A hymn board is a board in a church building that lists the hymns that will be sung during the service. Normally, the hymns are indicated by the number under which the hymn appears in the church's

hymnal A hymnal or hymnary is a collection of hymns, usually in the form of a book, called a hymnbook (or hymn book). Hymnals are used in congregational singing. A hymnal may contain only hymn texts (normal for most hymnals for most centuries of Chr ...

. The display of hymn numbers in this way can allow the congregation to bookmark the relevant pages of the hymnal in advance, to make it easier to worship during the service. Hymn numbers may also be printed on a notice sheet distributed before the service.

History

Hymn boards originated in the sixteenth century. Originally, the usual practice was to write the opening lines of the hymns on the board, but in the early eighteenth century, it became more common to refer to the hymns' numbers in the church's

. Abcoude8.JPG, Abcoude Sankt Matthaeus Kirke Copenhagen psalms.jpg,

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Interior of St Nicholas, East Kirkby - geograph.org.uk - 431139.jpg,

East Kirkby East Kirkby is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated south-east from Horncastle, and on the A155 road. East Kirkby 13th century Grade II* listed Anglican parish church is dedicated t ...

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Szopienice Szopienice-Burowiec () is a district of Katowice, Poland, located in the north-eastern part of the city. It has an area of 8.47 km2 and in 2007 had 17,139 inhabitants. The area of a district encompasses two historically important settlements ...

References

Church architecture {{Church-architecture-stub