Powerpoint in the Pulpit
I’m helping a priest friend of mine start a new outreach program. There’s a large new upscale housing development by a golf course in our area and the developer or whoever is letting my friend’s church start a worship service program in the community center. Taking the church to the people is a bold act of innovation, and shows creativity in thinking. But success or failure will depend on what he does with this opportunity. He’s not going to install stained glass and an organ in the community center - he’s going to have to implement new and different.
I’ve been thinking about the modern tools used in contemporary worship services like this. Powerpoint has become common in a certain kind of service - usually accompanied by modern music and other multimedia. Contrast this to the traditional services still practiced today - older liturgy, organ music based on classical compositions centuries old, operatic choirs, formality. Yet the modern style churches seem to be flourishing in our area. Powerpoint in church services is change, and thus innovation.
Right now the use of Powerpoint spreads by direct copying. Church A visits Church B, sees Powerpoint, is duly impressed, and buys a laptop and projector. But at some point there had to have been a small group of alpha innovators, the first ones to use Powerpoint in a worship service. Who did they copy? Rather, what connection did they make between the world of business and the world of religion that lead them to the conclusion that Powerpoint in church would work?
I think the answer is that they found a direct analogy between the two worlds in the area of communication. What is the essence of Powerpoint? Communicating information in a visual manner, appealing to our cognitive functions. Powerpoint is a proven means of communicating information in a clear, concise manner, and if used properly holds your attention. So if people respond to Powerpoint positively in a business setting, why wouldn’t they do so in a religious setting? Both the briefer and the preacher are trying to convey concepts and inform/persuade the group. Aren’t words reinforced by images and video? Why would modern people expect to get information one way in church but another more effective way everywhere else? Although the trappings are different, the essence of communication is the same in both worlds.
My thinking is that my friend will be successful if he and his congregation continue to make such connections with other, not so dissimilar worlds and create a truly novel worship service, something that the people have never experienced before.
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