About

Context

Institutionalized Christianity is going through a massive shaking. No one knows exactly what tomorrow holds, but one thing is for sure - the Christian world is in a season of significant change. Escapism is being challenged by realism. Sacred vs Secular dualism by a more integrated approach to life. Status quo by social activism. Judgmentalism by compassion. Exclusion by inclusion. Male dominance by gender equality. Hierarchy by egalitarianism. Racism by the flourishing of BIPOC leadership. Colonization by the rise of former colonies, both geographic and spiritual. And the quest for power in Christian nationalism by a call to return to the way of Jesus. In this process, an emerging generation of forward-thinking artists and thought leaders are experiencing an increasing disconnect from the institution and finding shelter in the spiritual underground. Notwithstanding, their voices are exceedingly important, with the potential to help the society at large to grab a hold of the future and drag it into the present.

Virtual Library

With all of this in mind, Common Hymnal was created as a virtual library to help people of faith navigate these uncertain times and find safe passage into the future by loading them up with insightful content from the underground.

History teaches us that the future is innovated at the margins. Therefore, our efforts to treasure hunt the periphery of the faith to find these displaced voices, and to stock this repository with their songs, stories and ideas, exposing the broader community to the important conversations and cultural shifts that are happening on the fringe. In providing an outlet for these changemakers, Common Hymnal has been able to curate an intriguing catalog that is free of colonial residue - filled with content that centers life, justice and underground spirituality; that embraces both praise and protest; that treasures healing, restitution and reparation; that comforts the disheartened and emboldens the courageous.

As a word of clarification, we do not think of protest as a random trolling of the various social media platforms and attacking people with emotionally charged comments. We wholeheartedly believe that the most effective way to challenge injustice and bring about systemic change is to give voice to the hidden genius that has been formed in the hearts and minds of the marginalized, the disenfranchised and the oppressed.

The ‘official’ storage place for this content is this site. But we also have a compendium of additional outlets: Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, YouTube, Instagram, X, Facebook, Live Events and our Patreon. In addition, we have four Spotify Playlists: Worship, Justice, Black Lives Matter and Everything.

Curation Process

The process whereby content finds its way into this library has evolved over time, but it has pretty much been in keeping with the way that most curators curate - relationally, experimentally, and adventuresomely.

We started out with a blank slate. We intuited to get the ball rolling by inviting a bunch of songwriters that we had found on the fringes to a series of songwriting camps. We amassed a list of several hundred songs before we were ready to record our first project. We spent a good amount of time evaluating these songs before we settled on a the final list. This is the glorious and awkward work of curation - spreading the net wide, then sifting through everything to find the gems.

Since then the endeavor has grown and morphed, with the process of curating content ever evolving, but the aspiration unchanging - comforting the disheartened and emboldening the courageous.

Spiritual Underground

The easiest way to imagine the spiritual underground is to first visualize the spiritual overground, the highly visible, well-intentioned and well-established network of churches, ministries and institutions that are the face of Christianity to our world.

In contrast, the spiritual underground is that less visible space, on the outskirts of Christendom, where unknown, unconventional and unlikely candidates do life and mission together in less-formal structures.

Historically, these misfits have been pioneers, who have contended for authenticity, honesty and original thought. In their passion to make a difference in this world, they have embraced praise and protest as being joined at the hip. For them, worship is not escapist: it has a social conscience. Spiritual colonization is taboo. Although their efforts can appear to be a little scrappy, history has shown them to be surprisingly impactful. Their forward-thinking has triggered new ideas and given birth to new initiatives. History tells us that innovation in the underground has been one of the main catalyzing agents for reformation in the overground. It is almost impossible to change old structures. Hence Jesus’ advice to not try pouring new wine into old wineskins.

Sociology

Historically, churches have formed around theological beliefs. In the 2000’s, the trend changed in favor of personalities and production values. 

The spiritual underground is more sociological in construct. Friendship circles are maturing into active ministry communities as participants start helping each other accomplish their personal missions by trading skills, then finding ways to work together to make a difference in society. Essentially, building God's people into a kingdom of priests, a collaborative community in which everyone has a part to play.

Just as with athletics, there are two metaphorical outlets for creatives who are serious about their craft: ‘running track’ or ‘team sports.’ Both are 100% legit but require totally different skillsets and disciplines. Our project is based on the idea of God's people being an interdependent kingdom of priests. Therefore, we are primarily focused on aggregating content from creators who have chosen to get involved with ‘team sports’ rather than running solo.

Personality

In full disclosure, here are a few of our personality traits:

Praise-and-Protest is our DNA, which means we hold in tension the interplay between a deep connection with God and a holy resistance to the wicked systems in which we live.

We are moderately rebellious, searching for ways to provide alternatives to the mainstream.

Our contributors are deeply rooted in their faith and alive in the work of justice, restoration and reparation, and are pretty fearless about thinking through the issues, and making content that matters.

We have an incurable ‘party spirit’. If we could only do one thing, we would focus on sending out teams to host pop-up, justice-themed soirees around the world.

We are anti-colonial and anti-elitism, and have solid reasons for these convictions.

Anomaly

As with everything in this life, there is very little that is straightforwardly ‘black and white.’ Nuance, contradiction and compromise abound. Therefore, it is worth noting that there are many who live and function in the overground, yet identify as ‘underground’. These are also vital participants in this venture - with one caveat … they understand that our project does not exist to bring reformation to the current structures but to serve the innovative-fringe. It is our assessment that the institution is well resourced. Therefore, these folks get involved at their own risk. The moment we find ourselves obligated to navigate a plethora of theological and denominational sensitivities, our project will have lost its purpose.

Reality Check

Common Hymnal is a ‘curator.’ We are in the process of building out a virtual library to platform intriguing content that we excavate from the spiritual underground. We are ‘not’ a band or an artists collective or a church or a para-church ministry. We do not have members or a theological statement. There is no ‘in’ and ‘out’. The work we do is energizing and a lot of what we do ends up feeling like ‘party-central’, with a lot of relational warm fuzzies. But we are essentially about the business of curating art that has been created by artists and thought leaders on the outskirts of the ‘system.’ Our contributors may not have found a perfect fit within the existing structures, but they are extremely comfortable with their identity as Jesus people and participate with us as such.

As is hinted above, our construct as a curator is quite blurry. We ask that your expectations of us be similar to other aggregators in your life, whether your preferred coffee bar that hosts a weekly open mic night, your local library that stages a monthly book reading, or an influencer-tastemaker that curates your favorite playlist. You engage with them because of the kind of talent that they draw. You are not expecting them to research each and every view and opinion that is espoused by the people that they platform. That being said, anyone that is on a journey with Jesus is welcome to submit content for consideration on our platform: all ages, ethnicities, sexual orientations, theologies, ideologies, languages, and cultures. We just have one big qualifier - ‘quality.’ Well, maybe another as well - ‘honesty.’ Invariably, with any similar venture, certain styles, genres and emphases soon become predominant. There is no way that we will avoid developing our own personality and sub-culture, shaped by our individual journeys, combined experiences and ‘taste’. You will easily be able to intuit our sub-culture, and the kind of art that we value, by a cursory browsing through of this site.

Not only are the margins blurry, but they can also be messy. Well, if the truth be told, wherever people are involved, things are messy. We are not assuming to pastor each and every person with whom we work, but we are committed to doing our best to engage in the way of Jesus, which includes both grace and truth. Embracing broken people - yes. But always with the hope for health and goodness. We will not always get it right, but we are learners, and we are confident that we can always figure things out with other fellow learners. When humble people follow the humble Christ, Christianity is beautiful.

Cultural Consideration

It will quickly become obvious to you that Common Hymnal is multiethnic. This, against a backdrop where racial diversity is trending in Christianity. This has been a very recent development, and it is mostly happening in churches and organizations that are led by white believers, or in entities that have strategic partnerships with white led ministries. If we are to be totally honest, a disproportionate number of these entities have sketchy histories when it comes to racial justice. This past season has seen a healthy percentage of white led churches fervently and publicly supporting politicians who have racist histories, racist rhetoric and racist policies, while building and partnering with multiethnic ministries. When unity and diversity are championed across racial lines without a simultaneous and historic commitment to tackling systemic racial injustice, it is only a matter of time before there will be a backlash. If you listen carefully, you will hear more and more people of color speaking out about the church’s silence on white supremacy, and a day of reckoning is on the horizon. You will probably never hear us throw around words like diversity, unity or racial reconciliation as they are usually buzz words in these kinds of contexts. We are not pursuing a casual blending of cultures, but a just society.

Bishop Desmond Tutu articulately described the tragic consequences of a multi-ethnic ministry where justice is not prioritized with this anecdote: ‘When the missionaries came to Africa they had the bible and we had the land. They said 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the bible and they had the land.’

As a result, we are careful how we engage with initiatives that appear to be similar because of an emphasis on diversity. A consequence of some of these constructs being inattentive to the historic challenges that people of color have faced in these spaces is that they can tend to back black and brown people into a corner, having them appear to be compromising their convictions in order to gain access to ‘white’ resources, when these black and brown people are actually just trying to seize opportunity and fulfill their dreams. This reality, in itself, is an all-too-frequent consequence of white privilege. We are not just looking for diversity. We are working to neuter white superiority and find a world in which non-white leaders and owners can rise up and be respected, not only for their skills, but also their ideological convictions. This conviction puts us in awkward situations. There is just no easy way to communicate this stuff without awkwardness and someone feeling like they are being singled out. We are not trying to insult anyone, but do what we believe Christ has put on our hearts with godly confidence. We intend to do our best to navigate the lay of the land with conviction, courage and dignity.

Trajectory

We are not pursuing a platform in the Christian bubble, nor are we seeking to recycle familiar practices with new packaging. Neither are we revolting against the ‘overground’. We are, however, convinced that God is doing important work outside the current structures, and we are serving those who share this conviction. Some people find themselves on the outskirts because of prophetic insight, some because of unfortunate experiences in the system that have caused them to search out a place of safety in the underground. With regard the latter, we are fully aware of the risks involved in working with people who are still healing from religious trauma. Nevertheless, the example of Jesus and the people that he gathered compels to keep living dangerously.

When it comes to music, underground believers tend not to be drawn to the current trends. They are hungry to build out a more exploratory genre that applies faith to all of the realities of life. They are not comfortable with cliches, hype or spiritual fads but hungry for thoughtfulness and honesty. Hence, this hymnal’s showcasing of an eclectic and curious culture, embodied in a broad spectrum of subject matters, styles and production sensibilities.

This venture is more of a long distance run than a sprint. We are not pretending to be culturally ‘woke’, while secretly hoping to make it big in the praise and worship scene - in disguise. When we say we are ‘underground’, we truly mean it!