“Amazing Grace” is back.
The 18th-century song is among nine new additions to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ global “Hymns—For Home and Church.”
Composed by the Anglican abolitionist John Newton, “Amazing Grace” was one of the many Emma Smith, wife of the faith’s founder, Joseph Smith, included in the 1841 hymnbook she curated for the early Saints (the second of two such projects she undertook; the first was in 1835).
For complex reasons, writes Brigham Young University music professor Michael Hicks, including Emma’s opting out of the westward migration to present-day Utah, her collection of songs fell out of favor with early church members, who replaced it with other hymnbooks — sans “Amazing Grace.”
“As more releases become available, we will see that we are sharing hymns with other Christian faiths,” hymnbook adviser and general authority Seventy Matthew Carpenters said Thursday in a news release of the song’s readmittance. “It’s a joy because we are all Christians worshipping Jesus Christ.”
Ray Robinson, another adviser to the hymnbook committee, has stated previously that “Amazing Grace” ranked among the top requests from members for inclusion in the new songbook.
The other eight melodies in this latest announcement include:
• “Holding Hands Around the World,” a 2001 composition by Latter-day Saint Janice Kapp Perry.
• “Anytime, Anywhere,” a 2019 song by Latter-Saint composer and Utah native Angie Killian.
• “God’s Gracious Love,” a 19th-century Swedish song currently in the church’s Swedish hymnal.
• “My Shepherd Will Supply My Need,” a composition by 18th-century English hymn writer and minister Isaac Watts.
• “Oh, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus,” a 19th-century English hymn with a new musical setting.
• “Behold the Wounds in Jesus’ Hands,” a contemporary arrangement with text written in 1997 by Latter-day Saint John V. Pearson and music composed the following year by Latter-day Saint David R. Naylor.
• “This Is the Christ,” a 1995 hymn with words by former Latter-day Saint apostle James Faust and Jan Underwood Pinborough in 1995 and music by Michael Finlinson Moody, who oversaw the compilation of the 1985 Latter-day Saint hymnbook.
• “Come, Lord Jesus,” taken from the official church production “Savior of the World: His Birth and Resurrection,” first produced in 2000.
These songs will be available on the church’s online Music Library, Gospel Library and Sacred Music app within 24 hours of Thursday morning’s announcement.
The church plans to continue releasing batches of songs “every few months” until sometime in 2026. The final product then will include 450 to 500 hymns, available first in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French, with more languages to follow.
