NACCC Member Church Hymnal Survey
(please fill out all questions which pertain to your church situation)

General Information

1. What is the name of your church?

2. What is the size of your membership?

3. What hymnal or hymnals is your church currently using?


4. Do you have a choir or choirs? (please list)


5. Who plans the music for services?


6. Does your sanctuary have an organ, a piano, or both? Please state what kind of each.


7. Does your church make use of other instrumentation? What type? How often?


8. What music staff does your church employ? Full time or part time? Hours per week?


9. Does your church follow the church year closely?

10. Does your church follow the Revised Common Lectionary?

11. What are the twenty most commonly used or “favorite” hymns of your congregation?



Hymnal Logistics

1. What indexes in a hymnal would be useful to you for service planning purposes?
a. First Lines d. Tune Names g Metrical Index
b. Topical Index e. Authors h. Other-
c. Scriptural f. Composers and Sources

2. What information would you like to see included on each hymn page?
a. Meter d. Composer Name g. Scriptural Allusion
b. Author Name e. Tune Name h. Year of Composition
c. Historical f. Arranger Name i. Other-

3. What size print do you prefer on a hymn page? Please add your own comments.

4. What organizational approach do you feel is best for a hymnal?
a. Topical b. Church Year c. Alphabetical d. Other-

5. How many hymns should a hymnal include?
a. 250-300 b. 350-500 c. 500-650 d. 650+

6. Would you like to see the lines numbered in each stanza of a hymn?


Musical Factors

1. What range is comfortable for your congregation to sing?

2. What difficulty level in hymn accompaniments is appropriate for your church?

3. What musical resources besides hymns would be useful in your worship service?
a. Descants b. Introits c. Prayer Responses d. Benedictions e. Other-

4. What types of hymns do you feel should be included that would best serve your church and the Congregational Church today? (circle as many as apply)
a. Traditional c. Folk e. Contemporary Christian
b. Praise Songs d. Ethnic or Multi-Cultural f. Other-

The Pilgrim Hymnal

1. Does the Pilgrim Hymnal meet the theological needs of your service? In what ways could a new hymnal better meet those needs? (Please be specific)



2. Are there any hymns in the Pilgrim Hymnal that are not being used by your congregation?
Please list by number and use back of page if necessary.


3. Are there hymns that your congregation sings regularly that are not in the Pilgrim Hymnal?
Please list.


4. What additions or changes in the Topical Index would better meet your needs in worship planning?


5. Would your worship be enhanced by the inclusion of a complete Psalter? Would metrical or responsorial settings be helpful? Please comment.


6. Are service orders and other worship aids helpful in the hymnal, or would a separate
worship book be a more useful tool?


7. Are you and your congregation comfortable with the language in the Pilgrim Hymnal?
Would you be in favor of traditional language, inclusive language, a combination of the
two, or some other use of language? Does the use of archaic language in traditional hymns bother you?


8. Would you welcome a new edition of the Pilgrim Hymnal? Please comment.


9. Are there any hymns that reflect Congregational history, tradition or polity that you feel would be necessary to include in a new edition of the Pilgrim Hymnal?


Additional Factors

1. Does your church have any special needs because of size, location or population that a new hymnal could help meet?


2. Do you have any comments about how your congregation’s musical needs could better be served by a hymnal?



3. Are there any additional comments you would like to make?



Thank you very much for your time in filling out this survey. Your effort is greatly appreciated!
 

New Hymnal Committee,  Survey,  Survey Results, 

Hymns Alphabetically