When EBC started a few years ago one of the important questions we wrestled with was what songs we would use for our corporate worship. Ultimately we decided against using one particular hymnal, not because we think a hymnal is unhelpful, but because we thought it would be more helpful to select songs from a variety of sources. (Plus, not having to purchase hymnals saved money in our initial start-up costs, which is always a concern when planting a church.) Our congregation has been enriched by singing songs with solid texts from a variety of sources, including: NetHymnal, The Worship Songs Books, Reformed Praise, Getty Music, The RUF Hymnbook, and music from our own Brian Pinner.

Recently, the ministry of our friends at Church Works Media has been helpful. In particular, these brothers have set a number of important Psalms to music. The poetic settings reflect well the biblical text and, perhaps even more important, the poetic settings reflect the canonical tension and trajectory of the Psalter that makes us long for Jesus Christ. Many of the tunes they use are recycled from other traditional hymns, a beneficial familiarity because people don’t have to learn a new tune and a new text at the same time. Additionally, most of the traditional hymn tunes can be played in a variety of styles, making these Psalms settings useful, we think, in a number of different contexts. This past Sunday we sang their setting of Psalm 1, and the previous Sunday we sang their setting of Psalm 2. Both richly added to our time of corporate worship. We hope you take the time to check out all their work here.

Regardless of the source in choosing songs for the church, be discerning. The collection of hymns you use will be the only “theology book” some of your people will ever read.