Guide · DCLM Gospel Hymn Book

How to project DCLM hymns on screen, verse by verse

Most churches that sing from the DCLM Gospel Hymn Book end up typing hymns into PowerPoint the night before, or projecting a phone photo of the page. Both break the moment the leader calls a different hymn.

Why the chorus keeps going wrong

The printed hymnal does not label the refrain. It sets it in italics under verse one and expects you to know to sing it after every verse. Copy the text out and that distinction vanishes — so in most presentation tools the chorus arrives glued to the bottom of verse one, and never comes back for verse two.

Psalter reads the typography of the hymnal itself. Of the 252 DCLM hymns it ships with, 169 have a chorus, and each of those comes in as its own slide you can return to after every verse.

Projecting a hymn during service

Type the number the leader calls. Hymns are listed by their hymnal number, so “hymn 4” is Leave It There, exactly as the congregation knows it. You can also search by any line you remember.
Press → to move through it. Verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus. The arrow keys walk the slides; nobody needs to touch a mouse.
Press B for prayer. The screen goes black, and the same slide comes back when you press it again.

Planning Sunday the night before

Build the order of service ahead of time — the opening hymn, the readings, the sermon points, the notices — then run the whole thing on Sunday with one key. Each item is marked as it goes on screen, so a stand-in can take over the desk mid-service and know where you are.

Hymns that are not in the book

Choruses your choir sings, local-language songs, hymns from other hymnals: paste the words in, or upload them as a PDF or text file. Numbered verses and a line marked Chorus: are split into slides automatically.

No internet on Sunday