Media Outreach

Many churches these days have ventured into the world of incorporating technology into their worship services.  Most often, this comes in the form of videos and presentation software to put song lyrics on screens.  Here are a few suggestions about effectively using media during your worship service.

1. Don’t overuse videos. I know of churches that use a pre-service video every single week.  This approach weakens the effect a church can have by using videos.  People get so used to a video playing as they walk into the auditorium they start to tune them out.  Use videos at key points of the year and as sermon illustrations to get maximum effectiveness out of videos.
2. Adequately train your volunteers. There is nothing worse than being in a worship service and having the song lyric slides jumping all over the place.  The person who is running the slide presentation is just as important as any of the band members or the worship leader on stage.  The best way to distract the congregation and keep them from worshipping is having a slide presentation that is not organized or having a person who does not know what they are doing running it.
3. If using media, do it right. I have been in many churches where they have thrown their song lyrics up on a screen, and I can automatically tell that they have half-heartedly done it.  If you want to keep first time guests engaged and keep them coming back, you have to do everything with excellence.  After all, we are worshipping the one true God, and I think he deserves our best.

These are just a few starter suggestions for really making media work in your worship service.  What are your suggestions for using media in a worship service?

Photo By: ragingtornado