Black Gospel Music Finds New Life in European Community Choirs
As Black church choirs shrink across the United States, European community choirs are filling concert halls with gospel music and seeking out African American conductors to teach them the tradition. Calvin University choir director Nathan Glasper Jr. traveled to Poland twice this year to work with one such group.
Nathan Glasper Jr. directs the gospel choir at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, an ensemble that started as a student club 38 years ago and now counts more than 100 members. This year, he has made two trips to Poland to work with a Central European community choir whose members want to learn Black gospel music and its history.
The Polish group is not affiliated with any church. Many of its members are Catholic. They have no plans to use gospel music in worship. But they want to understand where the music came from and how to perform it with integrity.
"Europeans want to know the real history and tradition, and they want to learn it from African Americans," Glasper said.
The demand reflects a broader pattern. Community gospel choirs across the United Kingdom and continental Europe have been growing for more than a decade. European festivals now regularly invite American gospel artists and choral conductors to perform and teach. Glasper said requests from European groups keep coming.
The international interest arrives at a difficult moment for gospel choirs inside American churches. Glasper's own COGIC congregation in Grand Rapids lost its choir during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. When the church tried to restart it, only a handful of people showed up for rehearsal.
Smaller praise teams have replaced choirs in many Black Protestant churches, particularly in Northern states where congregations tend to be smaller. Younger musicians are growing up in churches that use praise teams and prerecorded tracks, so fewer are being trained in choral ministry.
Glasper worries about what gets lost when gospel music travels far from its origins. He said he always makes sure to tell the story behind the songs, including the history of slavery, the Great Migration, and the civil rights struggle that shaped the tradition.
"I never want us to lose the story behind the sound of gospel music," he said. "You can learn 'Precious Lord, Take My Hand,' but do you know the story behind it?"
