Just As I Am

The story of this hymn

Charlotte Elliott lived as an invalid for most of her adult life. In 1834, left alone in Brighton while her family helped at a charity bazaar she was too ill to attend, she spent a night doubting her own usefulness — and wrote these verses the next day, resting on advice a Swiss pastor had given her years before: come to Christ just as you are. Published in 1835, it has been sung at bedsides, gravesides and funerals ever since.

Where it sits in the service

Sung after the sermon or in a time of quiet reflection, and often at the graveside, where its short verses carry well in the open air. The repeated last line means mourners without books can join in by the second verse. Print the chosen verses out in full rather than as 'verses 1, 3 and 6' — a grieving congregation should never have to hunt.

In the programme, list it in the order of service as “Hymn — Just As I Am” with the leader or choir named beside it.

How it is actually sung

An invitation hymn, deeply familiar to anyone from an evangelical background and associated for many with Billy Graham crusades, which is itself a memory some of the congregation will have. Four of the six verses is usual. It is gentle, repetitive and easy for an uncertain congregation to follow, which makes it one of the safer choices at a service where many guests have not been inside a church in years.

Printing the words

Public domain. Four verses is right; the hymn is repetitive enough that more becomes wearing.

This is practical guidance rather than legal advice. Reproduction rights vary by territory, by hymnal edition and by the licence your church holds — the church office is the right place to ask, and they answer this question often.