Invite a school to use your church as a concert venue

Many schools have large and thriving music departments with all kinds of groups and ensembles for pupils to participate in.  In one school, this began to cause difficulties as there was no space large enough to accommodate all the pupils involved in the school concert as well as all the parents, family and friends who wanted to attend. 

A local church saw this need and, as they had a larger auditorium which would be ideal for the concert, they offered to let the school use their building free of charge.  This had huge benefits for the school in allowing them the space they needed for all the groups to take part in the concert and to accommodate the audience. 

It also helped in building relationships between the church and the school and allowed the church to bless the school and the local community.  Members of the church were there during the concert to help with stewarding and they also worked with the school to help provide refreshments at the interval.  This gave opportunities for conversations between members of the church and members of the school community.

How could you start this yourself?

• If you have a large church building that might be suitable, and you think this is something that might benefit the school, chat to your church leader(s) to gain approval for the idea.

• Then, contact the head teacher and make the offer to discuss the possibility of using the church for a concert.

• If the plan goes ahead, you will need to organise time before the concert for the pupils to rehearse in the church and get used to the venue.

• You will need to find people in the church who could help on the night by stewarding, manning fire exits or helping with refreshments.