Church Songs (1942)

Front view of the hymnal

Municipality songs is a hymn book , the 1942 newly founded in the then Federation of Evangelical Free Churches (BEFG) at worship was used gatherings among other hymnals. It is not to be confused with the eponymous church hymnal community songs , which from 1978 to 2003, the official hymnal in both the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches and the Evangelical Alliance of Free Communities was.

background

In the BEFG, free church Christians of different piety styles and hymn traditions had come together. On the one hand, there were the Baptists , who have been active in Germany since 1834, and, on the other hand, parts of the so-called Brethren Movement (in Germany since 1850), which had come together in 1937 to form the Union of Free Church Christians (BfC). Both associations, which had been independent until then, merged in 1942 to form the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches .

The foreword of the church songs describes this union as the reason for the publication of the new songbook, which is primarily used at “joint get-togethers” by Baptists and members of the Brethren movement and is intended to guide the learning of the other songs. For this reason, the hymns in the hymnbook did not include the names of the hymn poets, "so that we can initially learn without prejudice and give ourselves completely to the matter." "The tremendous struggle of our people for their national identity" - so the preface of the church songs - "does not allow [...] that we are currently producing a larger songbook."

How long the parish songs from 1942 were used in the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches has not yet been established.

Extent and structure of the song collection

The hymn book contains 103 four-part songs that follow the preface. This is followed by a subject index and the alphabetical index of the songs. The names of the songwriters are also inserted here.

The songs are sorted according to the following aspects: Praise and Adoration (10), Thanksgiving and Intercession (8), The Savior (4), The Crucified (4), The Risen One (3), The Exalted (3), The Coming One (4 ), Justification and sonship (9), battle and victory (9), devotion and preaching (7), baptism of believers (3), Lord's supper (10), church of Jesus (7), eternity in time (7) , Mission (5), evangelism (7), closing songs. The high number of hymns with a christological content is striking . However, Christmas carols are completely absent.

In addition to some songs from the classical era of evangelical song (among others Martin Luther , Paul Gerhardt , Joachim Neander ) the songbook contains mostly songs of the pietistic , Moravians and the erwecklich - Methodist tradition. The songs of the Brethren Movement come from Julius Löwen , Carl Brockhaus , Rudolf Brockhaus and Julius Anton von Poseck , those of the Baptist congregations from Gottfried Wilhelm Lehmann . Julius Köbner , founding father of the Baptists, who was of Jewish origin and at the time probably the most famous Baptist songwriter, is not represented in the songbook.

literature

Association of Evangelical Free Churches (Ed.): Community songs , Kassel 1942.

Web links

Entry of the parish songs from 1942 at the German National Library

Notes and individual references

↑ Within this new covenant there was also a smaller group of Elim churches .
↑ "The combination of the Federation of Baptiste communities and the Federal Freikirchlicher Christians has made the collection and editing of a common song material to be an urgent need." ( Community songs , p 3)
^ Church songs , ibid.
↑ community songs , p 3
↑ The number of songs is set in brackets.
↑ The heading denotes the “spiritual battle” and the “victory of faith”, this is not to be understood in a political sense.
↑ community songs , subject index p.170

[1] Within this new covenant there was also a smaller group of Elim churches .

[2] "The combination of the Federation of Baptiste communities and the Federal Freikirchlicher Christians has made the collection and editing of a common song material to be an urgent need." ( Community songs , p 3)

[3] Church songs , ibid.

[4] community songs , p 3

[5] The number of songs is set in brackets.

[6] The heading denotes the “spiritual battle” and the “victory of faith”, this is not to be understood in a political sense.

[7] community songs , subject index p.170