The new worship and song collection for Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada will be called Voices Together.
"In early February more than 900 people responded to a title and cover survey we released via our MennoMedia Facebook page," said Amy Gingerich, Executive Director and Publisher at MennoMedia. "Of the four title choices offered, Voices Together was the clear favorite."
Simultaneously, MennoMedia announces the launch of a final fundraising phase for the project, called "Voices Together, Giving Together."
As of mid-May 2018, $465,000 toward the $700,000 fundraising goal had been pledged or given for Voices Together. As a small church agency, MennoMedia does not have the cash reserves to undertake such a large project and is working to cover all development costs for this hymnal with donations.
Gingerich said Everence® and Mennonite Central Committee U.S. have stepped up as partners in this final fundraising phase to complete the work on Voices Together, offering a combined $100,000 matching gift for any new donations to the hymnal project. "This will be a dollar-for-dollar match, open to anyone, beginning immediately," she explained.
In Canada, an anonymous family foundation in Ontario has also generously offered to match all donations to Voices Together, up to $15,000. This, too, is a dollar-for-dollar match and open to anyone, beginning immediately.
"I believe these very generous matching gifts will spur generosity across the church to help MennoMedia finish off the new hymnal," Gingerich remarked in announcing the campaign. "Like MennoMedia, Everence and Mennonite Central Committee care about the life and vitality of our congregations, where music is a key element of worship. Their joint financial support helps ensure that the final worship and song collection will be affordable for congregations."
"Voices Together is an exciting new worship and song collection that will deepen our lives of faith," added Ken Hochstetler, President and CEO of Everence. "In support of the financial wellbeing of congregations and church members across denominational and cultural lines, we're glad to support MennoMedia's efforts and to help make this resource available to all."
Bradley Kauffman, General Editor of Voices Together points out, "The church is made up of diverse, sometimes disparate voices. When we gather together for worship, we form the body of Christ. Voices Together celebrates the miracle that takes place when two or three form a communion of believers."
Voices Together will include spoken words for worship, visual art and songs. All of these together give shape to vibrant worship. The word voice is both a noun and verb. It is expansive, evoking ideas of both sound and conviction.
"The title Voices Together opens space for multiple dimensions of what we hope to offer in this new collection," said Kauffman. "It honors the many voices in our churches and in our approaches to congregational song."
The new Voices Together hymnal will be available in Fall 2020 in the following formats:
- Pew edition
- Projection edition
- Large-print and keyboard edition
- Musical accompaniment edition
- Worship leaders edition
- App