A singing communion: Pilgrimage, Freedom, Belonging

To celebrate the 500^th anniversary of Martin Luther’s first hymnal, the Achtliederbuch (Book of Eight Songs), LWF will be publishing the Global Lutheran Songbook: A singing communion: Pilgrimage, Freedom, Belonging. It is an online collection of contemporary hymns and songs sung among LWF member churches across the world.

In October 2024, LWF is sharing a prototype of the songbook with its member churches.

Organized in a liturgical structure incorporating music, prayers, and blessings, the songs express the hopes and visions of being Christian from a global Lutheran perspective. The resource is offered to LWF’s member churches and ecumenical partners to affirm singing as a way of bringing the communion together and shaping its witness today, just as the original eight songs shaped the faith and worship practices in the early Reformation parishes.

The publication is a joint collaboration between the LWF and the Institute of Liturgical Studies of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (VELKD) at the University of Leipzig.