1) Do you know of ANY church that has sung EACH & EVERY hymn in their hymnal?
I don't know of ANY church that can make that claim! If that's the case, why do churches spend $$$$ on hymnals if they only use. say, 50% of the hymns contained within the front and back covers??? Seems like a rather questionable example of the proper stewardship of the Lord's money to me. To put it another way, if a church were to spend, say, $40,000 dollars in a car for general usage of her staff personnel, but then the car only gets used 50% of the time, there would probably be an uproar over that, don't you think?
I respectfully think this is a weak point. (And I'm exceedingly respectful of your opinion of J.S. Bach, my favorite composer.) Our church van often spends much of Mondays-Saturdays parked, but it's also an important tool of our ministry, not just on Sunday but on periodic church-sponsored trips and on each spring's college trip halfway across the country to visit solid Christian post-secondary schools.
I'd agree that probably no church has sung every single song in their hymnal. Our hymnal has about 880 hymns, spiritual songs, and choruses, and I'd venture that we've sung about 2/3 of them during my 16 years attending this work. I don't think that means we've wasted 1/3 of the funds God provided for purchasing the hymnals, mainly because I see no practical alternative if we wish to provide the congregation with the tools to sing, as described in the "15 reasons" article posted above. Short of building our own hymnal, with all the attributions and copyright processes required, having "partial-use" hymnals seems the most logical thing to do.
Having said all that, I appreciate your contributions to this thread, and think we are much alike in our musical preferences.
I don't know of ANY church that can make that claim! If that's the case, why do churches spend $$$$ on hymnals if they only use. say, 50% of the hymns contained within the front and back covers??? Seems like a rather questionable example of the proper stewardship of the Lord's money to me. To put it another way, if a church were to spend, say, $40,000 dollars in a car for general usage of her staff personnel, but then the car only gets used 50% of the time, there would probably be an uproar over that, don't you think?
I respectfully think this is a weak point. (And I'm exceedingly respectful of your opinion of J.S. Bach, my favorite composer.) Our church van often spends much of Mondays-Saturdays parked, but it's also an important tool of our ministry, not just on Sunday but on periodic church-sponsored trips and on each spring's college trip halfway across the country to visit solid Christian post-secondary schools.
I'd agree that probably no church has sung every single song in their hymnal. Our hymnal has about 880 hymns, spiritual songs, and choruses, and I'd venture that we've sung about 2/3 of them during my 16 years attending this work. I don't think that means we've wasted 1/3 of the funds God provided for purchasing the hymnals, mainly because I see no practical alternative if we wish to provide the congregation with the tools to sing, as described in the "15 reasons" article posted above. Short of building our own hymnal, with all the attributions and copyright processes required, having "partial-use" hymnals seems the most logical thing to do.
Having said all that, I appreciate your contributions to this thread, and think we are much alike in our musical preferences.