About

Praise Trust exists to serve churches and Christians by publishing hymns, songs, and psalms as a trusted resource that churches go to for both words and music.

We aim to publish a curated collection of the most widely published quality hymns and songs, as well as a range of lesser-known items that we believe will enrich worship in local churches.

We aim to publish a wide selection of both classic and contemporary items, from classic hymns to contemporary songs, and from psalms that stick closely to the text of the original to modern songs that express the gospel from a contemporary perspective.

We seek to ensure that all the items that we publish are biblical and doctrinally sound.

We want to encourage new writers and composers, and to help them develop their talents for God’s glory.

Background

Praise Trust began in 1996, led by Brian Edwards and a wide group of others, including Christopher Idle, David Preston, Richard Underwood, and Jonathan Stephen. A large team of volunteers worked to put together Praise!, a hymnbook of 999 items that was published in 2000. In the days when churches still used hymnbooks to sing from, this gained a wide circulation. However, we quickly realised that online publication is the future, and our website has enabled us to continue publishing on a regular basis.

We still publish the music edition of Praise! as a legacy resource, but the words edition is now out of print. A copy of the introduction, explaining the approach taken in the hymnbook, can be viewed here.

Our doctrinal basis is the FIEC doctrinal basis, and this serves as the benchmark for everything that we publish. You can read our doctrinal basis here.

How we work

Praise Trust is run by a board of trustees. Currently these are:

Jim Sayers (Chairman), Andy Benfold, Gill Berry, Rich Horton, Linda Mawson

We also have several teams, reviewing words and music, and covering areas such as operations, website, and the publishing process. Like all charitable trusts, we are keen to expand our group of volunteers in a range of areas. Do get in touch with us if you would like to be involved.

‘Our vision is to grow the work of Praise Trust in the coming years, publishing the best, discovering new talent, and playing our part in enriching the worship of local churches and strengthening the spiritual lives of Christians for God’s glory.’