When the Church of Jesus
British Methodist minister and hymnist Fred Pratt Green (1903 - 2000) wrote over 300 hymns, penning most after he retired from circuit ministry in 1969. Green’s hymns have appeared in North American hymnals more often than the hymns of any other twentieth century hymnwriter since 1975. United Methodist church music scholar Michael Hawn recently suggested that Green might even be worthy to be called the successor to the prolific Methodist hymnist Charles Wesley.
The scriptural inspiration for Green’s hymn When the Church of Jesus comes from James 2:14-17. Written early in his hymn-writing career, Green wrote this hymn in 1968 for the stewardship campaign of Trinity Methodist Church in London. The hymn text challenges churches to connect with and care for not only those within the church, but also all who pass by the church doors unnoticed or ignored. The hymn closes with a plea to Christ: “teach us, dying Savior, how true Christians live.”
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