Transitioning Into Multimedia Technology
By Michael G. Bausch

When Thomas Edison showed the first moving picture on a white sheet in 1895, a new communication era began. Life could be captured on film, projected on a large screen, and seen and heard in dramatic new ways. The viewing public loved it, and, almost immediately, churches tried to harness the new technology to serve the Gospel. Clergy and laity from a wide number of denominations began to use film in revival meetings and evening worship services to “drive home the message” and to show the Gospel story on big theater screens. Edison became an advocate for churches to use motion pictures for “instruction and moral advance.”

Since those early days, technical advances with computers, projectors, and screens have made it a lot easier and less expensive for congregations to add message-enhancing visuals to their worship services. No longer is it necessary to try to thread film into an old 16mm projector or to shuffle through carousels of slides; a computer hard drive easily stores images and video. A small, yet bright, lightweight projector can be attached to the computer, and you can display what you want at the click of a mouse. 

These technical developments have led to an increasing number of congregations finding ways to effectively use the new equipment in worship services. By delighting both the ear (with music and solid preaching) and the eye (with colorful images and moving pictures), these congregations are discovering how worship becomes a transforming and memorable experience for all generations of visually oriented people.

Some may say, “This equipment is too expensive for most of us.” Not so! It is possible to introduce visuals into worship without much expense, because most congregations already have the equipment necessary to add visuals to worship now and build support to buy newer equipment later. Many churches have used slides, filmstrips, computer software, and videotapes to illustrate church school lessons. These churches are already equipped to bring multimedia into worship with their existing slide projectors, filmstrip projectors, televisions, VCR equipment, and screens. Adding visuals into worship does not need to cost a lot of money. 

Using Equipment You May Already Have
Here are a few options for using some of your existing equipment.

VCR and Television
Before a worship service begins, show a brief clip of home video of the recent youth retreat, or a minute or two of last week’s Sunday School classes engaged in a lesson.  During the offering, show a two-minute video clip of a mission project your church supports. Get a video splitter and cable to connect multiple television sets so you have them in the center aisle and in the side aisles. Put them on wheeled carts so they can be set up and removed easily. 

Slide Projector
Show pictures of the Sea of Galilee to set the context for a sermon about Jesus’ parables.  Use religious art collections to display various artists' portrayal of the Last Supper for a Lenten sermon starter. Give the youth group a slide collection and ask them to select and organize slides that illustrate the theme of a favorite musical piece that could be played in a midweek Lenten service or worship service.  

Film Strip Art
Locate one of the filmstrips in your Christian Education library that shows the life of Jesus or offers artistic interpretations of the Holy Week/Easter story. Show the filmstrip during the offertory to a musical accompaniment, or use a short sequence of pictures from a filmstrip to introduce a Lenten sermon. 

Screens
Adequate screens are found in most church storerooms, while newer and lightweight portable screens designed for video/data projectors can be purchased for several hundred dollars. Permanent screens (a bit more expensive) and motorized retractable screens (more expensive because of the motors) are also available and can easily be concealed in most church architecture. Some churches simply use a white sheet attached to a wooden frame or project their images on a light-colored wall until they raise the funds needed for a good screen. Rather than investing thousands of dollars in equipment you might not be prepared to use, start more slowly and use what is available to you, adding better and newer equipment as your support for using visuals in worship grows. 

Using Newer Multimedia Technology
Today's computer and projection technologies make it easier to do the same thing as the older visual technologies: they can be used to collect, store, and organize images and project them onto a screen. What's different now is that, with a computer, it is easier to organize and store images. Computers are capable of storing audio, video, digital photographs, scanned images, and data files. They allow vast amounts of storage and easy organization of material. 

Where once a church needed separate projectors for films, slides, filmstrips, overhead, and opaque projection, now a single projector plugged into a computer can do all of that.  These projectors are capable of showing images from a computer screen, and from either a VCR or DVD machine. The bulbs are very bright (measured in “lumens,” as in the more lumens, the brighter the projector), allowing them to be used in well-lit rooms. As with computers, projectors have increased in power and decreased in price. They can be plugged into the back of a laptop or desktop computer, and, in seconds, the images you select can be projected onto a screen. 

At the flip of a couple of switches, worshipers can see displays of Bible verses, song lyrics, photographs, reproductions of world-class art, scenes excerpted from motion pictures, and church-produced video as part of a worship service. 

Once again, this does not need to cost a lot of money. Church members have access to used computers and refurbished projectors in their workplaces and homes. Public libraries and audio-visual companies are sources of rental equipment and sometimes loan it out on a trial basis. A worship committee could easily borrow or rent a laptop and projector for a couple of weeks. Used equipment is accumulating in members’ homes and workplaces, and experimenting with this equipment can help you learn what you need to bring more visuals into worship. 

Adding Visuals to Worship
There are many points in a worship service where visuals can be added, such as showing the announcements before worship begins (and saving everyone the five to seven minutes sometimes used up in talking about them), displaying a short videotape of a mission project during the offertory, or illustrating a sermon theme with a clip from a major motion picture. Here are some suggestions for inserting visual media in worship:

Announcements
Announcements normally printed in the bulletin can be typed into computer slides.  Pictures can be added to these announcements (for example, photographs of the nursery where parents would take their children, the coffee-serving crew, the flower chart, the summer camp brochure, the women’s circle, the local hospital). Many church members have photographic equipment that they could use to take pictures and shoot video. With digital cameras, it is easy to take original photographs and video, store these materials in a computer, and show them on a screen with a video/data projector. Intersperse the announcements with slides illustrating the worship theme: sermon points, quotations, or religious art. For those uncomfortable with adding visuals to worship, the pre-worship announcement time can be an excellent starting point for gaining support for one day using the equipment during the service itself.

Liturgical Support
Display the worship prayers and litanies on screen in a type font large and bright enough to be seen at the back of the worship space. Add hymn and song lyrics so people look up instead of down into their hymnals. Display the Bible verses so people can read along.

Offertory
Show pictures of ministries that your members’ giving supports. Show short video clips of denominational mission videos or of self-produced video of your educational, service, administrative, and group ministries.

Special Services
Confirmations and graduations are excellent opportunities to introduce an occasional multimedia program. Ask parents to bring two photographs of their child, one from infancy or early childhood and another that is more recent. Scan the photographs into the computer and type in the names of each confirmand or graduate with their pictures. As the photographs are displayed during worship, add music by asking someone to sing a song appropriate for confirmation or graduation, or find a CD version of such a song.

Sermon Illustrations
Add visual power to sermons by displaying sermon points, quotations, and Bible references on a screen near the preacher. Add pictures or symbols that visually anchor the theme. Find a work of art that communicates the scripture and sermon focus. Locate a video clip to capture attention and help focus the sermon (30 to 60 seconds is short and to the point, but if you must go longer, get a license to show anything that is beyond three minutes in length).

There is no set formula for using multimedia in worship. Be inspired by the Holy Spirit.  As you add visuals to worship, keep asking the congregation for feedback. You may find widespread support for adding more visuals to worship, especially as they capture interest and help communicate important material. Invite church members to share their gifts and talents with photography, film, painting, sculpture, and computer-generated graphics. Work with these members to develop guidelines and standards for using visuals in worship. Today’s technological tools can effectively serve the Gospel in worship, and, as Edison wrote so long ago, for “instruction and moral advance.”
 
Michael Bausch teaches the use of the arts and multimedia in worship based on many years of parish ministry experience. He is minister of Summit Congregational UCC in Dubuque, Iowa, and serves as adjunct faculty at both the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary and the Pacific School of Religion. He can be reached through www.worshipmedia.com.