Sword & Trowel 2018: Issue 1


Left: Pastors and wives at the conference in Salem, South India. Below: Pastors’ Conference at Sixth Mile Post, Sri Lanka. Mr Chris Laws, Tabernacle elder, visited in November to launch the new hymnbook.


other sources, were checked by Dr


Elangovan for doc- trinal correctness. In order to re- establish worthy hymn-singing, both music and words-only editions of a hymnbook were needed. Some means of teaching the music was essential as so many churches lack keyboards and musicians. And as the churches and pastors are gener- ally poor and often unable to afford hymnbooks themselves, the cost of the venture would have to be borne. The production of the music edi- tion was overseen at the Tabernacle, with much assistance from Tamil be- lievers in London, and the bilingual words edition produced in Salem, South India. Some of the more popu- lar tunes of recent composition from Psalms and Hymns of Reformed Worship were included. First (separate) edi- tions of words and music were published in Novem- ber 2017, in time for three pastors’ con- ferences in India and Sri


page 8 A Tamil Hymnbook


Lanka. A Tamil version of automatic


organist software (a free download) was also produced in time for these conferences, and was used to teach and lead the singing of hymns. In ad- dition, copies of the new Tabernacle CD Hymns and Psalms of the Faith were taken to inspire the believers. The reaction of the pastors at the


conference at Valathi, South India, was immediate; all wanted to use the new book in their churches. At the Salem conference, they sang a num- ber of hymns, and demand for the music edition exceeded supplies. On the last day of a pastors’ con-


ference in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, the men sang one hymn so beautifully that they broke into


Part of a page from the words edition of the Tamil hymnbook.


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