The Ministry Of Children’s Choirs

Through participation in choirs, children are introduced to the meaning and significance of worship, learn the musical resources used in the worship of a given congregation, and serve the community as worship leaders. This article reflects on this important ministry and suggests how such choirs may be established. What is the purpose of the children's choir in the worship life of a parish? The answer to this question will have profound influence on both the children and the parish. One parish may establish a children's choir primarily because other parishes have them, and the music program seems incomplete without one. Another parish may see a children's choir program as a means of outreach-a way of involving children and families who have not been active before. Still another may use the children's choir primarily as a presenter of the popular musicals-either staged or not stagedon special occasions. But these approaches may risk "missing the mark" of a primary focus for the choir…