Choirs
The PCPC choirs exist to train men and women, girls and boys how to be singing Christians. The preparation which takes place in rehearsal during the week is applied in both worship and concert settings, as well as other ministry opportunities. Participation is open to all singers, kindergarten through senior adult.
Adult Choir
Chancel Choir — adults, college, and older
The Chancel Choir sings weekly at our 9:00 and 11:00 worship services, concerts, and special services during the year including Christmas Eve and Maundy Thursday. The choir also engages in missionary activities, both locally and overseas.
Rehearsals on Wednesdays, 7:00—9:00 p.m., late August through June
Meets in Cambridge Hall - Level Two
Contact J. Marty Cope, 214-224-2638, jmarty.cope@pcpc.org
Children’s Choirs
For Children’s Choirs, please contact Katie Haring, Ministry Leader of Children’s and Youth Choir at 214-224-2636, katie.haring@pcpc.org.
Covenant Choir: 5th—8th grade
Rehearsals on Wednesdays, 5:00-6:00 p.m.
meets in Mezzanine A - Level Two
Chapel Choir: 2nd—4th grade
Rehearsals on Wednesdays, 4:30—5:30 p.m.
meets in Mezzanine B - Level Two
Carol Choir: K—1st grade
Rehearsals on Wednesdays, 4:30—5:15 p.m.
meets in Kid’s Court - Level Two
(Limited enrollment)
Musikgarten - under the age of 4
Click here to learn about our Musikgarten program.
Children’s music programs meet from September through April.
Why Choir?
As a covenant child of this church and an alumna of our dear Lynda Fray’s choirs, I could go on forever about why singing in a choir is a valuable endeavor. Choir teaches us to read music, to sing well, to participate meaningfully in worship, to listen, to collaborate. Studies show that music-making has a myriad of benefits for child development and for our physical and emotional health. In my college career and young adulthood, choir opened the doors to incredible experiences including winning awards at international competitions, recording CDs, performing in 1000-year-old cathedrals, singing with people from all over the world, and making wonderful friendships. When I joined the PCPC Chapel Choir in 1999, I entered this life full of music. Could joining choir open these kinds of doors to your children? Absolutely. But music will also be there for your children when doors are shut upon them.
During his imprisonment in World War II, Dietrich Bonhoeffer found great solace in music. In 1944 he wrote to a dear friend, “It has been a year now since I have heard a hymn sung. But it is strange how the music that we hear inwardly can almost surpass…what we hear physically.” A few months later he wrote to his infant godson, “Music…will help to dissolve your perplexities and purify your character and sensibility, and in times of care and sorrow will keep an underlying [note] of joy alive in you.” In other words, as Lynda Fray would put it, music is able to “plant the word of God deep into hearts.” There are numerous anthems and hymns that we sang in our children’s choirs 20 years ago that I still know from memory. Many Alzheimer’s patients who have forgotten their loved ones’ names can still hear, sing, or play the music that they cherished during their lives. What inward music would you like your children to hear in 20, 40, 80 years?
I first received the gospel through a hymn, and throughout my life, the Lord has consistently ministered to me through music. Our goal in the PCPC Children’s and Youth Choirs is to give our singers spiritual food that will nourish them in the present and sustain them for the years to come. We want to put a song in their hearts that will keep resonating throughout their lives, so that when they walk through valleys of care and sorrow, like Bonhoeffer, the Apostle Paul, and King David, their inward music would be a spring of the living water that will never run dry. – Katie Haring, Ministry Leader of Children’s and Youth Choirs
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” – Colossians 3:16-17
(Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, and Eberhard Bethge. Letters and Papers from Prison. S.C.M., 1967.)