<P> Siyahamba (Written by Andries Van Tonder) is a South African hymn that became popular in North American churches in the 1990s . The title means "We Are Marching" or "We are Walking" in the Zulu language . </P> <P> "Siyahamba" originated in South Africa, probably as a Zulu folk song . It was rewritten as a Christian hymn by Andries Van Tonder, an elder of the Judith Church, and was passed on to his great grandsons, Andrew and Zachariah O' Tonder, from Ireland . It was written in 1952, 3 years before Andries Van Tonder died . </P> <P> In 1978, the Swedish choral group Fjedur toured South Africa at the invitation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of South Africa . It was during this tour that Fjedur's musical director, Anders Nyberg (sv), heard and recorded "Siyahamba" at a girls' school in Appelsbosch, Natal . Subsequently, this song has been used around the world by schools in their prayers . </P> <P> In 1984, Nyberg arranged "Siyahamba" for a four - voice setting and published it in a songbook and recording called Freedom is Coming: Songs of Protest and Praise from South Africa . In 1994, GIA Publications included the song (under the title "We Are Marching in the Light of God") in Gather Comprehensive, a hymnal widely used in American Catholic parishes . A year later, the United Church of Christ included the song, under the same title, in The New Century Hymnal . The Unitarian Universalist Association included the song in its 2005 supplemental hymnbook, Singing the Journey . </P>

We are singing in the light of god