William Marion Runyan

William Marion Runyan was an American Methodist minister, evangelist, composer, editor, and songbook compiler born in Marion, New York, in 1870. His father was a Methodist Episcopal clergyman, and the family moved to Marion, Kansas, in 1884. Runyan showed musical ability early, serving as a substitute church organist by about age twelve and teaching music while still young. He entered Methodist ministry in 1891, served Kansas pastorates, and from 1903 worked for roughly two decades as an evangelist in the Central Kansas Methodist Conference.

Increasing deafness contributed to a change in his work. In the 1920s he became associated with John Brown University in Arkansas, where he served the Federated Church, edited Christian Workers’ Magazine, and compiled gospel-song books. He later lived in Chicago, worked with Moody Bible Institute, and served for years in an editorial role with Hope Publishing Company. His publications included Songs of Salvation and Service, The Service Hymnal, and numerous collections of gospel songs and sacred music.

Runyan composed the music for Great Is Thy Faithfulness in Baldwin, Kansas, in 1923 after Thomas O. Chisholm sent him the poem. He later recalled praying that the tune would carry the text’s message worthily. The melody was written specifically for Chisholm’s words and was published with them in Songs of Salvation and Service that year. The tune name FAITHFULNESS was adopted later, at Runyan’s suggestion, for the 1956 Baptist Hymnal.