The headlines tell the story. “Church Plant Finds Bowling Alley to its Liking,” “Strip Club Used for Church,” “Easter Services Held at Italian Restaurant,” “Marriott Conference Center Home to New Church Plant,” “Come Worship With Us in the East Elementary School Gym.” That's right, these headlines describe churches that meet in spaces they don't own, but use each Sunday for services, and since they have no permanent home they need to be “portable.”
The spaces used by portable churches vary from restaurants, clubs, gyms, hotel meeting rooms and cafeterias, and every week they transform a building normally used for having dinner, working out, playing basketball, business meetings, and activities that we don't need to discuss in this magazine, into a sanctuary; a tabernacle where scores of people come to worship and be inspired by the God that they serve. It is this transformation from the ordinary to a sanctuary that I always find amazing, and a transformation that lighting—and scenic pieces lit by lighting—can play a big part in.
Creative lighting's primary purposes
Broken down into its basic parts, there are four primary purposes for using creative lighting. These are visibility, selective visibility, mood, and modeling.
First we use lighting for visibility. This is the primary reason for lighting, because if the subject is not lit and is in the dark, the audience will not see it.
The second reason we use lighting ties directly to the first. Selective visibility is the use of lighting to call attention to an area of the stage that you want the audience to focus on while not calling attention to an area of the stage you don't want the audience to focus on.
The next reason for using lighting is for modeling. Essentially, using lighting for modeling is doing nothing more than making the subject of the lighting stand out from the background or making the subject more visually interesting.
Then the last reason for using lighting is mood. Creating mood with lighting can be accomplished in several different ways. It can be done with intensity, color, lighting angles, or a combination of all of the above. For this I like my friend and fellow lighting designer C. Andrew Dunning's definition of mood in regards to lighting. He say's that mood is simply “‘A Lasting Impression'; in the end, it is the bottom line of the other three (purposes of lighting).”
So, how do we use lighting to create an environment that will make a lasting impression when we are a portable church? Well, first we have to remember the one basic rule of lighting: we only see light once it is reflected off of something. This means that we need something to light. Some of the most popular things to light are walls and ceilings, smoke or haze, lighting truss, drape, flats and scenic pieces.
While I have seen a lot of permanent churches use lighting and scenic pieces to create a worship environment, I don't tend to see it as much in a portable church environment. Considering that many of the tools used to create a visual environment have their roots in the theater and the concert touring industry—both industries that are very transient and require everything to be portable—you would think it would be used more in the portable church, so here are some ideas to consider as you create a portable sanctuary.
Lighting, portably
First let's talk about walls and ceilings. One of the first things I study when walking into any building that I am going to light is the architecture of the building. I look at all of the surfaces and see what I think will light well and what won't light. If the walls are a light color and have nice flat open space they may make the perfect canvas for color washes and gobo projections. If they have a lot of texture, then they may up-light very well and have a nice look with the texture. What you don't want to do is call attention to ceilings or walls that are not nice to look at. If the insulation is falling off the ceiling you probably don't want to light that. Always look for ways to work with your building, if for no other reason than it doesn't cost anything and doesn't have to be put up and taken down each week.
The next thing that is popular to light is smoke or haze, as these elements allow you to see the beams of light. While this can be a nice look, in a rented building, using smoke or haze could turn out to be a logistical nightmare. Both haze and smoke tend to set off smoke detectors, so caution needs to be exercised, otherwise you might be having church outside while the fire department is verifying there is no fire inside. Turning off the smoke detectors during your service might not be an option that's popular with the building's management, so do your research before making the investment in a smoke or haze machine. If you do decide to use a smoke or haze machine, be sure to size it appropriately for your room.
Lighting truss is another popular visual element since polished aluminum readily reflects the light. It can also provide lighting positions and support for drape and other scenic pieces, making it not only a visual element but also a hang position for your lighting and a support for your scenic.
Truss comes in all shapes and sizes and can easily be bolted to a weighted base. Add a LED lighting fixture or a low tech PAR can with a gel, and you have an instant visual statement.
Since truss can be bolted and unbolted and is made of aluminum, it can be easily put up and taken down each week. Square truss tends to stack a bit better for storage than triangle truss, but either can be managed with minimal issues and a bit of planning.
In addition to truss, another visual element you readily find being lit is drape. Drape comes in all shapes and sizes. One favorite drape element is the Spandex transformit or stretch shape. These come in various shapes and sizes and are ideal for stretching between trusses. Add a few lighting fixtures and you have an easy to build visual element. Of course if Spandex is not your thing, there are many different kinds of drapes that you can use. Rose Brand is one company that specializes in drape sales and rentals, as well as Atomic Designs. Check out each company's website [see quick-links at the end of this story] to see what they offer both for sale and for rental. Renting a drape can be a cost-effective way of adding something special to your next sermon series, or have something custom made to your specifications for use every week.
Scenic pieces make an impact
The last thing that I want to talk about is theater flats and general scenic pieces. Generally, there is no one better at transforming a space than a theater group. They take a black empty space and use flats to transform the space.
Flats, short for Scenery Flats, are flat pieces of theatrical scenery painted and positioned on stage to create a background.
Flats can be soft or hard covered. Soft-covered are covered with canvas or muslin.
Hard-covered flats with a frame that is perpendicular to the paint surface are referred to as Hollywood flats. Flats with a frame that places the width of the lumber parallel to the face are called Broadway flats.
Usually flats are built in standard sizes of 8-, 10-, or 12-feet tall with removable wooden legs called “jacks” to hold them up. One of the primary advantages of flats is that they are lightweight, reusable, and easy to store. They can be painted or textured in a variety of ways to make an interesting visual element to light. Windows can also be cut into flats and be backlit.
Other general scenic pieces can be created with materials that you can find at your local hardware store. Set pieces can be made out of fiberglass roofing materials, PVC pipe, wood, aluminum flashing, and plastic sheeting.
One material that is really great to use is Coroplast, which is a corrugated plastic material that sign shops use to make yard sale and realty company signs. It gener- ally comes in 4-foot by 8-foot or 5-foot by 10-foot sheets, can be cut with a knife, comes in a variety of colors, and is very lightweight. Since it is only about 1/8-inch thick, it stores easily and takes up a mini- mal amount of room—and it is inexpensive. Because of this, many designers are creating scenic pieces with this material.
While this article is not an exhaustive text on lighting and scenic design for portable churches, hopefully it has sparked your creativity and given you some ideas on how to light the room up and transform a common space into a sanctuary that warmly welcomes people and leads them into worship.
