How to have a really cool choir. 

A choir is much like a mini church group. Some choirs are bigger than some churches! The most important thing you need to build a great choir is a sense of ownership and a team mentality. Simply stated, the choir is no place for a prima donna. A choir is a great place to lose yourself in something that is greater than you could ever be by yourself. It’s a chance to be a part of a bigger picture. If there is a sense of belonging and personal accountability your choir can have its own mini-version of church. In order to develop this sense, many things have to take place.

If you are a choir director you are in a very real sense, a “pastor”.

Webster’s describes a pastor like this; a spiritual overseer.  You may or may not have thought of yourself this way when you took on the job of choir director. Many choir directors of course ARE literally ordained. But whether or not you realized it, when you took on this job, you also took on the responsibility to look after, develop and care for this group of people. In order for you to be effective at creating a team of lead worshippers (your choir) you need to recognize, at least to a limited extent, that you have to shepherd your choir spiritually as well as musically. This means taking time to get at least somewhat personally acquainted and involved with every member. Make sure you know what their gifts are and encourage them to step out in faith to use them. Call them if they’re missing and pray for them personally and as a team when there is a need. This seems to be an easy thing for choir members to recognize, but for choir directors to overlook.

Everyone in the choir has an important function.

The minute someone feels as though they are easily replaced, we have “failed” in a sense as choir directors and even choir members. Each choir member needs to sense a total appreciation of their gifts—regardless of what they may be or how they might be ranked in the world. We in the church choir can totally acknowledge and appreciate someone’s gift of help or hospitality as much as we can someone’s amazing ability to hit a high ”c” in perfect tune.  Make sure that each and every member of your choir realizes how vitally important they are to YOU and the choir and to the church and how their gifts are God-given and needed for the body of Christ to function appropriately the way it was designed to. As a result of each person’s importance, their commitment needs to be steadfast.

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