Planning Music for Your Christmas 2009 Church Services

**Note: the following tips, ideas and suggestions come from the writer's personal experience in performing in and helping to plan Christmas church service music and visual media.

Now is the time that countless church worship leaders, choir directors, orchestra conductors and musicians nationwide begin to rehearse and plan their Christmas service music. For the vast majority of traditional churches, this means planning music for a pre-Christmas service, a Christmas Eve service and/or a New Year's Eve service. Obviously, this can (and often does) leave such men and women feeling altogether drained and exhausted after the holidays. Although there may be no cure for said exhaustion, there are certainly some things you do to enhance the performance aspect and diversity of your Christmas music.

1. Maintain Musical & Singer Diversity

As with any worship service, you will want to incorporate a host of musical and vocal talents. If your church has a children's ministry, seek out your children's director/pastor and ask him/her if they are planning any Christmas skits and/or musical performances. A song or two by your children's program is a great addition to any Christmas service.

Similarly, seek out the ideas and suggestions of your youth/college student pastors. While you may not find that a group of students wish to perform, there may be one or two guys and girls with musical and/or vocal talent just itching to sing and/or play their favorite Christmas song. However, you will want to be certain their song fits the overarching theme of your service and/or is previewed beforehand, either by yourself (preferably) or another staff member.

Instrumental arrangements and performances will also serve to enhance the musical dynamics of any Christmas service. A guitar medley or piano piece of a well-known holiday tune, devoid of any vocals, is certain to liven things up a bit.

And as always, incorporate your adult singers and ensembles for the bulk of the service music. Plan to rehearse and brainstorm weeks in advance to determine the music best suited to your group's vocal talents and abilities.

Lastly, maintain diversity among your musical styles as well. Unless your church atmosphere is not suited for it, try implementing some contemporary Christmas music arrangements alongside the traditional music. Seek out Christmas songs by well known contemporary Christian artists such as Steven Curtis Chapman, Casting Crowns, Chris Tomlin, Newsong, etc. Don't make the mistake of limiting yourself to one genre.

2. Consider Incorporating any Requests from Church Members

Although the musical direction of the Christmas service as at the full discretion of the worship leader/choir director and/or pastor, it can sometimes prove beneficial to request input from church members/attendees. Granted some of these suggestions will either prove unfitting for your intended direction, message or theme or will prove too difficult for the abilities of your singers/musicians. However, such input can often be valuable. After all, everyone has their favorite Christmas tune. One thing to bear in mind: be certain you maintain a larger scale of music geared toward worship and adoration than toward catering to specific requests.

3. Be Creative with your Christmas Media

If your service typically employs the use of PowerPoint, MediaShout, Pro-Presenter or another form of media presentation, keep your holiday graphics and slide backgrounds tasteful and eye-catching. As with any worship song, you will want to keep graphics specific to the words and/or theme of each specific song. Utilize your best judgment, remembering to ask yourself "What is this song about? What is this song saying?" Do not insert a nativity image into your presentation if it does not fit. Use your head.

Obviously, you will want to avoid overusing secularized Christmas images, such as Christmas trees, presents/gifts, etc.-even for on-screen announcements. Try to reflect the true reason for season with your images.

Remember that your Christmas services can be a joyous, worshipful and memorable time for all who attend. Strive to create an environment in which your members and guests feel welcome and comfortable to worship and participate. And while you're at it, why not wow them with some great Christmas music?