catch on . But it ’ s not the same . And is it really worth it ? I get it — it ’ s more fun for the band to play in ‘ four ’ and it feels more modern .
But are we more concerned with our own musical fulfillment than we are accompanying the sung worship of our church ?
And even worse than time-signature changes are full-out melody rewrites .
I get this one , too . Some of those old Advent hymns have great words but are a booger to play on guitar . But a new melody written to familiar words is still a new song . And people stop singing as soon as they discover it ’ s not actually the song they know .
So , what about the Hybrid Christmas Hymns — those songs that have new choruses and / or bridges along with a modern-sounding arrangement ?
Those can be problematic , but there ’ s a way to make them work . We ’ ll get to that in a later rule .
3 . DON ’ T say yes to unnecessary Yuletide stress . Even if you don ’ t attempt a big Christmas production at your church , you still don ’ t want to take on unnecessary commitments . Your December is full enough with school programs , Christmas parties , family engagements , and on and on .
If you do want to say YES to your senior pastor ’ s request ( or it feels more like a demand than a request ), then ask him / her what can be eliminated so you can have the bandwidth to work on this special element .
And the final DON ’ T ?
4 . DON ’ T misuse modern Christmas songs . If you want to use a modern Christmas song from a popular artist ( or something you or your team has written ) as part of your congregational singing , that ’ s great . But just remember to treat it as a new song and introduce it accordingly .
Plan on using a new Christmas-themed worship song more than one Sunday if you want the congregation ’ s participation . Maybe it ’ s a song that fits your over-arching Advent theme for this year . It makes sense both for your band and congregation ’ s sake to repeat it multiple Sundays .
If the modern Christmas worship song is going to be a “ one-and-done ” rotation , then treat it more as a special music number .
Also , keep in mind that too many of these new Christmas songs in your Advent sets will make your church “ No-Sing December .” People can ’ t process and learn that many new songs in such a short time . They ’ ll just opt out and stare at the screen .
5 . DO determine your Christmas songs early . The sooner you can plan your Christmas repertoire , the better . And when you do get your songs planned , try to get those charts and recordings out to your team by the end of November . Even if you don ’ t know which weeks you ’ ll do which songs , your team can start familiarizing themselves by listening to the recordings .
It might be tempting to think your team will get these songs down quickly , especially if you ’ ve been using the same songs / arrangements for the last few years . But the truth is , most of your team will need to brush up and relearn these songs . Eleven months is a long time not to play or sing something .
Speaking of using the same songs …
6 . DO recycle your songs from last year . Recycling your songs and arrangements from previous years is just good stewardship .
The last time your church sang Christmas songs was at least 11 months ago . The average person in your congregation will not remember that you used last year ’ s arrangement .
And if you ’ re using Hybrid Christmas Hymns , rotating those for multiple years actually helps them to become more familiar to your congregation .
For example , one year , I got invited to participate at a community worship night at the beginning of December . I felt a little bad about saying no when asked in October . But I was bigtime glad when that week came , and I didn ’ t have that on my schedule .
The stress-of-YES can also include unreasonable requests from your senior pastor for a last-minute song addition or special production piece . Saying NO to your senior pastor isn ’ t easy . But it creates both professional and personal boundaries you need to have as a worship leader .
And finally , if these modern Christmas tunes are crowding out the holiday favorites , your congregation might resent it . Did I mention that people just LOVE to sing their traditional Christmas songs ?
( By the way , if you love new Christmas songs , don ’ t despair . I ’ ll talk a little more about how to use them in another rule .)
So there are four DON ’ T rules . Let ’ s jump into the DOs rules that help us avoid excessive Christmas craziness .
True story : at a previous church , we used Chris Tomlin ’ s Joy to the World ( Unspeakable Joy ) for at least six years straight . My team was sick of it , but the congregation sang the heck out of it . And whether my team was willing to admit it , that was one less “ brand new ” song they had to learn from scratch .
7 . DO keep songs & arrangements simple . This DO builds on DON ’ T # 2 ( Don ’ t butcher the beloved Christmas carols ).
I ’ ll say it again : most people ( even “ nonchurched ” people ) want to sing the Christmas carols and traditional Advent hymns with their
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