All Posts

How Emma Smith Helped Give the Restoration Its Voice in Worship The Emma Smith Hymnal Was an Extraordinary Assignment Imagine being a young wife and mother in your mid-twenties. Your family has already endured repeated moves, financial hardship, public criticism, and the heartbreaking loss of children. Your husband is constantly traveling, preaching, translating scripture, and helping establish a brand-new church. Every day seems to bring another challenge. Then the Lord give

A Musical Detective Story: Restoring the Emma Smith Hymnal When most people open a hymnal, they see words and music neatly printed on a page. It feels finished—as though the hymns have always existed exactly as they appear. The truth is often far more interesting. Restoring the Emma Smith Hymnal became, at times, a musical detective story. Each hymn invited a new question. Was this really the original tune? Did early Saints actually sing it this way? Why does one source say o

Have you ever wondered why the same hymn text can sometimes be sung to two—or even three—different melodies? The answer is something called hymn meter. Although many modern hymnbooks print both the words and the music together, early hymnals often included only the hymn texts. Singers were expected to know dozens of familiar tunes, what their meter was and simply match an appropriate melody to the words. They may choose to sing it to one tune one week and another the next! Th

One of the questions I expect to hear from time to time is this: "Why did you choose that tune?" Sometimes the question will be even more pointed: "Why didn't you use the original tune?" They're fair questions. When I began restoring the hymns of Emma Smith's 1835 hymnal, I assumed that finding the music would be the straightforward part of the project. Surely there would be a definitive list of original tunes, and all we would need to do would be match them to the texts. I q

For nearly two thousand years, Christians have gathered to lift their voices together in praise. Discover why congregational singing has remained at the heart of Christian worship and how hymns continue to unite believers, teach truth, and strengthen faith across generations.

Many people are surprised to learn that Emma Smith prepared two early hymn collections—not one. Discover the story of the 1835 and 1841 hymnals, their size, purpose, and lasting place in Restoration worship.

"Sing unto the Lord a new song..." — Psalm 96:1 Welcome! We are delighted you've found us. Over the past several years, what began as a vision to preserve and create Christ-centered hymns has grown into something much larger than we ever imagined. Along the way, we've received countless questions about the hymnals, the Covenant Christian Hymns Conference, new music, and the progress of the various projects currently underway. It became clear that everything needed a home. Thi