ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — This Friday, the churches of Church Street will come together for their annual collaborative choir concert. This year, the community building will not stop with music, either. The 2025 Three Church Concert is also a fundraiser for Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity.

The Three Church Concert will be held at 7 p.m., Friday, Nov. 7 at Central United Methodist Church, 27 Church St. Admission is free and open to the public.

Joyful noise

The three churches which make up the robust choir of the annual concert are CUMC, First Presbyterian Church and Trinity Episcopal Church. All together, around 100 voices will join in song at the show.

Though the show is a church concert, the setlist will not be entirely made up of “traditional, what you would call worship pieces,” said Linda Haggard, director of choirs at CUMC.

“One is an evening song, for instance. One piece will be in Latin. One is called ‘No Time,’ it’s a traditional camp meeting song by Susan Brumfield,” Haggard provided.

Each church will take their turn performing pieces selected by each choir before the evening concludes with songs by all three.

“Our combined pieces, I think, will really be fun for the audience,” Haggard teased.

“When we’re talking about choirs, you’re literally melding many voices into one. Every Sunday at our church, our choir is doing this. All these individuals become one collective. Not all singing the same note, singing different notes, but letting that blend into one musical piece, right? Like, that’s beautiful,” said CUMC Senior Pastor Mary Brown.

The combination of the three denominations under one roof is something Brown feels is as important for strengthening the community as creating beautiful music.

“We sometimes make a big deal about our differences and our differences aren’t insignificant. We put a lot of time and effort into thinking about those things, but they’re just not that important at the end of the day,” Brown said. “We share so much more in common than we do separately, and when we can get together and worship or have a concert, certainly when we can raise money for a common cause that we all agree on, like Habitat, then it’s a great way to celebrate that.”

For CUMC, that goes for the entire community, not just the churches. Everyone is invited to attend the Three Church Concert, regardless of faith or means.

“People can come with no money whatsoever. We just really want to encourage the community,” Haggard said. “Even people, you know, that are not churchgoers. It’s for everyone.”

For more information about Habitat for Humanity, visit www.ashevillehabitat.org.