Una Voce 

Worldwide, music has always been at the heart of The Salvation Army, playing a vital role in both its worship and its mission. One of the reasons it is so central is because music brings people together on multiple levels; emotional, social, spiritual, even biological. Shared rhythm and melody naturally synchronize people and foster a powerful sense of unity and a strong sense of belonging.  

In worship, this power is deepened because music is tied to belief. Singing together reinforces shared values and a collective sense of purpose. It allows abstract ideas such as faith, grace and redemption to feel tangible and emotionally real. This is why hymns and worship songs are so important across Christian traditions: they help people internalise belief while strengthening the bonds of community. 

Beyond worship, music also plays a key role in outreach. Salvation Army bands often perform in public spaces or at community events, creating a welcoming and accessible atmosphere. This kind of public music-making breaks down barriers and draws people in through something familiar and uplifting. Even if they don’t know much about the global Salvation Army, most people will recognise the brass band as being a staple part of the movement.  

In this way, music within The Salvation Army is far more than decoration. It is a vital tool for connection and mission: uniting people emotionally, reinforcing faith in worship and extending a sense of belonging out into the wider community.  

Young people involved with or thinking of becoming involved with The Salvation Army need a safe space in which to find each other. Somewhere to worship, grow spiritually and emotionally and to socialise. Una Voce does this in a powerful and special way uniting young people in worship giving them a way to express their faith and alsofostering a sense of belonging within a safe and loving community. 

As I stood in the Assembly Hall of the The Salvation Army’s William Booth College in London, UK, surrounded by a choir of young adults lifting their hearts and voices in worship, I was overwhelmed with gratitude. 

Una Voce exists for moments like this: to glorify God with one mind and one voice, above the differences of opinion and attitude, and to be a safe, embracing space where young adults can call The Salvation Army their spiritual home. We sing together, we pray with each other and for one another. We check in on each other’s lives, and in doing so, worship becomes mission. 

Nine years earlier, that reality felt far from certain for me. Frustrated and concerned by the waves of twenty‑somethings leaving church, I sent an email to thirty friends, peers and mutual connections, inviting them to come and sing in a one-off choir. These were young adults from across the UK whom I either knew personally or had heard of through shared networks, gathering out of a desire to stay connected to something bigger than ourselves. What began as an invitation for one musical weekend was, unknowingly, a step towards something far more intentional. 

Singers and musicians in Una Voce choir

The choir members keep up with a highly demanding and wide-spanning repertoire, but our focus stays on growing as a joyful, prayerful and encouraging community of faith.  

I gave the choir a name – Una Voce – inspired by the unity of worship that the Apostle Paul prays for in Romans 15:5-6: ‘May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ 

At the time of sending the first email, I hadn’t realised that God was preparing the way for a lasting journey of Christian friendship, discipleship and belonging. Today, Una Voce’s membership continues to evolve, our discipleship has become more intentional, and the bonds we share now run deeper than the music we make.  

Now, typically, we meet three or four times in a year – rehearsing on a Friday night or Saturday morning, supporting the corps that graciously hosts us in local mission and ministry, and offering a prayer concert. We carve out space in the weekend to explore faith without pressure, and to consider what it means to realise the Kingdom on earth. The choir members keep up with a highly demanding and wide-spanning repertoire, but our focus stays on growing as a joyful, prayerful and encouraging community of faith.  

Each weekend we spend together – singing, praying, catching up and learning together – adds to our foundational ministry of sung worship and further reveals the potential for a community where young adults are formed, welcomed and sent. 

… the group doesn’t require commitment to uniform or formal membership in the Salvation Army but rather asks for open hearts and minds that will embrace the spaces we share. 

Open hearts and minds 

Una Voce has a roster of around 50 young adults from across the United Kingdom. Some of the group’s members are leaders who carry a week-in, week-out responsibility for local Salvation Army congregations, and others are living far away from an expression of Salvation Army church that they can call home. The group is also for members who have been part of the Salvation Army and find themselves more distant from God but stay connected through music and gathering together. 

The premise of the group’s membership turns a more traditional model on its head. Rather than requiring proof of commitment or duty before joining Una Voce, we trust that as a person embraces the ministry of the group – their skills nurtured, their faith deepened, their confidence built – God will provide opportunities for members to give back and serve their local worship expressions. This prayer has been, and continues to be, faithfully answered. For this reason, the group doesn’t require commitment to uniform or formal membership in the Salvation Army but rather asks for open hearts and minds that will embrace the spaces we share. 

We have been given all that we need to nurture welcoming and inclusive expressions of worship without being forceful, impinging or performative. There is no need for us to create cycles of duty, obligation and guilt to fall into: the world has got that covered.

A much-needed creative space 

Recently, the group has revealed the importance of participation as a tool to transform spectators into disciples. In the past, The Salvation Army has relied far too much on duty and commitment to programme as indicators and measures of faith. I point to this, not to diminish the selfless and faithful contributions of many, but out of a longing to see more creative spaces in the Salvation Army that understand their role and function in the wider Body, believe in what they are building in partnership with God, and sacrificially bring their whole selves in worship. 

We have been given all that we need to nurture welcoming and inclusive expressions of worship without being forceful, impinging or performative. There is no need for us to create cycles of duty, obligation and guilt to fall into: the world has got that covered. We need a fresh cycle of grace, a deeper reckoning of who we are in Jesus, and an openness to move with the freedom of the Holy Spirit. 

From left: singers and musicians in Una Voce choir

Disciples not just spectators 

If we think about it, we all know what it looks like to be a spectator of the faith: standing just close enough to see what’s going on but missing out on the deeper life available in Jesus. Spectators can even be fully committed to their local worship expression, yet lack the time, opportunity or space to explore who Jesus is for themselves. They are living on the side-lines of deep encounter, seemingly content to be busy with surface-level involvement. 

Attracting spectators is no bad thing. Jesus had plenty of spectators! But they didn’t remain on the side-lines. After capturing their attention, he engaged with and related to them. Jesus invited people into his space, he involved them in shared life, he called them to follow him and then he sent them into mission. Jesus performed miracles for them, which led to many people accepting Jesus as Lord, but not before extending love, compassion and radical welcome just as they were. 

When people come to an Una Voce concert or rehearsal as a spectator, my prayer is that they would leave having participated in shared worship, inspired with fresh visions of Jesus and assured by the confidence of the faith in the room. 

Karl (second from left) leading the choir

I love the image we read in Acts 2:42-27. People gathering in God-breathed spaces, sharing together, breaking bread and praying, and the Lord adding daily to their number. This passage paints a picture of church based on community. The early church is not ‘an event’ or ‘a weekly activity I feel obliged to turn up to’; it is people who devoted time together, participating in community and discipleship, and then growing together.  

This is the kind of space that Una Voce has come to be. An environment that recognises where people are at. A choir that welcomes spectators and invites them to deeper formation and shaping by the Lord. A community that sends spiritually formed people to inspire others and continue to be advocates for open, inclusive spaces, centred on Jesus.  

‘Una Voce: Live in Worship’ is now available on YouTube and music streaming services. Our prayer is that this is a tool that you can use personally or with others to create space to invite in the spectators of our faith that you know and see, include and encourage them to hear more of God’s love, and to help create disciples.  

Click here to watch Una Voce: Live in Worship 

Click below to listen to the live worship album