The Te Deum Music Fellows Program

The Theopolis Te Deum Fellowship in Church Music aims to equip pastors and church musicians to implement the Theopolitan vision of liturgy and music in their own local contexts. We aim to give church musicians a reason why that they can bring back to their local contexts.

We are ideally designed for pastors and church musicians who want to transform their church music programs. No musical background or training is assumed. Participants will attend two week-long seminars in Birmingham in a Summer and Winter term and do additional coursework, reading and discussion groups remotely for a semester.

Curriculum will encompass Biblical theology of music, the history of church music and its rationales, the aesthetics of hymns, psalms, and liturgical music, and practical sessions on how to teach and persuade your own local congregations.

We seek to provide pastors and church musicians with answers to questions like:

a) How can I convince my congregation to do different music?

b) How do I justify my musical choices theologically and pastorally?

c) How do I, practically speaking, get psalm singing and psalm chanting into my churches

d) How do I get a robust church music program started at my church?

e) How can I tell a good hymn/song/liturgical setting from a bad one?

Curriculum will include:

a) Biblical theology of music

b) The history of church music and its theological rationales

c) The aesthetics of hymnody, psalm singing, and various liturgical music

d) Training your own musical affections and sensibilities

e) Training your local congregations in psalm singing

Trinity and Epiphany Terms will be intensive in-residence weeks, consisting primarily of lectures and thrice-daily liturgical services. Required readings must be completed prior to the in-residence sessions. These terms coincide with the Theopolis Fellows Program; worship, meals, and fellowship times will be shared by Te Deum and Fellows Program students.

At each online seminar during the Fall, students will lead seminar discussions with faculty on books on church music as well as particular pieces of music or liturgical settings from church music history. At the end of the Epiphany Term, students may submit a proposal for an Honors thesis. Examples of suitable projects would be: editing a hymnal or liturgy, a composition project, or a research project on historic Christian liturgico-musical practice.

All who finish the Fellows Program will receive a Fellows Certificate.

Trinity Term: July 20-24, 2026

Epiphany Term: January 11-15, 2027

            8:00 AM                      Breakfast

            8:30 AM                      Matins

            9:00 – noon                 Morning Lectures

            12:00 – 12:15 PM        Sext

            12:15 – 2:00 PM         Lunch

            2:00 – 3:30 PM            Afternoon Lecture (Tues/Thurs: Break)

            3:30 – 4:30 PM           Music Practicum

            5:00 – 6:00 PM           Vespers

            6:30 – 7:30 PM           Dinner

            8:00 – 10:00 PM         Fellowship

The Te Deum Music Fellows Program is directed by Dr. John Ahern.

John Ahern has a PhD in musicology from Princeton University. His dissertation was a survey of the sacred music of the fifteenth-century French composer Fremin le Caron. He has been a church organist, pianist, and choir director at several churches and within several denominations, and he is now worshipping and playing music in the PCA. He currently teaches Latin and humanities at The Wilberforce School in New Jersey. Together with Medora, his wife, he enjoys the antics of his brood of children whose number is ever increasing such that, were it specified here, this biography would almost certainly be out of date by the time it is read.

The faculty includes Paul Buckley, Caleb Skogen, Jarrod Richey, Christopher Hoyt, Brian Moats, Peter Leithart, Jeff Meyers, and Alastair Roberts.

For more information on the program, click HERE.

$2900 – the total cost which includes Tuition, materials, online “Pesher” groups, lodging & meals for in-person terms.   

$500 | non-refundable deposit

$25 application fee.

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN. Click HERE to start an application.