Black Church Choirs Give Way to Praise Teams as Attendance Falls
Smaller praise teams are replacing traditional choirs in many Black Protestant churches as attendance declines and fewer young musicians train in choral ministry. Music scholars and choir directors say the shift is real, though the gospel tradition is finding new audiences in colleges and overseas.
The choir at Nathan Glasper Jr.'s Church of God in Christ congregation in Grand Rapids never came back after the COVID-19 pandemic. When the church tried to restart it, only a handful of people showed up for rehearsal. The experience is not unusual.
Choirs have been a fixture in Black Protestant churches, especially in the South, since the 1930s. But attendance declines, smaller congregations, and changing musical tastes have pushed many churches toward praise teams, smaller vocal ensembles that require fewer singers and less rehearsal time.
Glasper, who also directs the gospel choir at Calvin University, said no single cause explains the shift. Churches have changed their cultural rhythms. Joining the choir used to be one of the main ways a new member got involved. That is no longer the case. Prerecorded tracks let churches fill musical gaps without recruiting singers, which reduces the pressure to build a choir.
Younger musicians are growing up in churches that use praise teams, so fewer are being trained in choral ministry. Large Black churches in the South are still sustaining choirs, Glasper said, but Northern congregations have always been smaller and their choirs more fragile.
Music scholar James Abbington noted the trend more than a decade before the pandemic, writing that in many Black churches "the choir has been totally eliminated, reduced to very limited singing responsibilities, or replaced by praise teams."
The gospel tradition is not disappearing, but it is moving. College and university gospel choirs are growing. Arrangements of spirituals are standard on high school and college choral programs. And community gospel choirs in Europe are drawing singers of varying backgrounds who want to learn the music's history.
Glasper said he sees the international interest as an opportunity rather than a loss. "Gospel music introduced people around the world to a tradition rooted in perseverance and faith and hope," he said. "This music is alive."
