Wybron conducted a survey in the second half of 2006 that studied the attitudes of approximately 500 respondents who are involved with the lighting designs for houses of worship and have a say in equipment purchases. The survey is clear that houses of worship and their congregations are extremely interested in enhancing lighting designs in the sanctuary and other campus facilities.
The main drive behind our survey was to find out what lighting equipment houses of worship own, when and why they intend to purchase more equipment, and the issues that really matter to lighting designers in the space. Here are some of our key findings:
- Respondents included those who work with their church or other houses of worship and have a say in purchases but do not necessarily make the final purchase decision.
- Almost half of the respondents said that their church and other houses of worship they work with plan to purchase new lighting equipment within a year.
- In the next three years, many said that the houses of worship they work with plan to build new space and purchase additional lighting equipment.
- This market is the only one where end users either buy or rent on a regular bases.
- Having to work with inexperienced technical crews is the biggest problem for lighting designers in the worship market.
The first area of our survey looked at the profile of responders. They were either involved with church lighting or involved with the professional lighting industry and work in the worship market. Sixty-seven percent of the respondents are concerned with lighting only for their own church.
More than half of those who took our survey are church volunteers. Paid church staff members generally are assigned multiple roles: lighting designer, technical director, lighting operator, technical support, set designer, or electrician. Almost all respondents said that they have influence on lighting purchases but are not necessarily the final decision makers. One respondent who has a say in the lighting design but not final approval said the facility needs, "To upgrade to color scrollers, more fixtures and some moving lights. A proposal has been submitted and is waiting for budget approval." Regarding their budget, another said, "Due to budget constraints, the original building wasn't fully equipped with lighting. We plan to add a truss, catwalk, more ellipsoidals, and some moving fixtures."
Most of our survey's respondents work with houses of worship with congregations of 300 to 2,500. Even though some work for larger congregations, many indicated that they have a lighting budget of less than $10,000 with which to work. Commenting on their budget, one respondent said, "We continue to upgrade the lighting system in the main auditorium. Our initial budget was cut in half when we moved into the new building one and a half years ago."
As the survey pointed out in this first area, those who are charged with maintaining the lighting for a house of worship are often saddled with a number of responsibilities. Many are volunteers who do not have professional lighting experience and almost all have the challenge of trying to achieve their vision within strict budget constraints.
The next area of the survey examined what lighting equipment houses of worship used in the past year. Almost all have used lamps, video projection features, and fixtures. For those designers who work with larger houses of worship, they also used boards, color changers, and moving lights. When we asked our respondents what they use lighting equipment for, more than 70% said that lighting designs are mainly used for indoor worship services, indoor pageants, and productions.
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Figure 1 showcases the percentage of lighting products that are frequently used across all the churches we surveyed versus congregations of 2,500 members. |
Encouragingly, nearly half of our survey respondents said that their church or houses of worship they work with will purchase new lighting equipment within one to three year. Regarding this timeframe, one respondent said, "We will be purchasing equipment to add to our existing system for productions and for our worship services. We will be purchasing these items before the Christmas season for our theatrical presentation this year." Another commented, "We plan to build a new facility in the next couple of years, therefore, we will need to purchase all types of lighting products and projection systems."
As to the reason why they intend to purchase new lighting equipment, respondents said the plans are to:
- Build a new sanctuary, remodel the sanctuary, or enhance lighting in the current sanctuary.
- Build an auditorium, meeting facilities, or other new space on the campus.
- Increase theatrical, pageant, and concert productions.
- Add children/youth plays and ministry areas.
- Purchase new fixtures, such as color changers, ellipsoidals, moving lights, lighting consoles, video production, and some LED to improve overall lighting effects.
- Add lighting for television broadcasts.
Commenting on why, one respondent said, "The stage area isn't well lit nor do we have good control over the light. As part of our current renovation project, we hope to add a few fixtures to light the stage-specifically with the intention of providing sufficient lighting for television recording. The budget probably will not allow for full theatrical lighting but it's a goal we have for the long-term. Not sure if it's relevant to the survey, but we also hope to improve the audience lighting by installing dimmable fixtures which give a softer look than we have now."
Certainly this healthy outlook will drive a growing need for new lighting initiatives. To ensure that state-of-the art technology reaches the ever-expanding worship market, Wybron is actively collaborating with lighting professionals, church staff, and volunteers to ensure that they effectively manage their installations and provide the technology available to simplify the process of lighting their service for a more intimate worship experience.
The next area of our survey revealed that houses of worship with more than 2,500 in their congregation primarily own all of their lighting equipment. Most respondents who use video projection systems, lamps/bulbs, fixtures, boards, and gobos said they also own this type of lighting equipment. Some respondents are moving away from renting to owning outright. Regarding this move, one respondent said, "We intend to reduce the ongoing rental cost for special productions by purchasing fixtures and moving lights."
Whereas, more than half indicated that they were more likely to rent certain things, such as gobo rotators, fiber optic fixtures, and dowsers. One respondent said, "We have a nice inventory of conventional lights. When we have an event (three to five times a year), we'll rent some equipment, but use some of the budget to purchase as well. For example, we [might] purchase one Nexera with power supply, and rent three." Someone else said, "Two years ago, we opened a new and larger sanctuary. We had a very limited budget for lights at the time and did not purchase many fixtures. I used most of the budget for dimmers and wiring for future applications. During our larger special events, Christmas and Easter, I would rent more fixtures to enhance the productions. This was very much enjoyed by the staff and congregation and the request has been put forth to add more fixtures as soon as financially possible."
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Figure 2 shows where respondents generally learn about new lighting products. |
Also in this area, we asked respondents to share with us how they generally learn about new lighting products. The popular methods are outlined in Figure 2. For each item, we asked respondents to indicate how much they like or dislike it as a source for information about new lighting products for churches. We also asked which one do you like most as a source for information about a new lighting product.
The final area of the survey looked into the frequency of problems respondents encounter when lighting their own church or houses of worship with which they work. The most frequent complaints were inexperienced technical support crew, incorrect location of fixtures, less than optimal performance of lighting components (or not set up to specifications), and damaged rental equipment.
Overall, the study has revealed both challenges and opportunities for houses of worship. While lighting designers who work in this space are optimistic about prospects for 2007 and beyond, we believe key issues and investment hurdles for lighting designers who work with houses of worship still need to be resolved.
Larry Turner is CEO of Wybron. Wybron conducted the survey through the Internet via Acromatics, Inc., an outside marketing research firm hired to conduct online surveys. All online survey participants were eligible to enter a monthly drawing for a new 30GB Apple iPod.
