Wesley United Church

We welcome the opportunity to welcome you

Wesley Male Choir

The Wesley Male Choir was the brainchild of Rev. Arthur Elliot and Gord Cousens as a result of their discussions regarding ways to improve the evening worship services. The choir started in October 1989 with sixteen singers and Gord as choir director/pianist and his brother Jim as organist. Since that time, the Wesley Male Choir has become well-known throughout Newfoundland for its lively music and the meaningful worship services they provide. Apart from the regular monthly evening service at Wesley United Church, the choir has been invited to participate at dozens of churches throughout the province and have shared their ministry of music as far away as Corner Brook. These invitations have come from many United Churches but also from other denominations - such as The Salvation Army, The Anglican Church and Pentecostal Assemblies.

The choir, itself, is also ecumenical in nature, with members from the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches, the Pentecostal Assemblies and The Salvation Army. The choir has a long-standing outreach with the seniors' homes in the city, having shared at The Glenbrook Lodge, The Agnes Pratt Home and Maplewood, to name just a few. They share in many various functions in the homes, especially at Christmas.

We presently have 46 singers enrolled as members of the choir, some of whom are original members of the choir. At one point, we numbered 52 male voices.

The whole purpose of the choir is to help spread the Gospel through music and to share in fun and fellowship and this, indeed, has been achieved. Recently, our choir was named as a beneficiary in the will of a former member of the choir. A portion of this money was used to create a plaque acknowledging all former (and our current) ministers of Wesley United Church. As well, the choir established a perpetual scholarship at the Memorial University of Newfoundland's School of Music. The presentation was made during our November evening service with members of our benefactor's family in attendance (and taking part) as well as the Director of the School of Music.

If you are interested in singing (no training is required) and would like to share with us, we would welcome the opportunity to welcome you. Feel free to speak to Gord, or Jim or call the church office for more information. Choir practice is normally held on Wednesday evenings at 7:00 pm. in the sanctuary and we would love to see you there.