Hymns and Psalms

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hymns and Psalms is the hymn book of the Methodist Church in the UK. The hymnbook was first published in 1983, to replace 'The Methodist Hymnbook', which was published soon after the unification of the Methodist Church in 1933.

The decision to produce a new hymn book was taken at the Methodist Conference of 1979 and the new book was authorised for use in all Methodist Churches in the Connexion at the 1982 Conference in Plymouth. Of the 823 hymns, over 150 were written by Charles Wesley (1707-88), brother of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. Isaac Watts also has a significant number of hymns included. The most represented hymnwriter of the 20th century is Fred Pratt Green (1903-2000), who has 27 hymns included.

The hymn book contains some of the most well known and well loved hymns in Methodism alongside a number of newer hymns.

This book does not look likely to last the 50 years that its predecessor did, as the Methodist Conference in 2008 will be looking at the preparation of a new book for possible publication in 2010.^{[citation needed]}. Despite its riches, it has never quite been regarded with the same warm affection as the 1933 book.