It’s a long-standing joke that the Church of England exists largely to remove any idea of religion from our national life. The more the Church has sought to make its services more “inclusive” and “relevant”, the more Christians have converted to other denominations where they think things are done properly (notably Roman Catholicism), and the more those curious Read more
US President-elect Joe Biden concluded his victory speech by reciting his deceased son Beau’s favourite popular Catholic hymn “On Eagles’ Wings” Biden lost Beau, an Iraq war veteran who had served as Delaware’s attorney general, in 2015 to a brain tumour at the age of 46. Read more
Churches are shunning traditional hymns in favour of more modern songs backed with guitars and bands. A world-wide lack of organists and pianists is partly to blame for the shift to guitar-backed music, but churches are also changing to appeal to newer tastes. Retired Nelson church organist and teacher Alan K Gray said churches were struggling Read more
Newcomers are flocking to a new kind of church — one that combines hymns and beers, and brings a whole new meaning to bar service. Grand Rapids residents, Dan and Carrie Elzinga discovered Beer and Hymns two years ago when they were attending a religious festival in North Carolina. “After the close of each day’s Read more
TVNZ has quietly ceased production of 30-year-old local series Praise Be, New Zealand’s fourth longest-running TV show – and it happened more than a year ago. The last new episode of the Christian choral show actually screened in late 2015, while the 2016 season – funded to the tune of $388,000 by NZ On Air – consisted Read more
A few years ago, I was caught up in a big research project about contemporary hymns (or “hymnody,” as they say in the trade). I listened to hundreds of hymns on Spotify; I interviewed a bunch of hymn experts. What, I asked them, was the most successful contemporary hymn—the modern successor to “Morning Has Broken” Read more