New Hymnal Committee Forms

In September, PPC announced the names of fifteen individuals who will serve on the committee that will develop the next Presbyterian hymnal. Representatives from PPC; the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Office of Theology, Worship, and Education; and the Presbyterian Association of Musicians (PAM) reviewed applications from more than two hundred Presbyterians from thirty-nine states before selecting these individuals: Mary Louise (Mel) Bringle, Chair; Chi Yi Chen, Adam Copeland, Alfred V. Fedak, Stephen H. Fey, Charles D. Frost, Karen Hastings-Flegel, Beverly Howard, Paul Junggap Huh, Mary Beth Jones, Eric T. Myers, Chelsea Roeder Stern, Edwin Chr. van Driel, Michael Waschevski, and Barbara G. Wheeler.

David Eicher, who began work as editor of the new hymnal in early 2008, conducted an extensive search for interested and qualified applicants. The members of the fifteen-person committee are of different ages and racial ethnicities, come from various geographical regions, and hold various church offices and ministerial vocations. The committee includes eight men and seven women, two Asian Americans, one African American, two individuals under the age of twenty-five, a seminary president, two pastors, a professor of theology, an internationally recognized hymn text writer, and an acclaimed composer. Six members of the committee serve as faculty at seminaries, major colleges, or universities, and six are members of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians.

More than two million copies of The Presbyterian Hymnal have been sold since its publication in 1990. Up-to-date information about the development of the next Presbyterian hymnal, currently slated for publication in 2014, can be found at www.presbyterianhymnal.org.

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