At our seminars, we begin the day by showing a video clip that asks people why they do or don’t go to church. Some of the answers are typical: “because I believe in God,” “because I’m a spiritual person,” and “church is good for you.” The overwhelming majority of responses, though, focus on the reasons that people don’t go to church. Some of the answers, in fact, can be fairly hard to listen to: “it doesn’t relate to me,” “the church tends to alienate people,” and “it’s boring.”
The clip is “reality” TV in the truest sense of the word. Although some of the responses address issues beyond what we as the church put on our screens, the screen plays a major part in why people think church is not relevant, why it alienates people, and why it can be very boring. [To view a streaming version of the clip, go to http://www.midnightoilproductions. net/reading/index.html]
Most churches now have visual technology. Recent estimates show that at least 60 percent of churches in North America are using screens in worship. This means that, at last, the voices crying in the church for the need to communicate to our visual culture are being heard.
But simply adding a screen and projector in a sanctuary doesn’t automatically equate to growth and revitalization. This is not Kevin Costner’s story from Field of Dreams: just because we build it, doesn’t mean they’ll come. The reason is that there is a big difference between technology and culture. Frequently, churches add a screen to worship and change nothing about the culture of evangelism and communication in their church. The result is that once the transition into using technology occurs, not much really happens.
The problem is that no matter how much effort is given to the other elements of worship, poor utilization of the screen can overshadow even the most meticulously planned dramas, music, and messages. Bad visuals stick out like a giant sore thumb and can do more harm than good. Worship design teams, media ministers, and pastors alike must begin to think about design if the new technologies that we’ve incorporated into our sanctuaries are going to work for us, and not against us.
On the other hand, screen technology has the potential to initiate incredible growth and change in a church’s culture. It can be a catalyst to adopting styles that connect to local communities in powerful ways. The key to such transformation is in understanding that the screen is a visual medium, not a text-based medium. Worship planners must learn to speak a visual language in order to see transformation occur.
For many years, through our books and seminars, we have encouraged people to become “students of the culture,” thinking such a simple statement would be sufficient to lead people to more effective use of the screen in worship. Where that statement may have fallen short is in not getting specific enough about what exactly being a “student of the culture” means. Simply observing the surrounding world can be a great aid in making your communication of the Gospel more relevant, but it requires that the observer takes mental notes on specific aspects of culture, especially the form of the culture’s images. Design aspects such as metaphor, composition, color, fonts, and music define the current age, and cannot be ignored.
If not more important, form is now at least as important as function. As business has learned, it is no longer sufficient to simply build a better mousetrap. That mousetrap had better look good. The rise of Design with a capital “D” has been the cover story of the past year, at least according to magazines as varied as Wired, Newsweek, Business Week, and Fast Company. In every story, the bottom line is that design matters. The same is true in any communication endeavor, including the church. Just having a screen in worship is not enough to engage community and proclaim the Gospel with clarity and power. The presentation of information is as important in the communication process as the information itself.
This is the first in a series of articles whose purpose is to move your use of media in worship from simply projecting headshots, song lyrics, bullet points, and nature backgrounds to something that captures the spirit of how the culture communicates. Using powerful art in today’s most popular artistic styles, excellent design, and cultural references is a must for making worship connect in our digital age. Whether you’re a church pastor or administrator, video producer, or graphic artist, knowing a few principles for design can go a long way in helping you become more effective in reaching a lost world for Jesus.
In the next several issues, this column will address six time-tested principles for design that may open your eyes to new ways of thinking when creating graphics. If you employ these techniques, you’ll begin to see a difference in the way people respond to the screen, and more importantly the way they respond to the Gospel. Hopefully, by the end you’ll be able to create “digital art” — and powerfully communicate the Gospel with good design.
Jason Moore and Len Wilson are Midnight Oil Productions, a ministry designed to help churches tell the story in a new light through worship resources and training. They may be reached at www.midnightoilproductions.net.
