To serve the people who will come (or are thinking of coming) to Carols under the Bridge in 2010, Church by the Bridge is developing a website for the event. It’s progressing well (thanks to some gifted graphic and web designers who serve  along well, and I’ll share details of it soon.

Apart from sharing the essential information (where, when, what, how much), we are also keen to develop the site as a resource for people to learn more about Jesus, the Christmas story, and the history of the songs we sing at Christmas.

(There are greater stories to be told at Christmas than the ridiculous fantasy of Carol Koala. Why, as a society, are we so willing to teach our children such rubbish, when the actual story of Christmas is such eye-popping, awe-inspiring good news? I digress).

On the website we’ll be sharing some of the background to our favourite Christmas carols, and the faith of the carol writers. This effort was inspired by the 10 videos created by Mars Hill Church, documenting the lives of some of the best known hymn writers. They are a great resource for sharing with your church and community the work of God in some inspiring Christian men and women who continue to serve us to this very day. Here’s a taste, with the bio of Isaac Watts:

You can see all the videos at the Mars Hill website. We won’t have time to create videos like these, but I’m thankful to God for Mars Hill for creating them, and prayerful about the content we’ll be sharing on our website this year.

What other resources would you recommend for learning more about hymn writers?