Learn About the New Hymns from Other Christian Traditions, Part 1

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This story appears here courtesy of TheChurchNews.com. It is not for use by other media.

By Mary Richards, Church News

Editor’s note: In the first of a two-part series, the Church News looks at new hymns that come from other Christian traditions. Part 2 offers a list of such new hymns that have been performed by The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.

As leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Hymnbook Committee have been working on the new global hymnbook, “Hymns — For Home and Church,” they have carefully considered many selections, including existing hymns from other Christian traditions and hymns and songs from the current non-English Church hymnbooks.

Below is a list of some of these “borrowed hymns” that may be new to some people and familiar to others.

Each of the 48 hymns released so far has background, study prompts, scriptural references and other resources listed in the “About the Hymns” section of the Gospel Library. These chapters are also linked near the bottom of the “lyrics” view of the digital hymn pages on the Gospel Library, Music Library or Sacred Music apps.

‘God’s Gracious Love’

“God’s Gracious Love” was written by Karolina Wilhelmina “Lina” Sandell-Berg of Sweden in 1865.

As a child, Sandell-Berg battled a serious, prolonged illness. Then at age 25, she saw her father swept overboard at sea. But throughout her life, she expressed her faith in God’s goodness by writing more than 600 hymns, explains the chapter about this hymn.

She had the idea for this hymn after reading a short story about a clock’s pendulum that faced its endless task by focusing on just one tick at a time. The title in Swedish is “Blott en dag” (“Just One Day”).

In 1872, Sandell-Berg’s friend, the Swedish composer Oscar Ahnfelt, set the words to music, and the song became beloved across Sweden. This song has also been included in the Church’s Swedish hymnal since 1993.

‘I Can’t Count Them All’

Sandell-Berg also wrote “I Can’t Count Them All,” or “Jag kan icke räkna dem alla” as it is called in Swedish. It has also been in the Church’s Swedish hymnbook since 1993.

This hymn was originally a poem written in 1880, inspired by a children’s picture-book illustration of a boy working intently on what appears to be a math problem on his slate.

Sandell-Berg realized that some things cannot be weighed, measured or counted at all — namely, the proofs of God’s goodness all around, explained the chapter about this hymn.

The Swedish organist Albert Lindström set the poem’s text to music in 1889.

‘Take My Heart and Let It Be Consecrated’

“Take My Heart and Let It Be Consecrated” was written by Frances Ridley Havergal, the deeply religious daughter of a British pastor and composer.

She wrote the text a year after staying with friends in December 1873. Havergal prayed for all of them during her stay and was happy to see each of them draw closer to God.

Because of this experience, the words to this hymn “formed themselves and chimed in [her] heart,” says the chapter in About the Hymns.

Eventually, the poem was matched with music composed decades earlier by Swiss minister César Malan.

‘This Little Light of Mine’

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“This Little Light of Mine” is an African American spiritual from the 19th century. The chapter for this hymn says that this song arose out of oral traditions in the Southern United States before slavery was abolished in 1865.

Francis A. Clark published an early version of the song. “From earliest childhood I heard [this and other] songs, sung by my elders (who had all their lives been held in slavery …) as they gathered, almost nightly, in our home and in the homes of our kindred and friends,” he said.

Later, Clark wrote down some of these songs from memory and published them in 1937.

“This Little Light of Mine” has been sung at Church events like the 2023 Church Music Festival and was also featured in a Friend to Friend event in September 2023.

‘I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me’

“I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me” is also an African American spiritual and believed to have been passed down by oral tradition among West and Central African people enslaved in the United States.

The earliest known recording of “I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me” appeared in 1928, sung by Blind Benny Paris and his wife, Pauline.

The song was sung by a children’s choir in the November 2022 Friend to Friend broadcast.

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The chapter about this hymn points out that the recurring words “I’m gonna live,” “I’m gonna work,” “I’m gonna pray” and “I’m gonna sing” encourage active belief.

‘Come, Hear the Word the Lord Has Spoken’

Author and composer Frans Heijdemann — an accomplished organist, conductor and translator from the Netherlands — wrote “Come, Hear the Word the Lord Has Spoken” in 1992 for the Church’s Dutch hymnbook.

The song was originally titled “Luister naar het woord des Heren,” or “Listen to the Word of the Lord,” says the chapter about this hymn.

Heijdemann worked in Church publishing for many years, where he worked on the Dutch hymnbook (Lofzangen) and children’s songbook (Kinderliedjes) in the 1990s. He was also an editor for the Dutch edition of the Liahona magazine. He died in June 2015.

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‘The Lord’s My Shepherd’

“The Lord’s My Shepherd” might bring to mind “The Lord is My Shepherd,” which is in the Church’s 1985 hymnbook, as both are based on Psalm 23.

But “The Lord’s My Shepherd” was published before the other — in 1650 in a collection of psalms known as the Scottish Psalter. “Hymns—For Home and Church” marks the first time “The Lord’s My Shepherd” has been published by the Church.

In 1915, during World War I, Scottish composer and minister James Leith Macbeth Bain wanted to offer comfort to others through the message of “The Lord’s My Shepherd,” which he had grown up reading in the Scottish Psalter. He composed music for the text, and the tune came to be known as “Brother James’s Air” in his honor, explains the chapter about this hymn.

‘He Is Born, the Divine Christ Child’

Both the text and tune of the carol, “He Is Born, the Divine Christ Child,” originated in France and date to the 19th century. The title in French is “Il est né le divin Enfant,” and it is one of the most popular Christmas carols in France. It has been included in the Church’s French and Tahitian hymnbooks, explained the chapter about this hymn.

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After angels announced to the shepherds that the Savior had been born, the shepherds went to see the Christ child for themselves. Then, “they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds” (Luke 2:17–18).

‘Were You There?’

“Were You There?” is an Easter hymn that belongs to the tradition of African American spiritual songs and dates to the 19th century.

The chapter about this hymn explains that enslaved people in the United States passed down this song orally with many variations. In 1940 it became the first African American spiritual to be included in a major American hymnal. The Church later published it in the 1968 collection “M.I.A. Let’s Sing, No. 2.”

The Brigham Young University Men’s Chorus sang an arrangement in May 2024, and a combined choir from Brigham Young University sang the song in April 2025 general conference.

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