"I Have Decided to Follow Jesus" is a Christian hymn that originated in Assam, present-day Meghalaya, India.
According to P. Job, the lyrics are based on the last words of Nokseng, a Garo man, a tribe from Meghalaya which then was in Assam, who converted to Christianity in the middle of the 19th century through the efforts of an American Baptist missionary. He is said to have recited verses from the twelfth chapter of the Gospel of John as he and his family were killed. The formation of the martyr's words into a hymn has been attributed to the Indian missionary Sadhu Sundar Singh.[1]
An alternative tradition attributes the hymn to pastor Simon K Marak from Jorhat, Assam.[2]
The melody of the song is an Indian Folk tune, which was titled "Assam" after the region where the text originated.[3]
An American hymn editor, William Jensen Reynolds, composed an arrangement which was included in the 1959 Assembly Songbook. His version became a regular feature of Billy Graham's evangelistic meetings in America and elsewhere, spreading its popularity.[4]
Due to the lyrics' explicit focus on the believer's own commitment, the hymn is cited as a prime example of decision theology, emphasizing the human response rather than the action of God in giving faith.[5] This has led to its exclusion from some hymnals.[5] A Lutheran writer noted, "It definitely has a different meaning when we sing it than it did for the person who composed it."[6]
^"I Have Decided to Follow Jesus", Timeless Truths Free Online Library. Retrieved 2011-10-09.
^Hawn, C. Michael (11 June 2020). "History of Hymns: 'I Have Decided to Follow Jesus'". Discipleship Ministries. The United Methodist Church. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
^Assam (tune) at Hymnary.org
^Newsletter of CCEL, 3 October 2011.
^ abAdelle M. Banks, One Congregation's Hymnal Is Another's Blasphemy: Missouri Synod leaders go after the African-American Hymnal, beliefnet. Retrieved 2011-10-09.
^David S. Payne, Dialing for Doctrine, Forward in Christ, May 1986, Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Retrieved 2011-10-09.
and 26 Related for: I Have Decided to Follow Jesus information
ote se wo, Oteeneeni, Onam ne wuo so, He paid the Debt, IhaveDecidedtoFollowJesus, Jesus is King, Wo ntaban, Aseda Ben (from the Aseda album), Bebree...
Sanhedrin trial of Jesus refers to the trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin (a Jewish judicial body) following his arrest in Jerusalem and prior to the trial before...
that his birth date is around 4 to 6 BC. Two main approaches have been used to estimate the year of the birth of Jesus: one based on the accounts in the...
customers could send off for a gold Jesus & Mary chain. As neither brother wanted to be the singer, they decided Jim would be via him losing a coin toss...
and her supervisor Tess (Della Reese), who bring messages from God to various people to help them as they reach a crossroads in their lives. They are frequently...
A chronology of Jesus aims to establish a timeline for the events of the life of Jesus. Scholars have correlated Jewish and Greco-Roman documents and...
also known as the Jesus myth theory, Jesus mythicism, or the Jesus ahistoricity theory, is the fringe theory that the story of Jesus is a work of mythology...
He had been doing this for a number of years for his siblings, and he decidedto record a number of short thank you messages for key workers and the UK...
The Transfiguration of Jesus is an event described in the New Testament, where Jesus is transfigured and becomes radiant in glory upon a mountain. The...
Out When I Praise Anything Worshippers Sacrifice Of Praise Sacrifice Of Praise (reprise) This I Know/IHaveDecidedtoFollowJesus Lord I Run To You The...
considers Jesus (ʿĪsā) as a mortal man, entirely human, and a prophet of God born to the Virgin Mary (Maryam). Jesus is understood tohave survived the...
family then returns to Nazareth. In Matthew, The Magi follow a star to Bethlehem, where the family are living, to bring gifts toJesus, born the King of...
Battle of Pamplona. He composed the Spiritual Exercises to help others follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. On 15 August 1534, Ignatius of Loyola (born Íñigo...
surrenders to God. ("Gethsemane (I Only Want to Say)"). Judas arrives with Roman soldiers and identifies Jesus by kissing him on the cheek. When Jesus is brought...
theologians that Elijah appears to hand over the responsibility of the prophets toJesus as the woman by the well said toJesus "I perceive thou art a prophet...
who has followedJesus and his captors. Caiaphas holds trial during which false accusations are made against Jesus. Some priests, who object to the trial...
reported that their US tour had sold out before Jesus Jones arrived in the country. The follow-up to Doubt was Perverse (1993), a darker and more industrial...
was—according to Christianity's four canonical gospels—a first-century Jewish man who became a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ...
another religious biopic of Jesus. A few months later, Stevens moved the project to United Artists. Stevens decided not to film the project in the Middle...
explained by Epiphanius as being because "they insist that Jesus was really man." It is believed tohave been composed some time during the middle of the 2nd...
supposed to give for the songs, so I had to do three." West had originally wanted Hype Williams to direct the first version of "Jesus Walks" but decided not...
contains elements of the later song "The Thing I Hate"), an early version of "Shame", and "Plastic Jesus". "Violent Mood Swing" was also included on the...
and New Testaments). Belief in Jesus as a messianic figure and as divine (i.e., God the Son) is considered by Jews to be one of the most defining distinctions...
Global Information