Some congregations use technology to widen their witness

By David Sollenberger

A technological Reformation

It’s been said that the original Protestant Reformation was technology-driven. The technology of that day, the printing press, allowed the word of God to be shared in a way that revolutionized the church. The new technology that is sweeping across the North American church—new, smaller projectors that can accept a computer signal, desktop publishing, digital photography, consumer access to video and DVD production, instant Internet downloading of everything from photos to moving video to information—has created new options for presenting the gospel to a world that has become accustomed to processing information by watching and seeing, not just by hearing.

Using new technology in the church is not the sole path to church growth and vitality. In many ways, its importance is dwarfed by the existence of a community of faith marked by hospitality, love, excitement, and challenge, where the Holy Spirit moves people’s lives. But using all the tools available might just help create a place where small reformations can happen, person by person, as points of a sermon are illustrated, as ministries of the church come to life through moving pictures, as the faith of the saints are shared through words and images, as the songs of God’s people are sung, all helping mold us into more faithful and effective ministers for Jesus Christ.

A primary issue centers around projecting words, images, and moving pictures to the congregation in a way that can involve, lead, and engage them. For some congregations, it starts (and sometime ends) with using a mid-20th-century technology, the overhead projector, which reflects words onto either a portable screen on a blank wall somewhere in the sanctuary.

The desire to sing songs that are not in the official hymnal has led many congregations to use overhead projectors during worship. But lately, most overhead projectors have been replaced by video projectors, which have dropped in price over the last decade. Pastors and worship leaders increasingly recognize that they can now project more than just words of praise songs; scriptures, key points of a sermon, excerpts of videos and DVDs, images of artwork, and photographs are all now at a pastor’s disposal, limited only by one’s creativity and preparation time. Is this a good thing? Frederick (Md.) pastor Paul Mundey thinks so.

“Everywhere else a parishioner turns during the course of their week it’s a multi-sensory experience, in terms of imagery,” Mundey says. “And in a multi-generational church, it’s hard to connect with people unless you’re using multiple forms of communication. We’ve been pleasantly surprised that the more veteran members of the church, including the older members, like the screens.”

At Frederick, the lyrics of songs used in the contemporary service and hymns used during the two traditional services are also projected in addition to key phrases of the sermon, scripture texts, and some DVD excerpts. Mundey at first resisted projecting words of hymns but was overruled by his congregation.

“The older members like the screens,” he notes, “because the words are enlarged when we show the scripture or the hymns.” Many people familiar with the tunes of hymns, he says, follow the screens instead of getting out the hymn books. Any chorister can testify to the improved sound that results when singers’ heads are not buried in their music.

At the Modesto (Calif.) congregation’s worship service, a large screen in the sanctuary displays scrolling announcements before and after the service, and is regularly used by co-pastors Erin and Russ Matteson to project key points of the sermon, video clips, photographs, and other text, according to Sandra Franklin, a member of Modesto’s worship and spiritual life commission. It’s been very well accepted, according to Franklin, who says her two children, ages 10 and 12, pay especially close attention when the presentation includes something shown on the screen.

“That’s the medium that the youth are used to,” she says. “It’s more attention-grabbing. It really opens up the possibility for people to think about their faith in new ways, and to make deeper real-life connections. It can help the pastors make points that they’re making more effectively by doing it visually.” The use of images speaks to people who are visual learners, she says, as opposed to hearers.

A changing world

Both Frederick and Modesto have projection systems that are installed into the church infrastructure, a process that can involve thousands of dollars’ worth of capital investment. However, a less expensive, portable projection system also can work.

The Chiques congregation (Manheim, Pa.) has been using an overhead to project the words to songs, and had been borrowing or renting a projector and laptop computer when members wanted to show a video or use a PowerPoint presentation during worship. However, the congregation just recently voted to invest in a system that will be permanently installed. Chorister Carolyn Fitzkee says a group of young adults brought the proposal, feeling that the technology would help open up the possibilities for more creative worship.

While she says the primary use will be to better display words of songs, she predicts some of the ministers might use it to illustrate their sermons. Chiques uses a free ministry church model, and several of the ministers who rotate preaching responsibilities use PowerPoint and projectors in their work, she says. Fitzkee reports that there is little objection to the use of technology during a worship service, even in one of the more conservative churches.

“We’re in the midst of a changing world,” she says.

Using portable technology is nothing new at the Community of Joy congregation in Salisbury, Md., a relatively new congregation that meets in a local school, where all the furniture is set up and torn down each week. Co-pastor Martin Hutchison says their congregation uses a portable screen, laptop, and projector to show images related to the theme of the service.

“I see it as a digital stained glass,” he says. “Every service for us has a metaphor, and the metaphor is projected through images on the screen. And if there’s a key word or something, that gets projected. Occasionally there will be a couple verses of scripture, but our service is mostly image-driven, and some weeks I’ll have 10 slides, some weeks I’ll have two.” Hutchison has taken a Photoshop course and often downloads royalty-free stock images from the Internet to help illustrate points of the service. He also uses the projector to show clips of movies that help illustrate a sermon point.

“While music is the language of the heart, “ he says, “movies are the medium of the day, especially for youth and young adults.” Community of Joy gears its service for a younger audience, so Hutchison says he consults increasingly with resources that use videos to teach biblical truths, such as the book Movie Based Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching or the “Videos That Teach” series by Doug Fields.

It’s not about entertainment

One of the criticisms of using commercial video clips during a worship service is the fear that a sermon will degenerate into entertainment, something Mundey cautions against.

“You can cross the line into entertainment,” Mundey warns, “especially using movie clips. And it’s hard in a multi-generational church to find a movie that everybody identifies with. They’re not universally watched by everybody. We don’t want worship to be entertainment.”

At the small, rural Mill Creek congregation in Tryon, N.C., relatively new pastor Noel Naff created a unique way to describe the use of their projector, laptop, and DVD player, in an attempt to rename the technology. Coining a Greek word for “praising another way,” the congregation at Mill Creek refers to chaliph (pronounced “cah-leph”) whenever the projector is used in the church. When they want to project the words to a song or litany during worship, Naff will say, “direct your attention to chaliph,” and people know to look toward the screen. Mill Creek offers a blended service, using the software program “Media Shout” to project words of hymns that are used with the piano or organ, and the program “I Worship” for praise songs, which features a pre-recorded accompaniment, images, and video, along with words on the screen. For Naff, the reward is increased comprehension.

“At first, it was distracting,” he says, ”hard to run and hard for me, because I wasn’t used to preaching and looking at the screen at the same time. But now it’s second nature. Now you get so many comments, because we’re in a generation that learns visually. They say, ‘Oh, I get it now.’ You see them going, ‘Ah,’ and that’s wonderful to see.”

The congregation uses chaliph to project prints of church activities, images to accompany choir anthems, calls to worship that are designed with images, words, and music, and monthly movie nights for youth of the community (shown on an outside wall), followed by a discussion time. In addition to older members’ comments about how much easier they can now see the words to songs, Naff notes widespread appreciation for this new technology among the congregation.

“The key was working with the deacons to bring this upon the church. They were wary of it at first, but by faith and prayer they made it happen, and they love it. They’ve made comments like, ‘Now we don’t know what to do without it.’ It’s truly been a blessing for the church.”

Mill Creek and other congregations pay a fee for a CCVI license, which grants them permission to show Hollywood-produced movies, similar to the way a CCLI license allows churches to reprint words of songs.

A license is not required to show a video or DVD produced by a Church of the Brethren-related agency or many other ministries. In addition, more and more resources are being produced in shorter lengths, suited for “moment for mission”-type use during a service, or to illustrate meditation times, such as during musical selections. The recently released documentary Food and Clothing, Cattle and Love: The Story of Brethren Service after World War 2, for example, included a 4-minute, youth-oriented music video version of the program, which describes this era of Brethren history in images, text, and short testimonies.

In April 2006, Tim Harvey, pastor of the Roanoke (Va.) Central congregation, led a combined service for several congregations in the Roanoke area. He located a projector and screen and showed images from the Global Food Crisis Fund DVD Seeds of the Kingdom during the choir anthem, along with a short series of images of General Board ministries as the offering was being collected, as a way of putting a human face on the ministries of the church. He found it very effective, and reported that one of his members later said, “I never thought I’d say this, but I think we need to get a screen.”

David Sollenberger is a professional video producer located in Annville, Pa., and a former member of the Church of the Brethren General Board. He is a member of Mount Wilson Church of the Brethren.