Yanjing Theological Seminary in Beijing recently released an audio supplement to the New Hymnal used in many Protestant Three-Self churches. Listen to the hymns below!
Yanjing Theological Seminary Records Audio Supplement for Chinese New Hymnal
The student choir of Yanjing Theological Seminary
After a three-year effort, the Beijing-based Yanjing Theological Seminary has completed its audio recording project for the supplement of the Chinese New Hymnal, a publication that contains 200 songs. The audio files are available on the website of the seminary.
A seminary representative stated that since the summer of 2015, more than 50 theological students, teachers, workers, and believers took part in the ministry. A pastor of the seminary reported that the ministry was to provide singing samples for local churches, some of whom were unfamiliar with the songs in the supplement that failed to be widely circulated in China.
He said that the lyrics of both the New Hymnal that was published in 1983 and contains 400 hymns, along with this supplement have a stronger theological foundation than some popular worship and praise hymns.
During the recording, a performing seminary student shared how initially he felt his singing voice was too poor and that he had a fear of studying music. But, the school's choir teacher encouraged the participants to give it their best because the recordings would be very helpful for the worship at local churches.
As of 2008, over 15 million copies of the New Hymnal were distributed, which made the hymn book the most widely used hymnal at worship in the Chinese Protestant church. In 2009, the supplement was published with 61 original Chinese compositions in it.
The whole album is available online here.
Original article: Yanjing Theological Seminary Records Audio for Supplement of Chinese New Hymnal, China Christian Daily.
