Music and family have always been connected for me. My grandfather taught me the Christian faith largely through our Welsh heritage of singing. Shortly before he died, our family gathered around the piano as my mother played and we sang many of his favorites from the Methodist hymnal. Every night with my own family we open the hymnal and sing some of these famous Welsh hymns, including “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah.” The great Methodist hymn writer Charles Wesley wrote “Jesus, Lover of My Soul,” commonly set to the Welsh tune “Aberystwyth.” (If you’re a fan of the TV show The Crown, you’ll recognize this song from the episode “Aberfan.”)

So you can see I’m partial to the old hymns. But unfortunately, we’ve worn out the binding on my old Methodist hymnal. And when I’m singing with my family, I want to include some newer songs we sing in church, songs that have played such a big role in my own generation’s faith: songs like “In Christ Alone,” “Speak O Lord,” and “The Lord Is My Salvation,” written by Keith Getty, my guest on this episode of Gospelbound.

On this episode of Gospelbound we talked about one of the most anticipated releases I can remember, the brand-new Sing! Hymnal (Crossway). In their introduction, Keith and his wife Kristyn write, “Hymns are the heart language of the church, used to sing truth to the Lord and to one another in every season of the soul. This has always been the way. . . . Our hymns hold us, inspire us, comfort us—and form us.”

You know Keith Getty as writer of some of your most beloved songs. A choir director. A musician. A movement leader. Hopefully you’ve sung with Keith and Kristyn at one of several TGC national conferences. He joined me on Gospelbound to discuss changes in church music, liturgy, and the legacy of this hymnal.

NOTE: I hope you enjoy the new branding, music, and production for Gospelbound. Special thanks on the design to Brannon McAllister and on the video and audio editing to The Good Podcast Company. I’d like to thank Heather Ferrell for producing the show over its first five years. With this transition we’ll be making two major changes to Gospelbound. First, we’ll be releasing episodes every other week. Second, we’ll be releasing episodes year-round. No more breaks between seasons. We hope these changes will make it easier for you to watch, listen, and share. Thank you for propelling the show to nearly 7.7 million downloads over 166 episodes since 2020!

In This Episode

00:00:00 — The Power of Hymns in Family and Culture

00:05:14 — Why We Need a New Hymnal

00:11:18 — What Makes Hymns Timeless

00:19:04 — Screens vs. Books in Worship

00:27:36 — Liturgy, Leadership, and Lasting Formation

00:35:54 — The Legacy of the Sing! Hymnal

Learn more about the Sing! Hymnal.

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