Mosaic Mennonite Conference received a $21,000 grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship to discern the theological distinctiveness and ethnocultural diversity of the church’s music. The project will provide tools to effectively evaluate Christian Copyright Licensing International’s Top 100 contemporary worship music list from an Anabaptist theological perspective and offer suggestions to broaden the Top 100 list to better represent the diversity of the church.  

The project, called “Anabaptist CCLI Top 100 and Beyond,” is organized in partnership with the Anabaptist Worship Network and is part of a cluster of similar projects that has been called together by the Center for Congregational Song. The project will be led by Emily Ralph Servant (leadership minister for Strategic Priorities for Mosaic Conference); Sarah Kathleen Johnson (assistant professor of Liturgical and Pastoral Theology at Saint Paul University); and Anneli Loepp Thiessen (doctoral candidate in Interdisciplinary Music Research at the University of Ottawa).  

“We aspire to create a theological framework for evaluating some of the most widely sung worship songs from an Anabaptist perspective. We aim to work together across Anabaptist traditions, with representatives from the Mennonite Brethren, Mennonite Church Canada, Mennonite Church USA, Church of the Brethren, and Evangelical-Anabaptists, on the team,” shared Sarah Kathleen Johnson, Together in Worship Committee Chair for the Anabaptist Worship Network.  

“We are attuned to the reality that definitions of Anabaptist theology will be distinct depending on the community, and that differences abound across distinctions of racial/ethnic identity, rural vs. urban location, average age of congregation, and more. Our intention is to identify shared pillars of Anabaptism and explore how song lyrics may align with or disrupt these values,” added Anneli Loepp Thiessen, co-director, Canada, of the Anabaptist Worship Network. 

The team will go through the CCLI Top 100 and identify whether songs resonate in an Anabaptist context, reflected with a color coding. The bulk of this work will be completed at an in-person gathering in the fall of 2024.  

“Recognizing that the CCLI Top 100 represents songs limited in origin to predominantly white Evangelical communities in the U.S. – and further is dominated by men – we aspire to create a list of contemporary worship songs that better represent the breadth of the church,” Loepp Thiessen further explained.  “This list will intentionally highlight songs in languages beyond English, gender diverse songwriters, songs by people of color, and songs that represent immigrant and refugee communities, and songs with expansive language for God.” 

“We are privileged to extend our intercultural worship capacity through the grant from Calvin,” said Steve Kriss, executive minister for Mosaic Conference. “This builds on continued partnership and gifted contributors to enrich the spiritual life of Anabaptist communities within and beyond Mosaic Conference. We are grateful for Calvin’s leadership, trust and generosity.” 

This program is made possible through a Vital Worship Grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Grand Rapids, Michigan, with funds provided by the Lilly Endowment.  

This article originally appeared in the May 9 edition of Mosaic News. Used with permission.