Hymn #323: Little Children, Welcome | First Congregational Church

Fred Pratt Green (1903-2000) wrote this baptism text in 1973. The opening words can be adapted to “Little sister” or “Little brother,” for example, as the specific occasion warrants. The hymn might be sung in two parts – as the family comes forward and as they leave the baptismal area.

Fred Pratt Green was born in a suburb of Liverpool, England, and educated in English schools. He was ordained to the Wesleyan Methodist ministry in 1928 and served various congregations throughout England in his twenty-two year career as a parish pastor. He retired in 1969.

Roy Hopp (b. 1951) wrote this simple tune on April 21, 1988, so the even the youngest of singers could participate. It was composed for Fred Pratt Green’s text and named SAIPAN in honor of Hopp’s nephew, who had recently been born on that island near Guam and west of the Philippines.

Roy Hopp, a member of the Christian Reformed Church, serves that denomination through the work of the Board of Publications. Hopp is also director of music at Woodlawn Christian Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan.