Date: May 07

Building Your Choir Week After Week
By David West

How to build and motivate your choir week after week
Let us not minimize the importance of our choir during our worship services. Their ministry is to lead the congregation in the singing of hymns and to direct the thoughts of people to the Lord through their choir special. Because of their visible presence they are also sending a message to the people of your church standards and of the kind of church you have just by their appearances and conduct.

The average church should be able to maintain a choir of ten percent of the congregation size. If this is true, where do our members come from? The key is operating on the premise that anyone can sing, while some are better than others. Anyone with a desire to glorify the Lord should be able to sing with a few lessons, practice and prayer. Beginning with their first rehearsal, have them seated in the proper section next to one of your stronger singers or section loaders. Encourage them to join in when he or she feels comfortable and to never sing so loudly that you cannot hear the others around you.

Someone such as the pastor, minister of music or both should be promoting the need for choir members from the pulpit. As in any ministry, the need for laborers is great. Encourage your current choir members to talk to their family and friends about joining. Last but not least, use every opportunity you have to teach and train your people of the important role music plays in your services. Think of many ways to involve your people so they will already feel a part when they are ready to make a commitment to join choir.

Incorporating some of these ideas will get you off to a strong start to building an affective choir ministry.