What is the difference between the Choir and the P&W Team?

[choirchick]

I typically see the P&W team at the beginning of the service and then the choir either immediately after them or just before the Pastor preaches. If they both minister through song, what is the difference or what are their roles? Is it the type of songs they sing or how "seasoned" they are when it comes to singing? Is there an ideal place for either ministry in the order of service?

[betnich]

Depends on the church or ministry - usually the PT does the easier, Praise+Worship oriented songs, or else the more modern ensemble-type Contemp. Gospel, perhaps some CCM.

Choir usually does the more traditional Congregational songs, or anthems, or solos/choir. Choirs are generally bigger than Praise Teams, and generally the same musicians play for both.

No hard and fast rules here, situations may be different where you live...

[JoanHall]

What I always tell our Praise Team is that their goal is for the entire congregation to sing along.  They're going for songs that are easy to pick up and easy to sing.  The choir doesn't have that limitation; they can go for more complexity.  Some choir songs may be conducive to singing along, with others the congregation will just listen.

[sjonathan02]

What I always tell our Praise Team is that their goal is for the entire congregation to sing along.  They're going for songs that are easy to pick up and easy to sing.  The choir doesn't have that limitation; they can go for more complexity.  Some choir songs may be conducive to singing along, with others the congregation will just listen.

I agree with the above poster.

[malthumb]

The two churches I play at don't split the difference.  At one, we have a P&W section that has the full choir participating.  Sometimes it's a smoothly arranged, well rehearsed contemporary set.  Other times it's a spontaneous "let's get the congregation singin' 'Jesus On The Mainline' " type of thing.

The "choir songs" are focused around the formal parts of the service...Call To Worship, Invitational, Offeratory, et cetera.

At the other church, in theory there is no "P&W Team", there's just a choir.  Three choirs, actually, that rotate based on what Sunday it is.  On 4th Sunday, I'm responsible for the music and it gets as close to P&W as this particular church has ever witnessed.  I say that based on song selection, which tends to be more contemporary(Hez, Fred, John P.Kee, Donnie, etc), whereas one of the choirs is more focused on anthems and hymnal songs and the Men's Chorus tends to do spirituals and quartet type stuff.