Church of Jesus Christ to release first hymns from new hymnbook

The first batch of hymns in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ new hymnbook will be released May 30, 2024.

According to a Monday news release, 12 hymns from “Hymns — for Home and Church” will be rolled out in the Sacred Music and Gospel Library apps in addition to the online Music Library. Over the next two years, the Church of Jesus Christ will release more batches of hymns until it’s completed in 2026.

“Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” is one of those selections, which will be published in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French.

“We’re now more than ever a worldwide church,” Mack Wilberg, music director for The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, said in the release. “To be able to share hymns together from the worldwide church, I think, is a really significant and an exciting thing.”

The hymnbook creation originally started in 2018 when the Church of Jesus Christ issued an invitation for members to submit songs they wrote. The church received over 17,000 submissions.

Along with senior church leaders, the hymnbook committee curated the selection using five guiding principles, which included increasing faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, inviting joy, comforting the weary, unifying members and teaching core doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

“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.”

The final version of the new hymnbook is expected to include 450 to 500 hymns and children’s songs. According to a previous release from the Church of Jesus Christ, the book will be available both digitally and in print.