WILD GOOSE RESOURCE GROUP 
FAQS
All these Wild Gooses are confusing me… how do they relate to one another?
Where can we buy your resources?
What do we do if we want to use your songs or liturgies in our church or in a publication?
What kind of things do you offer?
Is John Bell the music leader of the Iona Community?
Do you major on ‘celtic’ spirituality?
All these Wild Gooses are confusing me… how do they relate to one another?
The Wild Goose Resource Group (WGRG) is a project of the Iona Community, consisting of Jo Love (Resource Worker), and Gail Ullrich (Administrator). They are employed under the auspices of the Iona Community and work in the UK and further afield in the areas of worship and Christian education. WGRG are currently in a time of transition following the retirement of former Resource Worker John Bell. We look forward to growing the team again when the time is right.
The Wild Goose Resource Group as writers John L. Bell and Graham Maule have produced many songs and other resources, published worldwide. For info on use of these materials, please see our copyright guidelines.
Wild Goose Publications is the publishing house of the Iona Community. They produce a range of titles which reflect the concerns of the Iona Community, including song and liturgy resources devised by the Wild Goose Resource Group.
The Wild Goose Collective is an ad hoc group of our musical friends, some of whom are former members of the Wild Goose Worship Group (see below), who have gathered to record WGRG songs since 2004.
The Wild Goose Worship Group (WGWG) was a group of 18 people living in Glasgow, cheerfully disbanded since 2000, who met each week to learn new songs, develop workshops and devise worship. They made a number of recordings of Resource Group material and songs from the world church.
You may also have come across Holy City, which was a WGRG-enabled ecumenical event in Glasgow from 2001-2015. It took place monthly, and consisted of workshops and worship planned by WGRG and an assortment of Glaswegian citizens, and was the primary occasion when WGRG innovation in liturgy took place. Contrary to commonly held assumptions, such work occurs mainly in Glasgow and not on Iona!
weeWONDERBOX is our current programme of local face-to-face events, that take place from time to time mainly in central Glasgow – including the flagship annual urban festival, ColumbaFest – and is a collaboration between the Wild Goose Resource Group and the Iona Community.
The Iona Community takes the Wild Goose as its logo. The wee jaggy one that looks like a thistle is the logo of the Wild Goose Resource Group.
Where can we buy your resources?
1. You can get them from Wild Goose Publications.
2. In the UK, your local Christian bookshop may stock them (if it’s a bookshop of discernment and good quality!), or you can ask them to order our resources for you from Wild Goose Publications’ distributor Booksource.
3. In North America, our publisher is GIA Publications. In addition to our songbooks, they stock the choral anthem packs & CDs by John L. Bell & the Cathedral Singers of Chicago.
4. In Australia and New Zealand, you can order WGRG materials from Willow Publishing.
5. Two recent books by John L. Bell have been brought out by SPCK – Living with the Psalms and The Last Journey.
What do we do if we want to use your songs or liturgies in our church or in a publication?
For local church use, our songs are covered by ccli.com and onelicense.net.
For commercial permissions, please contact us directly.
In several other territories of world, national publishers represent and administer our work.
For details and further advice on reproducing material authored by John L. Bell and Graham Maule, see our copyright guidelines.
What kind of things do you offer?
Workshops, seminars, evenings of song, services of worship. WGRG has been active in local congregations, churches, schools, colleges, universities, at festivals, denominational conferences, training events and with voluntary organisations concerned with social justice and creative possibility. You can find recent examples on our events page. Please contact us for a list of current topics and more info.
Are the WGRG trained singers?
No. Our experience has taught us that untutored voices, with enough practice and encouragement, are the best instruments to enable the song of the people. What matters to us is participation, not performance.
Are you a choir?
No. We do sing, and we do record our material, but we do other things as well. Recordings have been made by the Wild Goose Collective and before them the Wild Goose Worship Group (see above).
Do you live on Iona?
No. We go to the island once or twice a year to lead programme weeks and staff worship training. We live in the central belt of Scotland and are based in Glasgow, at the Iona Community’s offices.
Is John Bell the music leader of the Iona Community?
No. There isn’t a “music leader”.
On the island of Iona there is a musician every year who provides and organises music for the services of worship in the Abbey and for guests who stay there. There are also other musicians and hymn writers past and present associated with the Iona Community – Kathy Galloway, Ian Fraser, Leith Fisher, Tom Colvin, to name but a few.
Do you major on ‘celtic’ spirituality?
No. Though we do believe there is (or was) such a thing, it does not chiefly inform our work or approach. It has to be said that some of the contemporary materials and manifestations carrying the tag ‘Celtic’ bear no relation to the valuable perspectives to be gleaned from the life of Columba and his story.
Wild Goose Resource Group
The Iona Community
Suite 9, Fairfield
1048 Govan Road
Glasgow
G51 4XS
Scotland
E-mail: wildgoose@wildgoose.scot
Tel: 0141 429 7281
