New Inclusive Hymnal project

Multitude of Voyces is a registered non-profit organisation which supports underrepresented, marginalised or vulnerable communities, through the creative use of words and music. We focus on projects relating to church life, exploring ways in which the church’s Inclusive aims can be lived out through its liturgy and music. Following the success of our three-part anthology Sacred Music by Women Composers (follow this link to hear some of the music from this series broadcast last week on BBC Radio 3 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000vyfp) we are now working on a small Inclusive hymnal.

This hymnal will be used alongside existing traditional resources for formal worship. The hymnal will be carefully researched, curated and commissioned to serve as an impactful and powerful educational tool with which to open up conversations relating to inclusion and diversity within Anglican and ecumenical worshipping communities. It will provide new, interesting, affordable resources with which parishes will be able to broaden their worship and relate it to some of the issues of our times. We expect that this hymnal will be available as a licenced digital download and also as an economically-printed large booklet.

The themes in the book will speak to Inclusive Church’s themes of Ethnicity; Gender; Mental Health; Poverty; Disability and Sexuality both through the texts and through representing diverse contributors with professional and relevant lived experience. Themes will also include Stewardship of the natural world; Interfaith issues, and hymns for specific days of note such as Holocaust Memorial Day, International Women’s Day, Pride, Baby Loss Week etc. Historical themes of exclusion such as Slavery, Abolition and Reparation, will also be explored and addressed. We are working with diverse parishes and Advisors in the UK/South Africa/US/Australia, all keen to see this resource come to fruition.

Our team uses a combination of part-paid and part-voluntary labour and we are very grateful to the Pratt Green Trust who are the first sponsors of this new project; we need to raise a further £5500 to pay the composers, translators and typesetter/music engraver.  Louise Stewart, director of Multitude of Voyces, welcomes interest from any potential sponsors, and submissions of hymns (words) and hymn-music (tunes or complete SATB harmonisations). She can be contacted at louisestewart@multitudeofvoyces.co.uk.

Louise Stewart is an IC Regional Ambassador and Director of Multitude of Voyces.