nine reasons to keep the church choir

[Cathy]

I appreciated this blog post and shared it on Facebook knowing my friend (pianist for the local mennonite church) would like it. So I'll share it with you. I do miss a church choir and might become a regular attender of the Mennonite Church if I lived closer.

http://www.theologyinworship.com/2014/0 ... oir-alive/


My friend had already shared this one.

http://mennobytes.com/i-dont-have-a-ham ... te-hymnal/

[Dave Roberts]

I agree with all nine points. A choir is a blessing when it does its work well.

[Timsings]

They forgot #10: The congregation will likely remember what the choir sings better than the sermon.

[Dave Roberts]

[Tim Bonney]

I agree with all nine, in fact all ten including Timsings addition.

Usually choirs are eliminated when a church converts a traditional service to a contemporary service. But the best studies I've read on worship contend that adding new worship services in a different style can be valuable for church growth but eliminating services by replacement gives less options and less opportunities for growth. You add opportunities for worship you don't take them away.

[James]

Hampton Baptist Church would collapse w/o our hymnal, choir and organ. How can faith be maintained without music? How can music be maintained w/o faith.

In a Viet Nam prison camp, Americans had no Bibles. Everyone contributed verses they knew, but large gaps remained until some long time choir singers were added to the population. Most of the gaps disappeared as Bible passages set to music became texts added to a hand written Bible. (That's the story I read years ago. I do not know if it is literal truth, but it could happen.)