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- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints added 15 hymns to its collection Thursday.
- The hymns, including familiar and new, will be available online in four languages within 24 hours.
- The church plans to expand the hymnbook globally, emphasizing cultural resonance through transcreation.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced 15 new songs Thursday that will be in its new hymn collection "Hymns — For Home and Church."
These include some familiar songs that have not been in the church's official hymn and Primary songbooks like "Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling" and "This Little Light of Mine." It includes some songs members will be familiar with, like "I Know That My Savior Loves Me" and "Faith in Every Footstep," and some new songs submitted by members specifically for the new hymnbook.
Following multiple other releases, the total number of hymns available in the hymnbook — released in virtual format — is 37. The church is encouraging congregations, individuals and families to use the new music.
It said the new hymns would be available online in four languages, English, Spanish, Portuguese and French, within 24 hours of the announcement.
The latest collection of new hymns include:
- "Close As a Quiet Prayer"
- "Come, Hear the Word the Lord Has Spoken"
- "Faith in Every Footstep"
- "Holy Places"
- "I Can't Count Them All"
- "I Have Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ"
- "I Know That My Savior Loves Me"
- "Let Easter Anthems Ring"
- "Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling"
- "Standing on the Promises"
- "Take My Heart and Let It Be Consecrated"
- "This Little Light of Mine"
- "To Love Like Thee"
- "Welcome Home"
- "Were You There?"
The church said it will continue to publish more songs for the book every few months before the complete revised hymnal is released in print.
"This Little Light of Mine" originated among African American Christians and grew in popularity in the 1960s. The church statement said the song is an example of expanding musical styles in the song collection.
It said "Faith in Every Footstep" was composed to commemorate the 150th anniversary of pioneers entering the Salt Lake Valley in 1997. Now that it is being added to "Hymns — For Home and Church" it will eventually be available to members around the world.
The first release of 13 hymns in May 2024 has now been made available in German, Korean and Tagalog and will be released in Mandarin and Japanese soon, the church announced. Eventually, the church plans to release the songs in all native languages, for as many members as possible.
Kayla Decker, translation manager for the new hymnbook, said bringing the hymnbook to the whole world is a manifestation of prophecy.
"We hear the promise and prophecy in the scriptures that all people — every nation, kindred, tongue and people — will be able to learn of the gospel," she said.
Decker explained the process is more than just translating; it is transcreation — a process involving linguists, poets and musicians to help the music resonate linguistically and culturally by taking into account poetic traditions and expectations of each language.
"The emphasis is on transcreating into the language of people's hearts and making sure they can access the key messages of the gospel in a way that really, really resonates for them, in a language in a medium that will be truly powerful," she said.
In some languages, including some that have never had hymns published by the church, the church will release a small collection of music known as "Selected Hymns" before the full hymnbook is translated.
