Why we’re updating our hymnals
I’m excited to announce that the session of Covenant of Grace has decided to implement a new hymnal for worship at Covenant of Grace. This decision is the product of extensive research and reflection on both what hymnal to select and why a new hymnal is important for Covenant of Grace. The hymnal we’ve chosen is The Sing Hymnal. The Sing Hymnal was published in 2025 and represents the collaborative work of Keith and Kristyn Getty along with a panel of theologians, pastors, and musicians, including several from the Presbyterian Church in America. It incorporates hymns spanning multiple eras from church history all the way up to the present selected based on theological truth, lyrical beauty and musical excellence. You can find out more about it here: https://www.singhymnal.com/. We plan to use the hymnal extensively alongside our continued singing of praise songs and songs from broader cultural expressions of worship.
But why a new hymnal?
But why are we implementing a new hymnal to begin with? I’ve been wrestling with how to write this post because we’re a multigenerational church with people from a number of church backgrounds (or no church background). So when we ask “why are we implementing a new hymnal?” we ask this question for many completely different reasons. On the one hand, in an age where technology has radically reshaped congregational singing—through worship-center screens and a constant stream of new praise songs hitting the radio and our Spotify playlists—many think the age of the hymnal has past. Most modern music is performative–the idea of a book a group of people sing from together feels old-fashioned in 2026. Isn’t a new hymnal a step backward culturally?
On the other-hand, those who love singing in multi-part harmony and value the breadth of historical hymns included in hymnals (along with those who have spent over 30 years with our current hymnal) might wonder, “Why do we need a new one?” Shouldn’t we just use the current one more? Why is there a constant need to update things?
Let me try to answer both sets of questions together while also setting a vision for how we hope the new hymnal will bless and strengthen the musical worship of Covenant of Grace.
Why we sing
First, we need to remember the purpose of congregational singing in worship. As long as God has had a community, he has called his people to respond corporately to his work with singing. Psalm 95:1-2 says, “Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise.” The Psalms themselves are the church’s first hymnbook, and were likely sung regularly by the people from generation to generation, not merely read and recited. That’s because singing in corporate worship has never chiefly been about personal emotional expression to God that was authentic only to the moment, but rather about reorienting the hearts of God’s people as one to center on his glory, his goodness, his works of salvation, and his safety as a place of refuge and hope in the middle of a world in constant change and turmoil. Music shapes us in a way that mere speaking does not—and repeating songs from day to day, year to year and generation to generation establishes their truths in ways that a continual stream of new content never can. It’s how God designed us.
Why hymns are irreplaceable
Additionally, singing in church is not just about me and Jesus, but “us” and Jesus. “Us” as the local congregation, but also the church of God throughout the world and through the ages. Singing the songs that have been sung for generations by God’s people has a way of anchoring our hope and faith not merely in the moment, but in God’s covenantal faithfulness throughout history. This is particularly important for us in an age where it seems that both cultural and technological change are accelerating. In such a time, incorporating stable and historically-connected expressions of worship is essential to keep us grounded. Hymns are uniquely suited to this work as they generally represent both disciplined theological reflection on God’s activity, and beauty in both their poetic composition and memorable melodies. Hymnals serve as curated archives of many of the best enduring songs of faith—songs which serve us best when we sing them not just week to week, but generation to generation. What is most spiritually formative for us are the things we repeat.
Hymnals also center the activity of musical worship in the congregation, not the musicians on stage. We love our music ministry and the talent of those who lead it, but musical worship is the activity and responsibility of the whole congregation. We are commanded to sing—all of us! The presentation of songs with multiple parts and musical notation enable a congregation to enhance the beauty of our singing by adding harmonies. Holding the music in our hands reminds us that we have a responsibility to participate. I have long said that the sound I want to define our church’s musical worship is most of all the sound of the congregation singing. As Lesslie Newbigin wrote, “If the people have come to worship the Lord, let them at least open their mouths!”
Why new hymns are essential
But hymnals also go out of date. Scripture itself calls us to continue writing and singing new songs (Psalm 96 and 98)! The current hymnals used by Covenant of Grace (Praise: Our Songs and Hymns, by Brentwood Benson music publishing) were published in 1976 with the goal of updating the church’s hymnody to include what were then contemporary Southern Gospel and praise choruses written during the prior 30 years alongside the historic hymns of the church. Going back even further, this is the same thing John Newton and William Cowper did with “Olney Hymns” in 1779. Every hymnal has this objective, which is why every hymnal will ultimately need to be replaced.
What constituted “contemporary” hymnody in 1976 does not reflect the extensive musical contributions of the past fifty years. Since that time, many rich and enduring hymns have been written that are widely used across the church and at Covenant of Grace, including works by Stuart Townend, Keith and Kristyn Getty, Indelible Grace, Sandra McCracken, CityAlight, Sovereign Grace and many others (the best of which are included in the new Sing Hymnal).
Because we’ve started incorporating many of these excellent hymns into our worship services, as time goes on we’ve been using the current hymnal less and less. As a result, if we want to continue to experience the benefits of using a hymnal in worship, we need a new one.
How we’ll use the new hymnal
Our goal is to use the Sing hymnal regularly. We’ll still incorporate a variety of styles of music in our corporate worship, including new praise songs and songs from a variety of cultural expressions alongside hymns. Not every song we sing will come from the Sing Hymnal, but we plan to use it regularly as a tool to recommit Covenant of Grace to historically grounded, theologically sound and beautiful congregational worship. As we sing hymns, our hope is to see families training their children sing from it, and for members of the congregation to be reminded that we aren’t spectators, we have a job to do—singing to God and one another is a corporate calling which requires the activity of the whole body of Christ. If you know how to read music, try singing a harmony and find how the blending of your voice with those around you creates an even greater beauty. If you don’t, learn to follow along and sing. Perhaps use this as an opportunity to develop a new skill to be used for God’s glory.
We also encourage you to consider incorporating hymn-singing as a part of your personal and family devotions. The Sing hymnal has been designed as a tool not only for the congregation but for home use as well. We have a few extra copies available at our discounted rate for anyone interested, but you can also purchase a copy directly from crossway or wtsbooks.com.
Let me close with the words of Psalm 96: 1-2:
“Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless his name; proclaim his salvation day after day!”