Hymnal 2026

Hymnal 2026 | Planned Changes

The lyrics of five doctrinal hymns have been revised to more clearly explain the meaning and efficacy of the doctrines.
Hymn 469 had lyrics in English (“Jesus Loves the Little Children”) that were entirely different from the Chinese (“Spiritual Convocation”). Although the Chinese lyrics are well-suited for spiritual convocations, the difference in content has led to it being rarely sung in English-speaking countries. The English lyrics have therefore been revised to better reflect the original meaning in Chinese.
Some lyrics have been revised to better align with the church’s interpretation of Scripture.
Stress patterns in the English lyrics were adjusted to better align with the musical phrasing, making the hymns more singable.
Certain lyrics for special occasions have been rewritten—such as hymn 298 (commonly used in weddings) and hymn 113 (for dedication services)—to make them more suitable for those settings.
In the current hymnal, some hymns have differing meanings between their Chinese and English lyrics. A number of these were revised with reference to the version used by the UKGA to bring the meanings into closer alignment.
For hymns with copyrighted English lyric translations, new lyrics were retranslated so that these hymns are no longer subject to copyright restrictions.

The lyrics of hymn 295 (“Footwashing Sacrament”) were revised to more clearly convey the meaning and efficacy of the doctrine.
Edits were made to the lyrics of multiple hymns to improve their flow and singability.

Some hymns with copyrighted arrangements have been musically rearranged so that these hymns are no longer subject to copyright restrictions.
Certain hymns composed by early workers of the church were musically revised to improve harmony and flow.
Some hymns that previously lacked complete four-part harmony have been fully arranged with four-part harmony.
Some tempo markings were adjusted.

Since the current hymnal was published in 2010, several hymns have transitioned from copyrighted works to public domain. As such, hymns that are now public domain have been arranged as hymns 470 to 474, and the copyrighted hymns are arranged as hymns 475 to 525 based on their copyright expiration year. A mapping table will be provided.

Updating composer and lyricist information.
Incorporating corrections and suggestions submitted through the Hymnal Corrections Survey.
Updating the format of the Chinese Melodic Index.
Adding a Melodic Index to the English hymnal.
Editing the Chinese Bible verse references.
Updating the English Bible verse references to use the NASB Bible version.
Revising the Topical Index in the English hymnal.

(More hymns to be added)