Using Christmas Carols to Gather your Community

For many, carol singing is an essential part of Christmas. Familiar melodies. Words that poetically and powerfully capture the truth and wonder of the incarnation of Christ. The combination of the two creates something nostalgic and beautiful which stirs the heart of believers and unbelievers alike.

But last Christmas, carol singing was curtailed. Some persevered with outdoor services, but the combination of looming restrictions and fears for personal safety meant that many carol singing fans simply decided to take a year off. But we missed it and somehow Christmas didn’t feel quite the same.

"This Christmas we have a chance to put the local church carol service back at the heart of the community."

This year there is an opportunity to use Christmas carols to draw people together again. We may still need to be creative in how we do that, and we certainly need to consider how to help people feel safe and comfortable when they may not have sung in public for nearly two years—but this Christmas we have a chance to put the local church carol service back at the heart of the community.

Here are a just a few suggestions to spark some ideas for what might work in your context:

• Form a church choir just for Christmas. Even if you don’t normally have a church choir, Christmas offers a great chance to gather your keen singers to sing carols together. We form a Christmas choir at my church every year. We have two rehearsals in November and two in December, to learn the harmonies for the five most popular carols, with the aim of boosting the singing at our carol service and perhaps offering to sing at local Christmas events—where organisers are usually enthusiastic about a live choir (especially if it is free!) and happy for us to hand out invites to our guest church services. Plus it deepens friendships across the church family and is great fun!
• Sing carols on the driveway. Lots of us have got to know our neighbours better during the various lockdowns, so why not use your WhatsApp group to suggest a time to sing carols from the end of your driveways? You could even ask your pop-up church choir to attend! Check out the weather forecast, suggest a time, and enjoy a sing-song together, perhaps with a glass of festive cheer.
• Sing carols in the high street. If your high street has enough space for a group to spread out safely without getting in people’s way, this could be a brilliant way to cheer up shoppers and shop-keepers alike (let’s face it, they need it!) and maybe to remind people that church is still there! Perfect to offer for a local late-night shopping event.

Our Christmas carol sheets have been designed for all of the scenarios above, as well as for more traditional carol service use. They have large, easy-to-read text and for each song there is a suggested key to sing in so that everyone has a decent chance of hitting the top notes! Plus they feature a warm, accessible introduction to the gospel on page 2, which we hope people will read when they get home. And every copy sold will benefit Compassion, a Christian child development charity working in some of the poorest countries in the world. 

After such a strange and difficult time for so many, it feels as if we need the uplifting and inspiring tonic of Christmas carols more than ever. So let’s take this opportunity to help our friends and neighbours to sing wonderful truths about the Lord Jesus, and perhaps to move closer to discovering the real and lasting joy of Christmas.