I’ve been exploring some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy 😀. But now, I’ve decided to alternate between very modern hymns, old hymns, and in-between hymns, namely the worship songs from the 60s to the 90s that feature in hymnbooks such as Mission Praise. Today it’s the turn of the old hymns.
Today’s song is We Have a Gospel from 1968.
I enjoy doing a little research for my daily hymns. I heard this one on Sounds Sacred on Sunday, and the presenter mentioned that it was from 1968, which surprised me. I had assumed that it was a 19th Century hymn. But the tune is from 1815. The writer of the tune claimed that it was written by Beethoven, but scholars doubted that. I do love the tune though.
The lyrics were written by Edward J. Burns, a Church of England clergyman who was serving as the vicar of St. Peter’s in Chorley, Lancashire. Much of the late 20th century hymns and choruses were written by independent evangelicals who would view the Church of England as having drifted away from the gospel. It’s true that you’d hear of Bishops who didn’t believe in the resurrection and vicars who didn’t believe in God. But we shouldn’t forget that Anglicans include many influential evangelicals too. Evangelicals generally span all Christian denominations, even when some might not apply the label to themselves. Evangelicals emphasize the literal truth of Bible, the key role of the cross of Christ in our salvation, the need to be born again, and the need to obey the directive of Jesus to spread the gospel throughout the world.
Matthew 28:18-20
18 Then Jesus came to them. He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 So you must go and make disciples of all nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And you can be sure that I am always with you, to the very end.”
Romans 1:16
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
There was a memorable incident in the UK, where a prominent evangelical leader, Martin Lloyd Jones called on Church of England evangelicals to leave that denomination because it included leaders who had drifted from the gospel and the Scriptures. Some did respond. But others were happy to stay and work within the denomination. I’d probably have taken the same view as Martin Lloyd Jones. Still, I have worked with Anglicans and I have benefited from their writings and sermons. Here are some well-known Anglican evangelicals that ministered during my lifetime:
- John Stott (1921–2011)
- J. I. Packer (1926–2020)
- Dick Lucas (b. 1925)
- Michael Green (1930–2019)
- N. T. Wright (b. 1948)
- Alister McGrath (b. 1953)
- Leon Morris (1914–2006)
- Peter Jensen (b. 1943)
- Graham Kendrick (b. 1950)
- Rico Tice (b. 1966) – recent left the Anglican denomination
And here are some other versions of “We Have a Gospel”:
Hibernia Gospel 