Ah ... summer!  We look forward to it each year as a time for vacations, time off from school, and perhaps a more relaxed day-to-day schedule.  This is all well and good! Summer is also a good time to take a look at your music ministry-evaluate, organize, and perhaps set a new goal for the coming year.
Summer Music
By Peter Sordahl
Things you plan and do in summer worship can offer nice contrast and variety to your congregation. Here is a list of suggestions on how to make your summer count. Perhaps you already do some of these things each summer. Great! Perhaps you are looking for a new idea or two-something you have not done before that would be a beneficial addition to your music program.

Community Outreach
• Music camp-Offer a music camp for children from the neighborhood for one day or several days. Have children bring any instrument that they know how to play. Include vocal and instrumental music. Borrow a set of handbells or handchimes for a week.
   • Hymn festival-Publicize a special hymn festival at your church. Give it a special theme    and/or connect it to a local event or the 4th of July.
   • Outdoor service-Plan a service in a local park, and invite the community.
Unique Musical Groups
• Family choir-Ask families to volunteer to prepare a hymn or song to sing for worship. Unison singing is great, although some families might be willing and able to sing in harmony.
• Solos and duets-Make use of willing volunteers to learn and sing the Verse of the Day each Sunday.
    •  Instrumentalists-Use a variety of available instrumentalists to play hymns (as a group or individually) as preservice music, or have an instrumentalist play the melody line along with an organ prelude or hymn.
• College students-Make use of students who are home for the summer.

Worship Ideas
• Luther's hymn service (Deutsche Messe)-Put together a service using hymn settings for the main parts of the service and the Christian Worship (CW) "Hymns of the Liturgy" section, or use Jaroslav Vajda's paraphrases of the main parts of the liturgy from "Now the Joyful Celebration" (available from MorningStar Music Publishers).
• A "favorite hymns" service-Poll the congregation for their favorite hymns, and then arrange a service that makes use of their favorites.
• Introduce something new-Use the summer to teach a new liturgical song or a new hymn ("Hymn of the Month"). Choose material from new liturgical settings, still unfamiliar CW hymns, or other sources.

Planning Ideas
• Reading sessions (choral and organ repertoire)-Attend at least one session to help you pick out new music for the upcoming year. Look for excellent doctrinal texts in choral music. NPH offers several summer regional reading sessions.
• Organize music files (choral and organ)-Enter your music library information into a computer database and update your database with newly purchased titles. Enlist volunteer assistance.
• Three-ring binder-Take one copy of each piece in your choral library and organize these into three-ring binders by season and/or topic.
• Plan music for the church year-Use a planning guide such as "Planning Christian Worship" (NPH) to help choose appropriate music for each service.

Personal Growth
• Workshops/classes-Take advantage of music workshops or classes offered in your area.
• Organ/keyboard lessons-Take a few lessons to brush up on your keyboarding skills. Seek out a teacher from a local college or university, or contact a neighboring church that has a gifted organist who is willing to give some private lessons.
• Reading list-Make a reading list of articles and books that will expand your professional knowledge in areas of worship and church music. The Commission on Worship Web site has a wealth of useful articles on a wide variety of topics.
One final encouragement: Don't be afraid to delegate! You can easily enlist the help of others to accomplish many of the suggestions above. Many people are happy to get involved and help they just need to be asked and then given the appropriate direction in order to accomplish the task.
Peter Sordahl is a member of Paradise Valley Ev. Lutheran Church in Phoenix, Arizona, where he serves as organist and choir accompanist.

The article is reprinted from Winter 2002 Lutheran Leader which aims to help leaders in Lutheran congregations with a Bible-based approach to ministry.

Lutheran Leader was published four times a year by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod Board for Parish Services in cooperation with Northwestern Publishing House. It ceased publication in 2005.