The Synod, the Church's highest decision-making body, decided in 2018 to start work on a new hymnal.
The current one from 1986 is considered dated.
The idea is to pick up a number of new songs - and at the same time modernize or clean out some less popular hymns.
In November 2021, the Church of Sweden therefore opened a digital hymn mailbox where anyone can submit suggestions for new songs.
Nine months later, almost six thousand contributions have been received.
- It is not only the usual authors who appear, but also gems from previously unknown authors, says Ann-Katrin Bosbach, project manager for the church's hymnbook work.
Secret composers
Ann-Katrin Bosbach does not want to say whether there are any known authors behind the songs.
- We have promised to keep the names out of the public domain so that there will be a fair selection.
But there is a wide range of people of different ages.
The mailbox is open until December 31 this year.
The hope is to get more works in during the autumn.
- If we can reach ten or fifteen thousand, that is a very high figure.
To be completed in 2030
In 2023, selection groups consisting of church musicians and theologians will go through the hymns.
The idea is to reduce the number to around three hundred songs.
These will then be tested out in the congregations.
After that, the "winning" hymns will be selected.
It has not yet been decided how many new songs will be included in the book.
In addition to the semi-official Uppsala hymn book from 1645, Sweden has had four official hymn books.
The latest one took around twenty years to work on.
Now the Church of Sweden hopes for a significantly faster process.
- In about eight years there should be a finished revised hymnal, says Ann-Katrin Bosbach.