Consider these questions to:
- inform what type of production will be a strong fit for your group
- strengthen your script pitch (if you’re presenting one to leadership)
- know what you can delegate
- avoid committing your church to too large (or too small!) of a project
Time
Consider the time you’ll need to design and compile the program, plus administrative time to coordinate the participants and set up rehearsals; then the actual rehearsal and production calendar (read Staying Organized: Production Phases & How to Manage Them).
- How much time do you want to commit to writing, producing and directing?
- How many weeks/months do you have to prepare?
Team
- Would you rather coordinate the program, or direct it, or both?
- Will you be running this alone, or can you bring on some creative partners? (Administrative Coordinator, Creative Director, Music Coordinator, Costumes & Staging, Tech Team, etc.)
- How about on the administrative front? Will church staff provide support for coordinating ushers & childcare, ordering sheet music, designing programs?
Talent
- What age ranges are your likely participants? Consider if any are going through major life changes (marriage, new baby, job changes, etc) that are likely to affect them saying yes to participating.
- How many people can you expect to have in your cast & crew?
- What kind of workload are you able to put on your participants? Does your church use the same group of people for special music all four Sunday of Advent? Is your talent pool likely to be available for group rehearsals?
- Would you need to run each rehearsal, or can you delegate songs to individuals or groups, and just coordinate a couple ensemble run-throughs at the end?
Tech
- What is your church’s technical range and capabilities?
- Do you have plenty of equipment – standing mics, instrument mics, lavalier/headset mics, monitors, instruments, lighting, projectors for displays/graphics? (for example, my church had to buy more mics the first year I directed – thankfully we found that out in August!)
- What technical standard is the norm for your church? Do you have a sound, lighting and camera crew on rotation, or is it one person at the soundboard on Sunday morning?
- What is culturally acceptable for technical effects at your church? Are graphics, projections, and uplighting normal, or is your church one that has only recently switched from hymnals to using a PowerPoint for lyrics?
Church Culture & Community Expectations
Consider what has been done at your church in years past. What needs to stay the same, and where do you have creative leeway?
For example, my home church keeps the service under an hour each year. We open with congregational singing of a Christmas carol, and close with lighting candles while singing Silent Night. These components take 10-15 minutes, so the programs I’ve written are about 45 minutes long. This is a fairly contracted service, so it’s been a great challenge to include the content development of the program’s theme, enough music, and also fit into the time frame.
What program length is expected?
- Consider the often-unspoken culture around creative projects in the church. Are you expected to ask certain people? Will it make waves if you broaden the scope/age/size of the talent pool? If someone “always” sings on Christmas Eve, should you consider asking them to participate to avoid drama? Or pitch for a completely different, fresh group this time around?
- Consider your church’s culture around presenting doctrinal truth. Are speakers preapproved, then they can present what they prepare? Does your script have to go through an approval process? Are there guidelines or expectations around women speaking? Is is different if they’re reading a script versus preparing a devotional?
- Consider your church’s musical style. Could it use a little freshening up? Would you need to modify the backup music (e.g. having a pianist play instead of using a band’s recorded performance track) to make it fit the style your congregation is used to?
- What is your church culture around dramatic performance? Would a theatrical performance be seen as showing off? Would a dramatic monologue as part of a cantata be too over the top? In practice, does your church skew more towards the philosophy of “humble attitude over technical skill” or “we’d better get it right or people will talk” or “excellence in all things”.
I believe that special services can – and maybe should – push the bounds of what is normally done, but you should avoid putting a burden on your people’s capabilities, and you certainly don’t want to introduce something completely against the norm. Special services should enhance what is normal for your church, not strain it.
The Purpose
- Who is the target audience for this production? Are you envisioning this as primarily an evangelistic outreach to the unchurched in your community, or a sober service primarily for the family of God? or a way for a lot of families to get involved in a Christmas celebration?
- Also consider your purpose for taking this on. Which of the four types (if any) best fit what your church has done in the past, and what should be changing this time around? Are you wanting to bring in variety, challenge the status quo, or just get better at the style you’re used to?
