Church use of digital media—technology such as projection systems and computers—has become a major aspect of church worship in the last decade. Churches all over the world—from nondenominational “community” churches to mainline churches—are using digital media in worship on a weekly basis and it is having a profound effect on their ministries. Some churches claim digital media is transforming their churches, fueling growth and strengthening their church communities.
But how pervasive is media in the church? Is it a fad or something that is an enduring part of our worship landscape? What are the theological considerations? Is it just for seekers? Is it only for large churches with resources? And if digital media is introduced in worship, what form does it take, exactly?
How Many Churches Are Using Digital Media?
In the last five years many churches have moved from the “thinking about using media” category to “have media, want to do it better.” There is much more anecdotal than statistical information about the trend, but recent research conducted by Stephen Koster at Michigan State University has indicated a sharp increase in use of what he calls “visual media technology” in worship. Koster found that the number of Christian churches in the Unites States using media technology increased from 16 percent in 2000 to more than 50 percent in 2003. Assuming the trend has continued there may well be a majority of churches using digital media in worship, even within more traditional denominations. And it is certainly safe to assume that many—if not most—churches are at least thinking about it.
Often, churches that use digital media are seeker-oriented, megachurch models. From the beginning, Fellowship Church of Grapevine, Texas, whose roots are in the Southern Baptist Convention, has used media as an integral part of their weekly worship experience. One of the core purposes of the church is to reach out to people who do not attend church. That is reflected in their intentionality to make worship connect through the use of digital technology. Every worship service is designed with video, graphics, lighting, drama, cutting-edge music, and relevant preaching in mind.
The senior pastor at Community Church in Jackson Heights, New York, Dr. Ronald Tompkins, has also experienced the fruits of sharing the message using digital media. His church has four primary language groups that come together for worship. The screen has helped that congregation break down the barriers that speaking different languages creates. The congregation creates what Dr. Tompkins has called “wordless worship” by using imagery to make biblical connections. Art and technology help them transcend the boundaries that exist in its complex situation.
More churches of all sizes and styles have discovered that the use of digital media is much more than a fad, or even a trend. They’ve discovered it’s a fundamental way in which our culture communicates—as powerful as the printing press has been to the modern era.
Why Should a Church Use Digital Media?
Some argue that the use of digital media creates a “production,” that it just entertains, that it is shallow or “dumbs down worship,” that it requires churches to abandon their traditions, or (mostly) that it just requires too many people and money resources. Those fearful of change may find that the move is less about breaking traditions and more about finding new ways to communicate the same traditions. This is exactly what Jesus addresses in his parable of new wine and old wineskins in Matthew 9:16-17. Old skins, filled with new wine, will burst. Applying this parable to communication forms, the wine, or the message, needs to be presented in a new form that won’t break down before it gets to the eyes and ears of those who hear it.
The use of digital media in worship is vital to our dominant digital culture because it fits with how the gospel always has been communicated. Our use of digital media to communicate in story and metaphor reflects Jesus’ use of story and parable in the first century. Paul’s ability to engage his culture and use its latest media, from writing to roads, fits with our digital technology’s present ubiquity. Pope Gregory’s blessing on stained glass as the “Bible for the illiterate” fits with the projection screen’s facility to bring post-literate people to an experience of the Word. The explosion of innovation and change that occurred in the church during the Reformation, concurrent with the rise of the printing press, parallels the explosion in cultural change occurring today.
What Exactly Does Digital Media Look Like in Worship?
Since we live in a global village, some of the old methods of communication might not make much sense anymore. Historically, the adoption of innovative communications technology was met with initial resistance, then gradual acceptance. Though the methods have changed, the mission of taking the gospel message to the world is one that remains the same. How can we communicate that message if it is not understood?
With the way digital media is frequently used in worship, we can’t blame people for being antagonistic toward it. In our experience, it doesn’t matter if a church is just beginning to explore the application of digital media or if a church has been using digital media in worship for years; there is often little philosophical basis for the use of the media. Many churches that adopt digital media in worship do it simply to copy the latest trend. They see other churches growing; these other churches happen to use media in worship, so many people assume digital media is an important part of current church growth. The problem is that many churches that use digital media don’t have a strong theological and methodological foundation about using the media. Many times, it seems like we have to “choose” between a “contemporary” service (which consists of a reduced liturgy of 30 minutes of singing followed by 30 minutes of lecturing) that uses a tacky PowerPoint presentation, and a “traditional” service that uses rituals that seem meaningless to many people.
The good news is we don’t have to throw out the best of our traditions in order to integrate the latest of our technologies. Our task as ministers of the gospel is to harness this digital media as a primary communications technology to our present digital culture. For example, oration is not dead; it has merely mutated in our culture to include graphics and videos. While many pastors still give sermons written like essays and read aloud, the culture has made spoken word into an experience, including performance, image and sound. Just catch a stand-up comic on late night television some night for evidence. Many preachers do not understand this shift, and that it has little to do with whether or not they have projection systems in their sanctuary. From the most traditional worship setting to the most innovative, some preachers still present sermons like papers, and if they have screens they present sermons like papers with screen support, while the world thinks, learns, communicates and even retains knowledge through story and metaphor, communicated in visual forms.
There is a third way that doesn’t involve stale liturgies and doesn’t involve 90’s style, corporate PowerPoint presentations. It is a way that uses digital media in keeping with both our traditions and our present culture. It has nothing to do with contemporary versus traditional. Digital media is an opportunity that the church has to reinvigorate the effectiveness of its communication forms. It doesn’t mean scanning Renaissance paintings; it means creating digital art and liturgy that proclaims God’s Word. In this model, every aspect of the worship space is part of the worship experience. As music isn’t just “support” for worship, and preaching isn’t support for worship, neither is media simply a support for other aspects of worship. Each element can be worship in itself, with the ability to proclaim God’s Word and draw believers and seekers alike to an awareness of God’s presence.
But Is It for My Church?
This is not only a large church phenomenon. Whether urban or rural, small and medium-sized churches all over the country are approaching worship design with digital media in mind. New developments include a further drop in the price of technology and the rise of ministries that produce digital media resources and training for churches who can’t afford a dedicated media staff position. In our travels across North America, we’ve come to believe that small- and medium-sized churches are doing a great (and sometimes even better!) job at integrating digital media than their large church counterparts.
Some argue that digital media somehow hinders the ability to form community in worship. The exact opposite is true. The screen allows us to join together in experiences that may not be possible through any other form. Using the personal story of someone in the congregation as a testimony video can help us connect with them and with others around us as a result of the viewing. Creating videos like that create a forum for sharing. We jointly experience one story and are invited to tell our own.
At one small United Methodist church of 150 that sets up worship every week in a YMCA, a sense of community is difficult to create. With no central facility for gathering outside of Sunday morning, it is a real challenge to make connections with others that attend worship.
That challenge dissolved one weekend when the focus of the message was on the story of the apostle Peter’s calling to lead the church. The worship team used the thrill and uncertainty of the 1960s mission to the moon to communicate the transformation of Peter to the leader of the early church. The service started with an original video clip that included actual footage of the moon landing. The worship host then told her own story of where she was and what her family experienced on that night. There was a visible stir about the congregation as she told the story. Then she invited people to tell their own stories. As she did so, an amazing thing happened: people got up out of their seats and began talking to other people! Laughter and tears followed as many recalled the feelings that were associated with that time in their lives. If a church puts that same effort into creative digital media every week, then community as well as discipleship is sure to form.
New Media for a New Culture
Simply adding digital media is not the end of the story. If done poorly, it can undermine the worship experience. There’s a big difference between technology and culture. Limiting the screen’s use to song lyrics, sermon points and Scripture verses will not make much of a difference at all. With new media must come new mindsets. The screen is a visual medium, and text on the screen must play a small part. That’s why metaphor, storytelling, drama, and video are important. Each must be incorporated to sew visual threads throughout the service into the hearts of worshipers. Effective media that incorporates metaphor can help people carry the message outside of worship into their daily lives.
Using digital media in worship is not a trend to adopt for the sake of church growth, attempted relevance to our culture and youth, or even hymnal and bulletin replacement. Rather, churches take advantage of contemporary media to aid in worship, fellowship, and discipleship, just as the church has done with other technologies throughout its long history.
Copyright © Jason Moore and Len Wilson. Used by permission of the authors.
