How To Plan A Hymn Festival

A hymn festival is a worship service devoted especially to congregational singing. It is a type of service especially well suited to the celebration of important events in the Christian year and in the life of the congregation. This article provides information on how to plan a hymn festival for your congregation. Planning a special service for your church community? Consider a hymn festival, a blending of song and readings, often from Scripture, that appeals to people of all ages. The apostle Paul urged the people of Ephesus to sing the words and tunes of the psalms and hymns when they were together, and to go on singing and chanting to the Lord in their hearts,"always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Eph. 5:20). The hymn festival is an excellent framework for responding to Paul's advice-gathering with other Christians to sing praises to the Creator. Why a Hymn Festival? The hymn-festival format is wonderfully flexible and…