wfn.org | Hmong hymnal will be unveiled April 26

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

April 10, 2003 News media contact: Linda Green7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
    10-33-71BI{213}

By Kimberly Pace*

A United Methodist hymnal catering to the language and music of the Hmong
community will be introduced in a special celebration April 26 in Milwaukee.

Seventeen years in the making, The Hmong United Methodist Hymnal, containing
more than 300 hymns, will be unveiled at Hmong Christian Community United
Methodist Church. The hymnal includes many hymns from Southeast Asian
sources, as well as translations of traditional and contemporary songs
familiar to most English-speaking United Methodists. Organized in the same
manner as the 1989 United Methodist Hymnal and making use of the same
headings and subheadings, the Hmong hymnal also includes 18 Wesley hymns.

The Hmong came from Laos, and their ancestors originated in southwestern
China. The United Methodist Church has Hmong congregations in California,
Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Carolina. 

Before the hymnal publication, most Hmong Christians used the only songbook
in their language available at the time, a words-only edition prepared by the
Christian Missionary and Alliance Church.

 In 1986, the Hmong Community United Methodist Church of St. Paul, Minn.,
prepared a text-only hymnal, Cov Ntseeg Yesxus Phoo Nkauj, which contained
323 hymns. Although the congregation had developed the hymnal for its own
use, it distributed the resource to other Hmong United Methodist churches. By
1990, that hymnal was in its fifth edition. 

In 1999, Chou Yang and the Milwaukee Hmong Community United Methodist Church
formed a committee to begin work on a new hymnal, the first in the Hmong
language to contain both words and music. The hymnal was patterned after most
traditional hymnals, in particular the 1989 United Methodist Hymnal. Musician
and composer Sou Yang took on the tasks of typesetting, arranging and
composing new music. The first draft was completed in 2001, followed by
copyright clearance and additional editing. The final version was completed
in February, 17 years after the St. Paul text-only first edition.

The United Methodist Board of Discipleship funded The Hmong United Methodist
Hymnal with additional support from sources that included the Minnesota and
Wisconsin annual conferences, the Wisconsin United Methodist Foundation, the
Asian Caucus and the Hmong Caucus. 

Although the board provided significant funding, "the committee is still in
need of funds to pay production and printing costs," said Dean McIntyre, who
served as editorial consultant for the hymnal and a staff member of the
board's worship section. 

"From the beginning, the committee has desired to distribute the first
printing to Hmong United Methodist congregations in Minnesota, Wisconsin,
California and North Carolina without charge. The first printing of 5,000
will accomplish that task," he said. The committee also wants additional
financial assistance with production and printing costs from any annual
conference, church agency, congregation, group or individual. 

More information is available by contacting the book's editor, Chou Yang, at
Hmong Christian Community United Methodist Church in Milwaukee, (414)
645-4844.

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*Pace is director of communications for the United Methodist Board of
Discipleship in Nashville, Tenn.

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United Methodist News Service
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