Did you grow up like me with hymnals in the backside of the church pew you sat behind every Sunday? You never quite knew where the songs were or how they went, or perhaps they were really “bouncy” (think: “Jehovah Jirah”). Who wants to run out and buy a new hymnal?
Ever since having kids, Mari and I have enjoyed singing worship songs with them to teach them the Bible. In fact, when my son Micah was four, he sang all three verses of “Before the Throne” alone in front of the church where I worked. We all loved it, and people were surprised that he could remember all the words.
Crossway’s new The Sing! Hymnal is curated by hymn writers Keith and Kristyn Getty, who, aside from writing many contemporary hymns, cofounded the Getty Music organization to equip believers to learn the Bible through hymns for life. The hymns are divided into three main sections:
- The Worship Service,
- The Christian Life, and
- The Life of Christ.
Each of these have subsections (fourteen, nine, and eight, respectively) with their own titles, with each of those containing songs related to that subtitle.
- The Worship Service follows the typical arc of the gospel in a corporate worship service. You will see sections like Call to Worship, Confession & Lament, Assurance of Salvation, Illumination & the Word of God, Communion, and Doxology & Benediction.
- The Christian Life focuses on themes relevant to a believer’s daily life and discipleship. Here you will find sections such as hymns for little children, conversion and faith, discipleship, the church, and death and eternity.
- The Life of Christ follows the traditional church year and the life of Jesus. This includes the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Palm Sunday, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, and more.
For example, in section The Christian Life, we find a subsection titled Suffering, Comfort & Hope. Here one can find a number of comforting songs and Bible verses, one of those being “Be Still My Soul” (one of my favorites).
- The Christian Life
- Suffering, Comfort & Hope
- Jesus, Lover of My Soul,
- Yet Not I, but Through Christ in Me,
- Great Is Thy Faithfulness,
- He Will Hold Me Fast,
- Christ Is Mine Forevermore,
- Precious Lord, Take My Hand,
- The Steadfast Love of the Lord,
- Heal Us,
- Christ, the Sure and Steady Anchor,
- Be Still My Soul,
- etc.
- Suffering, Comfort & Hope
The one downside I have with this hymnal so far is the Table of Contents. We get the three main sections and each their subsections, but we don’t know which hymns are found there unless we go and look. Of course, there is a hymn index at the very end of the book. But I think it would be nice to have all of the songs listed in the beginning too, even if it meant there were two Tables of Contents, one summarized and one expanded.
The Creators & Chief Editors are Keith & Kristyn Getty. The Liturgies & Scripture Editor is Douglas Sean O’Donnell. A “few” of the other advisors were Alistair Begg, Mark Dever, Kevin DeYoung, Jonathan Gibson, Shai Linne, Andrew Peterson, Paul Tripp, and Trevin Wax (and many more). There are plenty who have worked on this hymnal!
There are 497 classic and contemporary hymns here, with 403 liturgical readings, Bible verses, quotes, psalms paired with popular hymns, strewn throughout this hymnal. There are short stories about each hymn placed near the end of the book. The liturgical readings include quotations from classical and contemporary writers and theologians: Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Bunyan, Spurgeon, C. S. Lewis, Billy Graham, J. I. Packer, John Piper, Joni Eareckson Tada, Dane Ortlund, and H. B. Charles Jr.
The font size is fantastic. Also, although I am a musician, I can’t read music, and I can’t speak about the music (bar lines and measures) in this book. At the back of the book you will find the liturgical reading sources, the hymn sources, hymn meters and tunes, a Scripture index, a topical index, and a title index.
Compared with the Hymns of Grace hymnal, this hymnal contains both more hymns and liturgical content like the creeds and prayers. Both hymns are theologically rigorous, filtering what is included from those that purely evoke the emotions while being empty of any theology. The Sing! Hymnal shapes its hymns around the worship service and Christian life. It also includes a higher proportion of new, modern hymns (particularly those associated with the Gettys). Hymns of Grace includes more older, great hymns that are less common to be sung, many having fallen out of use.
Recommended?
Great hymns are not only those from ages past, but from today too. This hymnal combines the best from a range of generations that, as Alistair Begg wrote in the Foreword, “engage the mind, causing them to ponder the greatness of God, marvel at his grace, and have their hearts stirred in Spirit-filled adoration.”
When Spurgeon was a boy, his grandmother promised him a penny for every hymn by Isaac Watts that he memorized. He learned so many so quickly that she eventually reduced the rate to a half-penny per hymn! Later, his sermons were full of picturesque language and biblical terminology. When I sing these hymns with my own kids, night after night, God’s truths are being pressed into their hearts and minds through music. This is a wonderful hymnal to have on your coffee table.
Buy it from Amazon or Crossway!
Lagniappe
- Authors/Curators: Keith and Kristyn Getty
- Hardcover: 912 pages
- Publisher: Crossway (September 2025)
- Read a Sample
Review Disclosure: I received this book free from Crossway. The opinions I have expressed are my own, and I was not required to write a positive review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html.
Amazon Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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