“We’re trying to model who we hope to be as an anti-racist and intercultural church, and we’re trying to build the beloved community, where everyone is respected equally and their skills and gifts are appreciated and celebrated,” says Rev. Alydia Smith, a lead staff support on "Then Let Us Sing!" (Photograph by Michael Maasen/Unsplash)

Topics: January/February 2025, UCC in Focus | Church News

United Church of Canada to debut new online hymn resource for 100th anniversary

‘Then Let Us Sing!’ aims to uplift diverse voices within the UCC community

By Olivia Vaughan

| January 27, 2025

After years of work, The United Church of Canada plans to release a new digital hymn resource in time for the denomination’s 100th anniversary in 2025. Then Let Us Sing! aims to reflect how worship and the church community have changed in the last century.

Familiar hymns from Voices United, More Voices and Nos voix unies will be included, alongside a new, growing catalogue of content. “The new hymns will bring us fresh language for God as well as accessible musical styles. They will lift up and prioritize racialized, Indigenous, francophone, and LGBTQQITTPA+ and Two Spirit voices, people with disabilities, and people of diverse linguistic communities,” states a brochure about the project.

The Then Let Us Sing! team, made up of a diverse group of General Council staff and volunteers, wanted to develop a new kind of hymn resource that would reflect the growth of the church community, include different worship styles previously excluded, and be accessible to all to ensure no one is left behind in worship. They also wanted the ability to edit and add content over time.

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“We’re trying to model who we hope to be as an anti-racist and intercultural church, and we’re trying to build the beloved community, where everyone is respected equally and their skills and gifts are appreciated and celebrated,” says Rev. Alydia Smith, network co-ordinator for the General Council’s church in mission unit and a lead staff support on the project. “There’s a hurt when we’re not all able to be who we are in worship.”

The team collaborated with members of various communities to get feedback and address gaps in the current hymn catalogue. Working with the United Church’s Disability and Accessibility Network, for example, Smith says, “We realized that there was a hole around pieces that spoke to the lived experience of people with disabilities, by somebody who identifies within that community.” The team commissioned a selection to fill that gap.

As a preview to Then Let Us Sing!, the United Church has also released 11 hymns on its YouTube channel with lyrics and American Sign Language interpretations. Congregations interested in using them should contact OneLicense.net for reprint permission.

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“These videos reflect our society and the church we want to become. Seeing the words up on screen instead of having heads buried in books means that [congregants] can see each other as well as the words, and it feels more like community,” says PJ Boyd, the audio-visual content producer for the project.

Then Let Us Sing! has partnered with Hope Publishing Company and OneLicense.net (GIA Publications) to ensure ease of access and proper compensation for musicians and composers. The resource will live on OneLicense.net, where congregations will be able to subscribe at a lower yearly rate than they currently pay for their OneLicense subscription. There they can search for specific hymns or seek suggestions. They’ll be able to report the usage of the hymn right there on the website, as well as access the file to be added to bulletins or programs in a variety of languages.

The launch of Then Let Us Sing! is now slated for mid-2025.

EDITOR’S NOTE 01/27/25: This story was updated to note that the launch date for Then Let Us Sing! has been pushed back from January to mid-2025.

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Olivia Vaughan is a former Broadview intern.

This article first appeared in Broadview’s January/February 2025 issue with the title “New Online Hymn Resource Aims to Reflect United Church’s Diversity.”

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