Press release from the Standing Committee for the Publication of the Book of Praise

The Standing Committee for the Publication of the Book of Praise (SCBP) has worked diligently on the mandate received from General Synod Burlington in getting the Authorized Provisional Version (APV) of the Book of Praise ready for the churches as quickly as possible. All comments and suggestions made by the churches and received from Synod were duly considered and incorporated where appropriate. The APV is now in print and should be available to the churches from Premier Printing by mid-January.

The APV will differ in a number of areas from the Book of Praise currently in use:

1. The first thing you will notice is the size of the book. It now measures 8½ x 5 ½ inches.  The thickness remains about the same. One of the main benefits of this change is that the text of the Psalms and hymns is larger making it easier to read.
2. Another aid to the user is that for Psalms and hymns with more stanzas than fits on one page, the overleaf also has the music.
3. In accordance with the mandates received from Synod(s) the text of the metrical Psalms has been updated and revised to more closely match the text of Scripture.  Approx 1/3 of the psalms were revised substantially, 1/3 received moderate changes and ⅓ received few, if any, changes. All these changes were reviewed by the churches. Many suggestions for improvement were received from these reviews. The committee has made grateful use of these.
4. The hymn section was also reviewed.  Synod included nineteen of the hymns from the Augment. The total number of hymns is now 85.  The text of the hymns was also reviewed and updated where appropriate. In addition, the music notation was reviewed and, on the advice of our advisors, some corrections and improvements were made.
5. No changes were made to the prose section (other than making the text references match the NIV) however, the layout received a new look. Except for the Heidelberg Catechism the entire prose section is now printed in two columns, mainly for easier reading.
   

These are the highlights of the new book. Synod Burlington 2010 authorized a provisional version for use by the churches prior to General Synod 2013. Since it is a provisional version, the book will be published only in soft cover to keep the costs down.

To help keep costs down even more churches and schools are encouraged to order the books in quantity that will save 25% of the regular price. The regular price is $24.00ea, therefore the quantity price is $18.00ea.

We wish to stress yet one more thing: though this version is provisional it is a complete version and it is the one the General Synod authorized to be used in the churches. 

We have encouraged the churches to place the order as soon as possible. The role of the churches is crucial since Synod requested the churches to use the 2010 version in their worship services and to alert the committee to any errors in it so that a pristine edition can be presented to Synod 2013. The sooner they are in the pew and being used, the better the definitive product will be. May God grant his blessings on all this and may his people use this book to his glory.

Books can be ordered from:

204-663-9000
books@premierpublishing.ca

Premier Printing
One Beghin Ave,
Winnipeg, MB, 
R2J 3X5

-Committee