Lift Every Voice and Sing: Black Christianity Hymnody for the Whole Christian Church
January 25, 2027 @ 4:00 pm
Course Information
Join Donté Ford for an eight-session exploration of the repertoire, tradition, and performance of Black Christian hymnody across its various traditions. This course seeks to empower the whole church in faithfully singing songs and hymns of the Black Church.
This online class will meet on Mondays from 4:00 to 5:30 pm ET, beginning January 25, 2027 and concluding March 15, 2027.
Our online hymnology courses are designed for pastors, musicians, and church leaders who may not hold formal degrees in church music or theology, or who wish to deepen their understanding of congregational song in the 21st century.
More Details & Required Materials
The primary textbook for this couse will be “Black Hymnody: A Hymnological History of the African-American Church” by Jon Michael Spencer
Registration Information
Hymn Society members: $175
Non-members: $225
Pastor-musician teams from the same congregation: $275
Instructor
Dr. Donté Alexander Ford is a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and serves the Wheaton College community as Assistant Professor of Music and Associate Chaplain for Worship Arts. He is an alumnus of Penn State University (BA), Southern Methodist University (MSM, MM, MDiv), and the University of Arizona (PhD) and is best described as a musician, minister, and scholar. At Wheaton, Donté teaches Principles in Music and Worship Ministry, coaches Chapel Bands, oversees the music and worship arts offerings in Chapel worship, and serves as the director of the Worship Arts Certificate.
Donté’s many musical talents have afforded him the opportunity to serve as guest clinician/conductor, lead pianist, opera chorister, resident percussionist, and Minister of Music. His musical activities also include composing (specifically focusing on arrangements of Christian hymns and Negro Spirituals), and in 2019 he won the Brooklyn Youth Chorus Bass Ensemble composer competition. He is the founder and Artistic Director of Sankofa Chorale, a multi-ethnic choral ensemble that preserves and perpetuates African American Choral music while performing that music alongside choral masterworks of the Western European choral canon.
A Christian minister, Donté is a gifted preacher, holding ordination and ministerial credentials in the Holiness-Pentecostal and Baptist traditions, respectively. Though a life-long Pentecostal, Donté is committed to the diversity of the body of Christ. As a scholar, Donté focuses his efforts on the history and preservation of Black American concert and popular music, church hymnody, congregational song, and the history, theology, and music of African American Pentecostalism. His scholarly work includes lectures on African American choral art forms and contributions to the Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology and UM Discipleship Ministries’ History of Hymns.
Course Dates (all times 4:PM to 5:30PM Eastern)
Monday, January 25, 2027
Monday, February 1, 2027
Monday, February 8, 2027
Monday, February 15, 2027
Monday, February 22, 2027
Monday, March 1, 2027
Monday, March 8, 2027
Monday, March 15, 2027