The Mennonite Hour was the official radio broadcast of the Mennonite Church. It began in 1951 with a different name, Crusaders for Christ. It became a half hour program that featured a short sermon and a cappella singing by the Mennonite Hour Chorus. The chorus was generally made up of students from Eastern Mennonite College in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and from various Mennonite singers from the Harrisonburg area. For many years, all of the singing on the Mennonite Hour was a cappella in four-part harmony. Later some instruments were added occasionally.

By 1957, the Mennonite Hour was broadcast in over 70 radio stations across the United States and abroad. In the early 1960's, its coverage peaked at more than 140 radio stations. In 1965, the program was shortened to 15 minutes with less music. Finally, in 1978 the program went off the air. In recent years, the musical recordings from the program have been re-mastered using state-of-the-art equipment and have been released in a number of music CDs.

Hear an example of a hymn (Be Thou My Vision), recorded for the Mennonite Hour Radio program, in either MP3 (1.1MB), or QuickTime 4 (225KB). (Apple's QT4 site) Check the Resources/Catalog for more Mennonite Hour CDs and cassettes.