New for 2014: Hymn of the Month

Over the past few months Brandon, Drew, and I have been envisioning the goals we’d like to set for 2014 in the growth of our Sunday morning worship service. Our aim is to better serve our congregation with gospel-centered structure and music that both brings glory to the Lord and encourages each other as we worship in community. We’ve spent time dreaming about the possibilities, conversing together regarding the improvements we can make, and praying for clear direction from the Lord. We are excited about the ways God is leading this ongoing discussion and the many ways He will continue to guide us in honoring Him more this upcoming year.

One idea that we are excited to begin executing this month is the hymn of the month! We were inspired by the work of Bob Kauflin with Sovereign Grace Ministries and the wonderful ministry this provided for his congregation. For each of the twelve months in 2014, we will choose a great hymn of faith to repeat each week of that particular month. Every month, we will announce the chosen hymn with a brief history and lyric synopsis via the church blog.

Our hymn for January is “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” (No. 77 in our hymnal). We’ll share more about it in a follow-up post.

Our hope is to not only instill in our congregation a love and appreciation of the richness of hymnody, but also to encourage the storing up of that richness in our hearts. We want to dwell on the profound truth found in each hymn and commit it to memory; to increase our encouragement of faith and to add to our arsenal the faith-defending weapon of gospel truth. We want to encourage you to spend time with these hymns in their respective months (and beyond). Meditate on them. Learn the words by heart. Sing joyfully with your brothers and sisters as you proclaim truth together on Sunday mornings!

We are excited to begin this yearlong journey with you! We anticipate God moving in mighty ways within our hearts as we choose to worship Him more fully every day.

In love,
Brandon Levering
Drew Halberstadt
Sarah Detweiler