Cameroon Hymnal complete, now teaching begins
Pastor Solomon Mbwoge, center, a member of the Editorial Committee, standing with the laity of his new congregation.
Rev. John Thornburg, left, celebrates `with Therese Nomo. one of the members of the editorial committee.
Editor’s note: Rev. John Thornburg, Ministry of Congregational Singing, has just returned from Cameroon, where he led the editorial team for the now-complete hymnal for the UMC in that
West African country.
Even though no cigars were handed out, there was a momentous birth in Cameroon late in May. The long-expected hymnal and worship book for the Cameroon Mission Initiative was delivered into the hands of all the delegates to the recent annual meeting of the mission.
The five-member editorial team, under the leadership of Rev. John Thornburg, presented the first copy of the book to Benjamin Boni, the bishop of Côte d’Ivoire. Bishop Boni then called on the delegates to sing his favorite hymn, Fanny Crosby’s “To God Be the Glory.” Boni supervises United Methodism’s work in Cameroon and Senegal in addition to the 900 churches of Côte d’Ivoire.
Work on the book began over four years ago when Rev. Wesley Magruder, then the superintendent of the Cameroon Mission, invited Rev. Thornburg to work with a team of Cameroonians in the creation of the mission’s first purposecreated liturgical resource. Thornburg traveled to Cameroon six times. Churches and individuals around the country raised over $85,000 in support of the project. More than half of the support came from the North Texas Conference.
At the annual meeting, the editorial team led the delegates in singing 16 hymns and songs from the new book, told the story of how the book came to be created, and showed people how to use it. Contents include the basic pattern for Sunday morning worship, services of Holy Communion and Baptism, 20 beloved psalms, basic prayers of the church, 117 hymns, songs and choruses from around the world (all printed in both French and English), and 122 more songs either in French or English to account for regional singing styles.
In addition to receiving the book, each pastor received a CD with 20 of the songs from the book that are new to the church in Cameroon. The CD includes three hymns of Charles Wesley, freedom songs from South Africa, praise choruses from South America and songs written by members of the editorial team.
The pastors were encouraged to spend the coming year teaching those 20 songs to their congregations. In each of the next four years, a new CD will be produced to help continue the pedagogy process. Almost all Cameroonians learn music by rote, so the book only has the texts of the songs.
“The next chapter is an exciting one,” said Rev. Thornburg. “Now we gather a team of musical volunteers in mission who would like to travel to Cameroon each year to teach new songs, to learn music from the people of Cameroon, and to come back and teach what they’ve learned.”
For more information please call Rev. Thornburg, 214-341-6800 or e-mail: ethornburg@aol.com
The Cameroon Mission van, which was purchased
by the NTC in honor of the ministry of Rev.
Wesley and Leah Magruder, was used extensively
during a VIM trip by a team from Christ UMC,
Plano, and then even more extensively at the
Cameroon mission’s annual meeting.
