I don't have a problem admitting that I am a lousy recruiter when it comes to recruiting new choir members. Through the years I have tried all the different methods I can think of and that the various leadership books tell you to try. I have had the recruitment suppers, breakfasts, and lunches. I have done the impassioned appeals from the pulpit. I have done the mail-outs to new church members. I have even tried the church member interests surveys to pinpoint potential targets... I mean candidates for choir membership. On occasion one of these has actually drummed up a new choir member. For some reason, those I managed to conjure up using any one of these methods eventually disappeared.
Now from my perspective, I cannot imagine why everyone is not in the choir. There is something very special about the connection people in the choir have. Of course, the first connection they have is their shared faith in Christ. The automatic sense of brotherhood that comes from the shared experiences of walking in Christ is like no other. The environment of the choir rehearsal allows for opportunities for members to spontaneously share prayer requests, family concerns, personal victories, and personal anecdotes. There is also something very special about the fellowship that comes from working side by side week after week in rehearsal time. As you get more and more familiar with the people you are working with week after week toward a common goal, a natural affinity and comradery develops that I have seldom experienced outside of this special group. Through the years I have heard people talk about the experience of joining a church but never really feeling a part of that church. I have often asked them, "Did you try joining the choir?" The answer has always been, "No," usually followed by the question, "What's that got to do with it?"
The fact is people join the choir because there is a song in their heart. In the Old Testament, the prophets using picturesque language described times of oppression by Israel's enemies as times where music and singing ceased. Isaiah 24:8 and Ezekiel 26:13 respectively describe such a occasions as a time in which, "the joy of the harp ceaseth," and "...shall be no more heard." Psalm 137 describes the journey into Babylonian captivity as a time in which they hung up their harps and could not muster the songs of Zion. It is hard to sing without a song in your heart. Likewise, if you have a song in your heart it is hard not to sing. People who join the choir do so because you really can't keep them out.
So, all this rambling is really about one thing. If you have not yet found your place of service where you are being used effectively by the Lord, you have a longing for a closer fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ, and you do have a song in your heart, then maybe choir is the place for you. We meet every Sunday morning at 9:00 A.M. Yes, that is early, but that time has been selected by our Choir members because with all our various work schedules and church activities, it was the most convenient for all. We work each week not only on the anthem for that day, but also on those for the coming weeks. We look at the hymn selections for that Sunday and go over those we think will be challenging to ourselves or the congregation. We do have time to share prayer requests, usually some devotional thoughts or history associated with the songs and we pray. In the middle of all this there is usually a lot of hard work, and hard laughing and a whole lot of fun. I can say that at 9:00 A.M. in the morning, it is the most fun you can have at church.
If you are interested then talk with me or one of our choir members, or even better yet, show up Sunday at 9:00 AM upstairs in the choir room. I promise it won't hurt, and you might even like it.
