The Jubilate Group is a
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
publishing house
Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
that administers copyright for more than sixty composers and writers. The group was founded by
Michael Baughen in the 1960s. The group's first production was ''
Youth Praise''. In 1982, Jubilate published ''
Hymns for Today's Church'', one of the first hymn books with completely modernised language. In 1999, ''
Sing Glory'', Jubilate's most recent major hymn book, was published.
Chairmen of Jubilate
History
Founding
In the early 1960s, the Reverend
Michael Baughen (who later became
Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
Bishop of Chester
The Bishop of Chester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chester in the Province of York.
The diocese extends across most of the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, including the Wirral Peninsula and has its see in the ...
) was concerned about the declining popularity of traditional hymns, and brought together a few friends to see what might be done about it. Some were composers, others lyricists. Over a long period this group worked together and wrote a collection of 150 new songs, entitled ''Youth Praise''. The
Church Pastoral Aid Society (a long-established English home missionary society) accepted ''Youth Praise'' and, in March 1966, published it. Within a short time it became a best-seller among its kind. Three years later the CPAS published ''Youth Praise 2''.
By 1966 the central group comprised Michael Baughen, Richard Bewes, Christopher Collins,
Christopher Idle, Edward Shirras,
Michael Saward, James Seddon, Norman Warren, David Wilson and
Michael Perry.
In 1980, the group became a limited liability company with the title Jubilate Hymns Ltd.
In the United States
George Shorney of
Hope Publishing in
Carol Stream, Illinois, enlisted the independent cooperation, first of
Timothy Dudley-Smith
Timothy Dudley-Smith (26 December 1926 – 12 August 2024) was a bishop of the Church of England and a noted hymnwriter. He wrote around 400 hymns, including "Tell Out, My Soul".
Early life and education
Dudley-Smith was born on 26 December 19 ...
and then of the extended group. As a result of his effort The Jubilate Group and its works have found their way into the
American hymnals ''Worship'', ''Rejoice in the Lord'', ''The Hymnal 1982'', ''
Psalter Hymnal
Hymnals, also called hymnbooks (or hymn books) and occasionally hymnaries, are books of hymns sung by religious congregations. The following is a list of English-language hymnals by denomination.
Liturgical churches
See note below.
Anglican
...
'', ''The Worshiping Church'', ''The Baptist Hymnal'', ''
Christian Worship
In Christianity, worship is the act of attributing reverent honour and homage to God. In the New Testament, various words are used to refer to the term worship. One is ("to worship") which means to bow down to God or kings. Worship in the N ...
'', ''Trinity Hymnal'' and others. Similarly, many American hymns have emerged in Jubilate Group publications.
Later work
The Jubilate Group considered the book of
Psalms
The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament.
The book is an anthology of B ...
and produced a collection of many psalms, written in the language of the day and set to appropriate music. In 1973, the CPAS published ''Psalm Praise'', and in 1990 ''
Psalms for Today'' and ''
Songs from the Psalms''.
Styles of work
Under Michael Baughen’s guidance, background work began on the broader scene; hymns of quiet reflection, of prayer, of commitment, of personal faith - the ‘general’ hymn. In 1982, some seven years after the work started, ''Hymns for Today’s Church'' was published by
. It sold in six editions. The words committee was composed of
Michael Saward (chairman), Richard Bewes, Patrick Goodland, Kenneth Habershon, Christopher Idle,
Alex Mitchell,
Michael Perry, Clifford Roseweir and James Seddon. The music committee was composed of David Wilson (chairman),
John Barnard, Simon Beckley, David Iliff, David Peacock, Christian Strover,
Noël Tredinnick and Norman Warren. The advisers were Owen Thomas and Paul Wigmore.
In 1999
Kevin Mayhew published ''Sing Glory'', 698 hymns and worship songs meeting a wider range of congregational needs.
New Christmas carols and hymns were written and these, with older pieces, formed ''Carols for Today'' (Hodder & Stoughton, 1986). The book included Christmas readings. In 2006 this was superseded by a new concept for the group: a looseleaf publication of new and traditional Christmas words and music. It was published in 2006 by
Royal School of Church Music as ''The Carol Book''.
Makeup and functions
There are, , over 60 lyricists and composers in The Jubilate Group.
The Jubilate Group administers copyright for its members. However, distinct from many other copyright agencies, agency members retain their copyright and the Group’s role is to administer these to the copyright holders’ benefit.
The Jubilate Group website contains both the texts and the tunes of many hymns and songs appearing in its books.
Board of directors
, the board of directors is made up of
Steve James (chairman),
Noël Tredinnick (vice chairman),
Sam Hargreaves,
David Iliff and
David Peacock.
References
External links
* {{Official website
Article about Jubilate Group at ''Reformed Worship''(September 2004)
Companies based in Devon
Christian publishing companies
Publishing companies established in 1980
Christian music media