Twenty years later, ‘In Christ Alone’ still inspires millions to sing
The popular hymn prompted a movement to revive congregational singing and launched the careers of Keith and Kristyn Getty. Read the article from Religion News Service here.
Mourners place flowers and pictures in the name cut-out of Kyung Hee (Casey) Cho at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, Sept. 11, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
The melody that changed Keith Getty’s life was first scratched out on the back of an electric bill in a humble flat in Northern Ireland.
This isn’t great, he thought at the time.
But it was the best he could come up with. So he sent a recording of the melody on a CD to Stuart Townend, an English songwriter he’d met a few months earlier at a church conference, in hopes Townend might be able to turn the melody into a serviceable hymn.
Getty was right.
That melody became the basis for “In Christ Alone,” which was released in 2001 and has become one of the most popular songs in Protestant churches, according to the Christian Copyright Licensing International, which tracks songs sung in churches. The song also launched a new era of modern hymn writing.