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John Lamberton Bell (born 1949) is a Scottish hymn-writer and
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland.
The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...
minister. He is a member of the
Iona Community
The Iona Community, founded in 1938 by George MacLeod, is an ecumenical Christian community of men and women from different walks of life and different traditions within Christianity.
It and its publishing house, Wild Goose Publications, are hea ...
, a broadcaster, and former student activist. He works throughout the world, lecturing in theological colleges in the UK, Canada and the United States, but is primarily concerned with the renewal of congregational
worship
Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. It may involve one or more of activities such as veneration, adoration, praise, and praying. For many, worship is not about an emotion, it is more about a recognition ...
at the
grass roots
A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...
level.
Student activism
Bell studied at the
University of Glasgow
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where in 1974 he was elected President of the
Students' Representative Council. His election represented a significant development as it was the start of a few years' control by the left wing of the SRC. Bell was quite open about his Christian religious beliefs, wearing a wooden cross-shaped pendant.
In 1977 he was elected
Rector of the University of Glasgow
The (Lord) Rector of the University of Glasgow is one of the most senior posts within the institution, elected every three years by students. The theoretical role of the rector is to represent students to the senior management of the university ...
,
[University of Glasgow Story-John Bell](_blank)
/ref> while he was still a student. This was part of a trend for student rectors in Scotland at that time (which included Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...
at the University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
) but the rules were later changed to prevent students from standing for this post.
Music career
After a period in the Netherlands
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and two posts in church youth work, Bell became employed full-time in the areas of music and worship with the Wild Goose Resource Group
The Iona Community, founded in 1938 by George MacLeod, is an ecumenical Christian community of men and women from different walks of life and different traditions within Christianity.
It and its publishing house, Wild Goose Publications, are hea ...
. He is a past convener of the Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland.
The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...
's Panel on Worship and also convened the committee to revise the Church Hymnary
Decisions concerning the conduct of public worship in the Church of Scotland are entirely at the discretion of the parish minister. As a result, a wide variety of musical resources are used. However, at various times in its history, the General As ...
. In 1987, he wrote the hymn " The Summons".
In 1999, Bell was honoured by the Presbyterian Church in Canada and the Royal School of Church Music
The Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) is a Christian music education organisation dedicated to the promotion of music in Christian worship, in particular the repertoire and traditions of Anglican church music, largely through publications, tr ...
which bestowed a Fellowship on him. In 2002, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Glasgow
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, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
, ...
.
Bell has produced (sometimes in collaboration with Graham Maule) many collections of original hymns and songs and two collections of songs of the World Church. These are published by the Iona Community
The Iona Community, founded in 1938 by George MacLeod, is an ecumenical Christian community of men and women from different walks of life and different traditions within Christianity.
It and its publishing house, Wild Goose Publications, are hea ...
in Scotland and by G.I.A. Publications (Chicago) in North America. Several collections of his work have been published in translation in Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Danish, Dutch, Frisian, Japanese and German.
Broadcasting
He is a frequent broadcaster, and often presents programmes on the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, majoring on contemporary religious songs from various parts of the world. He is quite a regular contributor to "
Thought for the Day
''Thought for the Day'' is a daily scripted slot on the ''Today'' programme on BBC Radio 4 offering "reflections from a faith perspective on issues and people in the news", broadcast at around 7:45 each Monday to Saturday morning. Nowadays lastin ...
", part of
Radio 4's ''
Today
Today (archaically to-day) may refer to:
* Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now''
* Current era, present
* The current calendar date
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...
'' programme.
In 2005, the BBC apologised for a broadcast by Bell in which he said that a Muslim corporal he had met who had been conscripted into the Israeli army had been jailed for refusing to shoot Palestinian children. Neither the BBC nor the Israeli military were able to find any evidence supporting the story or the existence of a soldier fitting the description. It was further pointed out that Israeli Arabs are not subject to conscription. Bell acknowledged that two parts of his story were incorrect: the part about conscription had been an assumption on his part and he had misstated the person's age. He said: "I perfectly understand that at a time when Jewish sensitivity in Britain is running high because of anti-Semitism that part of my remarks might have been interpreted as furtive racism. However, such a conjecture would be completely untrue."
Public speaking
Bell speaks to audiences across the world.
In the UK, he has been associated with the Christian Arts Festival
Greenbelt
A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which h ...
for many years.
Personal life
In 2017, responding to the suicide of Lizzie Lowe
who was afraid to tell her parents about her sexuality, John Bell came out as gay during an address at Greenbelt Festival. He had remained single because he believed that this enabled him to work without hindrance or compromise as a public Christian and fulfil his commitments in the area of worship in the Church of Scotland.
Since 2021, Bell is a patron of the
Open Table Network
Open Table Network (OTN) is a Christian charity which supports church communities for LGBT people and their allies.
History
In June 2008, the first Open Table community was founded at St Bride's Church, Liverpool; by 2019, the network consis ...
, an ecumenical Christian community for
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
people and their allies.
Honours
In 2018, Bell received the
Cranmer Award for Worship
The Lambeth Awards are awarded by the Archbishop of Canterbury. In addition to the Lambeth degrees, there are a number of non-academic awards. Before 2016, these awards consisted of the Lambeth Cross, the Canterbury Cross, and the Cross of St Augu ...
from
Justin Welby
Justin Portal Welby (born 6 January 1956) is a British bishop who is the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury. He has served in that role since 2013. Welby was previously the vicar of Southam, Warwickshire, and then Bishop of Durham, serving for jus ...
,
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
, "for his outstanding Christian witness, through hymn-writing, broadcasting and social action."
Selected works
Church Hymnary (Fourth Edition)
John Bell was the Convener (and music editor) of the committee which drafted the
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland.
The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...
's
Church Hymnary (Fourth Edition). The committee first met in 1994; the Fourth Edition was finally published in 2005. Music edition:
Other works
*''And the Crowd Is Still Hungry'' (1978),
*''Songs of the Incarnation'' (1984),
*''Poverty, Chastity and Obedience: A Vocation for Today'' (1985),
*''Eh... Jesus... Yes, Peter...?'' (1987–90)
**''Heaven Shall Not Wait: Wild Goose Songs Vol. 1 ''(1987),
**''Enemy Of Apathy: Wild Goose Songs Vol. 2'' (1988),
**''Love From Below: Wild Goose Songs Vol. 3'' (1990),
*''Wild Goose Prints'' (1990),
*''Innkeepers and Light Sleepers: Seventeen New Songs for Christmas'' (1992),
*''Psalms of Patience, Protest and Praise'' (1993),
*''Wrestle and Fight and Pray'' (1993),
*''Come All You People: Shorter Songs for Worship from the Iona Community'' (1994),
*''He Was in the World: Meditations for Public Worship'' (1995),
*''The Courage to Say No: Twenty-three Songs for Lent and Easter'' (1996),
*''States of Bliss and Yearning: The Marks and Means of Authentic Christian Spirituality'' (1998),
*''There Is One Among Us: Shorter Songs for Worship'' (1998),
*''Jesus and Peter: A Book of Unrecorded Dialogues'' (1999),
*''The Singing Thing: A Case for Congregational Song'' (2000),
*''One Is the Body: Songs of Unity and Diversity'' (2002),
*''Hard Words for Interesting Times: Biblical Texts in Contemporary Contexts'' (2003),
*''I Will Not Sing Alone: Songs For The Seasons Of Love'' (2004),
*''The Singing Thing Too: Enabling Congregations To Sing'' (2007),
*''Thinking Out Loud: Collected Scripts From Radio 4's 'Thought For The Day' ''(2008),
*''We Walk His Way: Shorter Songs For Worship'' (2008),
*''Ten Things They Never Told Me About Jesus: A Beginner's Guide To a Larger Christ'' (2009),
*''All That Matters: Scripts from BBC Radio 4's "Thought for the Day" and Other Musings'' (2010),
Notes
External links
Iona CommunityWild Goose Resource Group OnlineWild Goose PublicationsG.I.A. Publications
by ReadTheSpirit.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, John L.
20th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland
Iona Community members
Calvinist and Reformed hymnwriters
Rectors of the University of Glasgow
Church of Scotland hymnwriters
Living people
1949 births
Alumni of the University of Glasgow
People from Kilmarnock
LGBT Calvinist and Reformed ministers
Scottish LGBT people
Gay men
21st-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland