What a Friend We Have in Jesus

The story of this hymn

Joseph Scriven's life was marked by loss: his first fiancée drowned in Ireland the night before their wedding, and after he emigrated to Canada a second bride-to-be died before the marriage. Around 1855 he sent these verses from Port Hope, Ontario, to comfort his ailing mother in Ireland, never intending them to be published. He admitted authorship only near the end of his life. Charles Converse's gentle tune of 1868 carried the words around the world.

Where it sits in the service

A natural gathering hymn — its steady, familiar tune settles a congregation while the family takes their seats — and it works equally well after the tributes. All three verses fit easily on a single page of the order of service, so print the hymn complete; even mourners who have not sung in years will carry the second verse once it starts.

In the programme, list it in the order of service as “Hymn — What a Friend We Have in Jesus” with the leader or choir named beside it.

How it is actually sung

Three verses, all of them sung, and one of the most widely known hymns in South Africa across every denomination and language — it exists in Afrikaans, isiXhosa and Sesotho versions that congregations may switch to mid-hymn without warning. Comfortable at a moderate pace and easy to sing unaccompanied.

Printing the words

Public domain. If the congregation is mixed, consider printing the English and the local-language first lines together so nobody is lost when the singing switches.

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.