Capitalizing On The Summer to (Hopefully) Grow A Choir

We’ve been working hard at my church this summer to open our choir up to anyone and everyone who would like to give it a try.

I LOVE choirs in worship, and my church has a long history of a vibrant choir helping leading music on Sundays. And while I’m not a choir director (thankfully God has brought me an amazing right-hand man to lead our choir, Andrew Cote) I’m committed to trying to to help our choir go against the trend in white Protestant churches that sees choirs rapidly disappearing.

So we made some fun/silly videos this summer to make it clear to our congregation that we really meant what we were saying: we wanted anyone with a love to worship God, regardless of their training, experience, or musical background, to come join this community.

The first one was just me and my oldest daughter, Megan, and was a bit more serious/substantive:

The second one was just plain silly. A beautiful composition by our esteemed choir director himself:

Next, I was joined again by Andrew Cote and Kirsten Boyd (Worship and Arts Associate) for another beautiful composition. And a cameo by MaryAnne, our resident dancer:

Next, I roped my three daughters into the recruitment effort:

Andrew “First Take” Cote made the next week’s plea:

And finally, I was joined by a beary special guest:

In addition to these videos, we made an effort every week of reaching out to everyone we could, and inviting them to give the choir a try. We prayed a lot too. And we chose choir anthems across of spectrum of genres, but with an intentional bend towards congregational songs, that we could repeat as a congregation in subsequent weeks. This way, the choir was actually teaching our church new songs, and then when we would do those songs again, the choir had interesting parts to sing, which just further added to and enhanced our worship.

And I’m very happy to report that our choir actually GREW this summer, and added many new voices of people who had never participated before. Praise the Lord!

But more than numerical growth – the morale of the choir grew, the level of joy and laughter was irresistible, and the energy coming from the choir on Sunday mornings was electric. Ultimately, no amount of videos or marketing or recruitment can produce that kind of spiritual unity and joy. Only God can. So I’m grateful to God for a great summer for our choir at Truro.

We’re looking forward to the Fall, and are as committed as ever to working (and praying) for the growth, health, and worship leading effectiveness of our choir. Here is our “choir card” for the coming ministry year:

As you can imagine, this kind of growth and change in a ministry always brings its challenges, so please pray that God continues to bless and grow this community for his glory in the months and years to come.