For many people, carols and Christmas music are such a huge part of this festive season, and so how you decide to use them within your Christmas service is key! It’s such a powerful device which can bring people together and speak to people in unique ways, so here are just a few ideas on how you can effectively incorporate Christmas music into your service.
1. New Old Carols
I love Kari Jobe and Tommee Profitt’s version of ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’ which was released a couple of years ago. The song captures the original hymn that’s widely loved and familiar to all, but adds an additional chorus. It can really reawaken these old and familiar hymns and carols, which can help people to refocus on the words, and also brings out a more worshipful angle to the songs. It’s engaging for all ages, since there’s that level of familiarity, but also a fresh new sound.
2. Carols with Sign Language/Actions
One great way to get your children involved in the music at church and encourage them to help lead worship is by incorporating the use of sign language and actions into your services. If you’re planning a carol service this year, why not find out the sign language to the lyrics of some carols and teach it to your children and young people.
People could help lead the songs from the front, demonstrating the sign language and actions to the rest of the congregation. Encourage your congregation to join in too! Having these physical actions can bring the words to life and makes the service more interactive!
2. ‘Item Song’ Performance
An item song is a musical number which can be a part of a service, designed to be more of a performance based song and an opportunity for the congregation to reflect, rather than join in. The addition of an ‘item song’ to your Christmas service can be a really powerful feature, and it can also break up the service a bit too. Without having to sing along, the congregation are given an opportunity to think and reflect upon the lyrics of the song.
It can be especially effective if you can link the song to the sermon topic, as this keeps the service theme consistent. At such a busy, and for lots of people stressful time of year, creating space for this reflection in your service could be a really worthwhile!
4. Christmas songs with music/lyric videos
If your church is unable to have a live music performance, then showing a music/lyric video within a service could be a great alternative, or maybe this would simply suit your church better. This equally creates space for your congregation to stop and reflect and focus on the words of the song, especially with the use of lyric videos.
Go Chatter Videos hosts some great Christmas lyric videos by Resound Worship which could be perfect to use in a Christmas service at your church. These videos are all original songs with visually stimulating images and scenes which will keep your audience engaged. There is also a generous selection of other songs and sing along carol videos on our website too, which could be really useful for your church’s service, so go ahead and check them out! With a range of different videos and a variety of songs, there is something to uniquely suit your church service this Christmas.
We hope that you find these ideas really useful in planning your Christmas services and as you consider how music might best play a part in them.