Music in Praise will feature talented youth choir

On a beautiful sunny morning the sound of delighted singing –– like a breath of fresh air –– float across Berkeley Hill.

The students of Northlands Primary School are attending their Friday morning assembly, and, led by their choir director, Terry Henry and principal, Charles Joynes, they all joyfully sing along to inspiring songs.

Within the ranks of the student body sits the Northlands school choir, who are one of the featured acts at this weekend’s Music in Praise event hosted by the Bermuda Bible Society.

Relevant

The Bible Society are hoping to appeal to more youth and are using their annual event as a means to attract them.

“We need to be relevant to encourage more young people to get involved,” explains Beverly Daniels, the president of the Bermuda Bible Society, who recently took over from outgoing president Rev. Erskine Simmons.

“It needs to be real to them and many aren’t attending Sabbath or Sunday school so how can we reach them? We need to include and encourage them.”

The Music in Praise event, which takes place this Sunday, November 17, will also feature soloists, a 14-year-old violinist, steel pan players and dancers, just to name a few of the acts.

The Bible Society is also hoping to attract more youth by reaching them where they engage the most –– online. 

“We’re hoping to build our social media presence and we’re working on starting a website. The best way to get the youth involved is to get into technology where we can reach them. 

“We don’t want to be static, but vibrant,” she says. “If not we will die out.

Along with encouraging the youth to become more involved in their faith, the Bible Society also hands out Bibles within the community.

The charity’s most recent Bible drive included handing out Bibles at the NatWest Games.

“These weren’t just any typical Bibles,” Ms Daniels explains. “They were printed with different symbols of Bermuda on them. There were whistling frogs, athletes, Gombeys, so there was a lot of representation of Bermuda on the Bibles.”

One person who received the specially printed NatWest Bibles was former MP Dale Butler. 

He was so impressed by the version of the Bible he received that he has now become a regular reader of it after having been a sporadic reader over the past 10 years.

“I have been a Sunday school teacher and have read a variety of Bible ‘versions’ all my life,” he wrote in a letter to former Bermuda Bible Society president Rev Simmons. 

“But this version was by far the easiest I have ever read. I think I missed the first half hour of the Games because I was so engrossed in the book.”

The Bermuda Bible Society, which is a member of the Canadian Bible Society, also provides Bibles within the community such as the hospital and the Bermuda Regiment. They also lend their support to initiatives through the Canadian Bible Society such as providing aid to places that have been devastated by natural disaster such as Haiti.

“We also go into countries and deliver Bibles where there are no Bibles translated into the language of that country,” Ms Daniels says.

Along with their annual Music in Praise event this weekend, the Bermuda Bible Society also hosts a number of events throughout the year including a Bible reading event that usually takes place around Easter.

“We choose a different church each year and we read various scriptures in various languages and by different community members. It’s been read in French, one year in Afrikaans, one year members from Belco came and read. We get the community involved and have had schools participate.” 

The Music In Praise event takes place this Sunday, November 17, at St John’s Church in Pembroke. The event begins at 4pm and tickets are $20 and can be purchased at the door. For more information, contact 777-5009.