The most beautiful and important musical instrument ever devised is the human voice. It is also, clearly, the key element in church music. Even a modest band will sound great if the congregation is singing well. By contrast, there is something sad and empty about a church band that sounds a million dollars, while no-one in the congregation is singing.

If a congregation is to sing well, they need to be led well. One easy way to improve the song leading is to put more singers on stage. This has many advantages -

* It increases the singers confidence
* Weaker singers improve when singing with stronger singers
* It is easier for the congregation to follow several voices rather than a solo voice
* It thickens the sound up wonderfully
* You are immediately covered if a singer comes down with a sore throat
* You can play around with harmonies

I belong to a fairly small church, yet I roster on 4 singers every week. Larger churches can (and should) use a whole choir.

Where are you to find all these extra singers? In your congregation, of course. My own experience suggests that at least 10% of your congregation is capable of singing up front. It is a vast pool of under-utilised musical talent in our pews, and we need to make use of it.