most frequently requested song by Church members when they were asked to indicate which songs they would like to add to the new collection.

“We have seen miracles in this project – it is a miracle. We received help where it was so wonderful that help came when we needed it most,” Elder Morrison said.

Since the beginning of this project, Church leaders have said that the process has been guided by five principles:

1. Strengthen your faith and reverence for Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
2. Teach basic gospel doctrine with power and clarity.
3. Invite people to sing joyfully at home and in church.
4. Comfort the weary and inspire members to persevere in their faith.
5. Unite members throughout the Church.

When the Church announced this project in June 2018, leaders asked members to submit original songs to be included. Individuals submitted more than 17,000 songs, which were considered and reviewed by many volunteers who helped the songbook committee narrow down the final list.

“In the end, we had over 160 members helping us review new submissions, and it took a long time – several years – to review all the submissions, and we are still reviewing them and making decisions,” Hirst said.

In 1985, when the current version of the hymnal was published, the worldwide Church had nearly six million members. Currently, the Church has over 17 million members.

“The growth of the Church around the world is simply amazing.” Said Elder Morrison. “The last time we had such a review was in 1985, almost 40 years ago. This revision is extremely necessary and necessary as a way to unite all members around the world.”

As the Church has grown and the Church’s hymns have been made available in more and more languages, unity in the singing of the sacred hymns has become a challenge because not all hymns are available in all languages, and those that are have different hymn numbers in different languages. songbook of every language.

President Porter recalls visiting the Galilee branch office with her husband, the late Elder Bruce D. Porter, a General Authority Seventy, where hymns were sung simultaneously in four languages—English, Hebrew, Russian, and German.

“Now, with this global manual, every member of the Church will have the same hymnal with the same hymn numbers,” she said. “It will be very unifying for all of us.”

Digital Edition Features

The digital release of the first 13 hymns gives Church members and friends of the Church the opportunity to explore some of the new or recently added features on the Church’s music website and Sacred Music app.

“If you don’t have the Sacred Music app, I highly recommend adding it to your phone because it provides a richer music experience than just the Gospel Library,” Hirst said.

For example, the Sacred Music app allows users to listen to selected playlists and create their own playlists. Curated playlists include annual youth albums, simplified hymns and songs, instrumental music, church event music, and Christmas music.

In the app, you can also search for music by topic and download it directly to your mobile device to listen to when streaming is not possible.

The new hymns are located in the section titled “Hymns – for Home and Church” and reflect the title of the final printed version of the new hymns. There are currently two music sections in this playlist – “Sabbath and Weekday” with nine songs and “Easter and Christmas” with four songs. The numbering of the first part starts from 1001. The second part starts from 1201. Thanks to this, the current songbook can retain the numbering in all languages ​​for the time being.

The value of children’s singing

At times, Church members may have felt that sacrament meetings were intended primarily for adults and that Primary was a place where children could learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ and sing songs of praise. President Porter hopes that perceptions will change on this issue.

“This… will really strengthen and help us realize that the Lord wants to feed every person He has invited to His meeting, and that includes children,” she said.

President Porter said that “Gethsemane” is an example of how children can feel the Holy Ghost by singing the doctrinally powerful words of the songs.

“I think we greatly underestimate the spiritual capabilities of children,” said President Porter. “And to be in church and see a four-year-old singing with his whole heart, ‘Gethsemane, Jesus loves me.’ And through this beautiful song they learn that Gethsemane is not so much about suffering but about proof of God’s love for them.”

Testimonies of sacred music

While recording the Church News Podcast, Elder Morrison testified of the importance of sacred music in uniting God’s children.

“I firmly believe that what we are doing now, which is sanctioned by the First Presidency and (Quorum of) the Twelve, is a way to communicate God’s love to all His children throughout the world, in their own language,” he said. “Music and hymns bring us closer to the Spirit, bring us closer to God and Jesus Christ.”

President Porter shared her hope for the day when Heavenly Father’s children will unite in song at the Second Coming of the Savior.

“I loved that it was sung at the most important moments in the history of our world – at the birth of the Savior. And when He comes again, I look forward to joining in song with all of us at the Savior’s Second Coming and throughout eternity as we praise in song our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ for Their mercy and love,” she said. he said.