This is not a Dawlish Baptist Church project, but our pastor is one of eight evangelical ministers committed to compiling this new hymnbook. It is intended for use by churches and individuals who find offence with the incorporation of modern-type worship songs of a charismatic origin, and tunes in the style of the worldly "pop" culture, into books of reformed praise.
The project was launched in Autumn 2005 as a practical contribution to meeting a perceived need, instead of simply criticising those who favour the contemporary songs and music. Since that time a new charity - the Christian Worship Publishing Trust - has been set up to manage the project. It is registered with the Charity Commission under charity registration no. 1117057.
The book is expected to be published in about 2009. It will include a large core of material previously published in the original version of Christian Hymns, supplemented by a wide selection from other books of conventional evangelical hymnody and a limited number of newer hymns, and new translations (especially from Welsh). The book will also contain a full metrical psalter, representing a very restrained revision of the Scottish 1650 version. However this will not displace the many well-loved evangelical paraphrases of the Psalms - especially those of Isaac Watts.
The Trustees themselves and a few close friends contributed around £2,500 to provide a working fund. However we shall need to budget for a cash outflow of around £25,000 to finance initial production, though this will eventually be repaid from book sales.
We will be glad to receive donations or interest free loans (repayable by the end of 2013) of any amount, from those sympathetic to the project. (As a matter of prudence, we shall limit the proportion of loan-funding accepted.) UK tax-payers can substantially increase the value of donations through the government's Gift Aid scheme. In this case please send a Gift Aid declaration (available online from www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities) with your donation.
The viability of the project does not rest on numerous unrealistically large gifts. A few church donations of, say £200 each, and individual contributions of £50 would now quickly achieve the total needed. Gifts much smaller than these will be very welcome. Contributing churches will be eligible for a discount on the purchase price of the books at first publication.
Donations large or small, payable to The Christian Worship Publishing Trust, should be sent to the Treasurer, Pastor Stephen Ford, 4 Elm Grove Drive, Dawlish, Devon, EX7 0EU.
You can visit the Trust's website - www.christian-worship.org.uk
