Prophetic Writings and Hymn Collection Available Online

Over recent months he has completed the mission of posting a huge number of his hymns on the Progressive Christianity website, including his newest collection of hymns, Cosmic Mystery.

Bill is described as one of Progressive Christianity website’s most prolific contributors. The website introduction goes on to explain, “Bill says that his work springs from communicating with the fire in his gut and his observation of both the internal and external aspects of the Cosmos. Since an early age, he has been both sympathetic to and critical of the church, announcing at the age of 13 his belief in evolution. In his youth, he struggled with the disconnection between art and spirituality in his own and other denominations and with the way in which all the liturgies prior to the sermon were regarded as preliminaries and longer sermons were viewed as superior to more concise ones.

At varsity, he found an intellectual home in the ecumenism and radicalism of the Student Christian Movement, and at theological college was frustrated to discover that neither these nor liturgy were regarded as major elements in the curriculum. In parish life, he found that writing hymns was a more acceptable way of presenting radical thoughts than sermons. They allowed these thoughts to slide into the mind on the back of music.

His radicalism sprang from his experiences as a labourer and his exposure to great inequality in the Philippines. It was these that led him to abandon the idea that wealth is a gift from God and with it the belief in an intervening deity.

Bill found his true spiritual home when he was introduced to the Christian mystics, especially Hildegard of Bingen and Meister Eckhart. This explains why he has sometimes been called a prophetic mystic.

Along with his parish work, Bill was the hymn selector for the Praise Be Television Programme. He also chaired Contemporary Hymns N.Z. Ltd. and was the convener of the N.Z. Methodist Media and Communications Committee. He was the inaugural chair of the N.Z. branch of the Interfaith World Conference on Religion and Peace and initiated the formation of a Citizen’s Advice Bureau, an adventure playground, a suburban team ministry, and coordinated a Community Care Centre.

He holds a B.A. in philosophy and a Dip. Ed. and is the author of nine published collections of his hymns as well as other resources on our website. His hymns have appeared in 13 different denominational hymn books, 17 other hymn collections, and other worship material has been included in 15 different anthologies. All of these are suitable for most Progressive Christians”. To access the work, visit:

www.progressivechristianity.org/?s=wallace&sv=author&submit=Search