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As seen above, music is a part of the Christian education of the child. It must be seen in this context rather than in the context of performance. All musical activities must be coordinated with other Christian education activities involving children, and all potential turf issues involving scheduling, calendaring, and resources must be carefully negotiated. Children's Christian education should be seen as many components comprising a whole, and music must be carefully integrated into this process. The ministries should be seen as interlocking and co-dependent.

Problems sometimes arise when children's choirs sing in worship and Sunday school teachers are asked to adjust their teaching schedules to accommodate last minute rehearsals. When children's choirs are responsible for any interruption in the normal flow of Christian education classes, the teachers must be notified in advance. Interruptions must not happen frequently.

Other Organizations

The activities of all organizations in the church must be carefully coordinated to avoid conflicts and loyalty choices. In addition to the above, other potential conflicts might arise in the following areas: (1) Nursery and extended care for children during worship. Some churches do not understand that choir members should not be asked to take their turn working with children in the nursery. Choir participation should be viewed as ministry, and other ministries should not attempt to keep people from ministry participation. (2) Committees that schedule meetings during choir rehearsal. Committees should not conduct meetings during choir rehearsal if any member of the committee is a choir member. When this practice is tolerated, choir rehearsal time is not protected, and the time eventually becomes prime for various meetings. This issue is best addressed within the choir. If committee members who are in choir refuse to attend meetings, the committees will cease to meet during choir rehearsal. (3) Weddings should be coordinated with the music ministry. Some churches are frequently used for weddings; therefore, they are often scheduled many months in advance. During special times of the year such as Christmas, the worship space can be consumed by weddings and the music ministry cannot use the space for rehearsals for special presentations. Wedding coordinators and music ministers should confer before calendaring weddings or music ministry events.

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