Children's hymnody, USA

Singing is a natural activity for children, and one of the most certain ways of passing on doctrine and history of faith is through hymn singing. Because of its ability to draw people into community while teaching doctrine, singing hymns strengthens the fostering of religious values. There is evidence that the teaching of hymnody happened with boys in monasteries as early as the fifth century, and after 1200 there is evidence of girls taking part in monastic liturgical singing. Though we may not know what hymns were passed down to children in the early and medieval church, one of the originators of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther*, wrote a hymn for his children, ‘Vom Himmel hoch,...