I Have Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
#1024 Hymns—For Home and ChurchLyrics
The Story Behind “I Have Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ”
Janice Kapp Perry's sung testimony for children — two verses that open and close with the same seven words of faith.
A Testimony You Can Sing
Janice Kapp Perry — the composer of 'I Love to See the Temple,' 'A Child's Prayer,' and more than a thousand other songs — wrote this one in 2007 for a Primary sacrament meeting presentation. She described it as 'a short declaration of faith that is much like bearing a testimony about Jesus Christ, and expressing a commitment to keep His commandments because of that faith.'
The structure does the teaching: each verse opens and closes with the same declaration — 'I have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ' — so that by the end, children have borne the same testimony four times, and it has begun to sound like their own.
From the Friend to the Hymnbook
The song reached the whole Church through the Friend magazine in October 2007 and settled into Primary rooms everywhere — a natural fit for the years when children first practice saying out loud what they believe.
On February 13, 2025, it was released as hymn #1024 in Hymns—For Home and Church, joining 'Holding Hands Around the World' to give Perry — who once simply hoped 'the Primary children will sing one of my songs' someday — multiple entries in the Church's new hymnbook.
Faith That Listens
The song's quiet middle teaches something subtle: faith isn't only declared, it listens. As children learn to hear the Savior's voice, the Church's hymn resource explains, they feel His love and grow confident that He will help them make right choices.
It is testimony as Alma defined it — starting with no more than a desire to believe, and letting the word be planted until it grows.
Did You Know?
- Each verse opens and closes with the same seven-word declaration — so singing it is bearing testimony four times over.
- Perry wrote it for a Primary sacrament meeting presentation, and it reached the whole Church through the Friend magazine in 2007.
- Its author also wrote 'I Love to See the Temple' and 'A Child's Prayer' — and entered the new hymnbook with multiple songs.
- Perry began composing seriously at age 38, after a basketball injury benched her from sports.
- It entered the hymnbook on February 13, 2025, in the largest release batch of the whole project to that point.
Scripture Connections
- Alma 32:21 — 'Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge' — hoping for true things not seen: the song's definition, and Alma's.
- Hebrews 11:1, 6 — Faith as substance and evidence — and the promise that God rewards 'them that diligently seek him.'
Talk About It
Questions to spark a conversation with your family or Primary class:
- The song says the same seven words at the start and end of every verse. Why does repeating a testimony make it stronger?
- What is the difference between saying you have faith and showing it? What did you do this week that showed it?
- The song teaches that faith includes listening for the Savior's voice. How does He speak to you?
- If you bore your testimony in Primary this Sunday, what would you say?
Teaching Resources
Attribution
Music by: Janice Kapp Perry, 2007
Text by: Janice Kapp Perry, 2007
Audio files from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints