Profiles

Anneli Loepp Thiessen is a doctoral student in the Interdisciplinary Music Research program at the University of Ottawa. Her dissertation examines women’s roles in the contemporary worship music industry, particularly considering mechanisms that limit women and those allowing women to thrive. She has presented her research at numerous national and international conferences and is published in several academic journals, including Worship, Religions, The Hymn: A Journal of Congregational Song, Journal of Contemporary Ministry, and Anabaptist Witness.

As a composer and church musician, Loepp Thiessen writes music for Christian congregational worship and advocates for women’s equal involvement in community worship. She served as a committee member for the Voices Together hymnal, for which she evaluated submissions by women and advocated for the inclusion of historical and contemporary work by women. She has several hymn tunes and accompaniments included in the collection and featured online on GIA Unbound. Loepp Thiessen also serves on the planning committee for the Christian Congregational Music Conference and was conference co-chair for the 2023 meeting of The Hymn Society in Canada and the United States. She is the Canadian co-director for Anabaptist Worship Network, an organization that provides workshops, webinars, blog posts, and other resources for Anabaptist worshiping communities in North America.

Loepp Thiessen’s doctoral research has been supported by fellowships from the Louisville Institute, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship. Her research has been featured in Christianity Today and Relevant as well as on numerous podcasts, and she’s been active as a columnist for Leader, The Hymn, and Canadian Mennonite.