Following African independence movements throughout the 1960s and 1970s, a number of Western missionaries encouraged the composition of Christian song in African idioms. Thomas S. Colvin (1925-2000) was one of these missionaries.
Colvin was a pastoral missionary for the Church of Scotland in Ghana from 1958-1964 and Nyasaland (now Malawi) from 1954-’58 and 1964-’74. Trained as an engineer before studying theology at Trinity College in Glasgow, he was an active member of the ecumenical Iona Community for nearly 50 years. Colvin’s missionary ministry was characterized by justice issues such as Christian service committees, refugee resettlement and community development projects. Among his many activities, Colvin participated in community development training in parts of southern Africa and aided refugees from Mozambique seeking sanctuary in neighboring Malawi.
The songs collected by Colvin have been spread by members of the Iona Community around the world. Several of his texts set to African melodies have found a home in Western hymnals. Colvin nurtured new African congregational songs by adapting local melodies and writing new texts appropriate for African Christians and, as it turns out, Christians around the world.
“Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love” is Colvin’s most popular hymn. The melody is adapted from a Ghanaian folk song he heard during his years of service in that country. The tune name CHEREPONI comes from a town in northern Ghana, where the hymn was written; the harmonization is not reflective of an African musical style.
The dominant theme is the equality of all peoples in Christ (John 13:16). All people — “rich and poor” and “black and white” — are our neighbors. The focus on our neighbors recalls Luke 10:27 where, following a conversation with a lawyer who tempted him in a discussion of the law, Christ responds, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.”
The composition of the hymn itself is symbolic of collaboration between two cultures. The text comes from a European Christian inspired by his service in Ghana. The melody comes from a West African country. In this composition, even the act of hymn singing may become a metaphor for neighborly relationships that are possible in Christ.
