Learning to Preach with Image
By: Jason Moore and Len Wilson

A fire and a blanket. Once, this was the technology for visual communication. Important messages could be seen rising above the plains from many miles away, as Native Americans relayed signals with smoke. These signals were of vital importance to the tribe; they were aimed to transmit secret knowledge between friends or allies.

For many preachers, using images in worship can seem a lot like trying to send and read someone else's smoke signals. Trained in "literate culture" seminaries, they have a vague awareness that using images in a sermon carries potential meaning. But learning to preach with image has proven to be challenging.

For most preachers, talking is easy. What is difficult is the conveyance of meaning, or communicating with the right combination of syntax and style to make a message heard. Even with the supposedly captive audience of a congregation, the challenge remains, as the expectation for communication has risen along with our digital media options. How do we make our words carry weight? The solution for many is to learn how to mix media in preaching.

Today, many worshipers experience a sermon both by hearing it and reading it. Some preachers use a simple bulletin outline; others reprint large portions of their sermon for the congregation to read. Sermons are structured around doctrines and propositions. Arguments are systematic. Words are precise. In fact, the more wedded to book learning the preacher is, the more likely he or she is to carry angst over individual syntactical meaning. Sound familiar?

The irony is that the speaker is much more concerned with individual word choice than the listener. Largely, listeners today are no longer systematic. The goal is not precision, but individual interpretation. Science is being forced to recognize art.

Many of the best speakers in our culture have discovered, like Paul, the power of utilizing a mix of media. Yet the church seems to lag, continuing to trust what is written more than what is heard or seen. Part of such distrust stems from lack of mastery. It is true that creating powerful images and video for worship is hard. Worshipers are sophisticated media consumers, and the expectation of quality is high. (It's paradoxical, however, that expectations remain high even as production values decline with viral Web video and reality television.)

The Power of Mixed Media in Preaching
What does all this mean? To be better preachers, we must learn to believe in the power of the visual to proclaim Christ. We must move beyond just text and learn to think also in image, discovering the power of mixing visual media into our preaching. Here are some suggestions for integrating visual language into preaching and worship.

1. Brainstorm sermon images with a trusted small group.
If we are truly the body of Christ, why not practice it when designing worship? Group or team worship design is an opportunity to come together with the collective gifts, knowledge, and experience. Everything—including music, media, and (especially) sermons—can benefit from the brainstorming and critique of a small, diverse group of designers. If you want your sermons to communicate with a visual voice in addition to an oral one, team design is the best way to get there.

2. Focus on a single idea and find an image that communicates it.
Many people who attend worship find it hard to recall the sermon later in the week. Even the most gifted preachers may leave worshipers with only one memorable point, scripture reference, or illustration to retain in their memories after the service ends.

How can preachers design sermons with image in mind? First, look for a central image that communicates the idea or theme for the entire worship service. Carefully choosing a single thematic image gives pastors an avenue for connecting ideas with common thread. Once the singular focus for the day has been decided, all aspects of worship can be built on variations of that common visual theme.

Scripture and sermon points then become visual without going in several different directions. Retention improves when this communication technique is employed. The "theme and variations approach" to visual images equates to a move from the "scattershot" approach (ideas characterized by the written) to the "rifleshot" approach (ideas characterized by the oral and visual.)

The image needs to be present throughout worship and established long before the sermon begins. It is important to help people see the connections between the biblical truth and the visual representation of it throughout worship. In many of the services we've visited as consultants and as worshipers, there has been a disconnection between the visual representation of the gospel and the spoken or musical representation of it. It's important to help worshipers interpret the images used in worship. It is not helpful to simply project images with no attempt at a verbal connection. A person should be able to walk into worship at any point in the service and quickly understand the image.

3. Understand visual metaphor.
Metaphor is a tangible exploration of an abstract concept. It is a way to enter into an idea using a connection point that is everyday and ordinary. There is great power in metaphor.

Most preachers confine metaphorical language to an illustration for an individual talking point. There might be three to four metaphors over the course of a sermon. While this method may work in literate-based preaching, it isn't conducive to visual interpretation. The visual preacher understands the power of a single, visual metaphor. The use of image is the mechanism for persuasion in this culture, just as rhetoric was the mechanism for persuasion in a preliterate culture.

Also, be aware that metaphor isn't a catchall word for anything visual. Preachers should be able to sum up how the idea connects with a metaphor in a few words by completing this sentence: This biblical story/ concept/ message is like ___________. This will help insure that an image is actually a visual metaphor.

4. Be non-linear.
In other words, be non-linear in the interrelationship of word and image during sermon development. Don't just exegete text and then find image to match; be willing to let image exist and grow developmentally along with text. Think about visual references in culture to communicate ideas. Exegete culture along with scripture. If there is a metaphor to go with a theme, spend time exegeting the metaphor.

5. Address the visual style of the intended audience.
Use visual cues from culture as the basis for sermon planning. This helps you learn to think in image. When planning, don't just start with a blank computer or a pen and paper. Try to immerse yourself in the visual culture around you. Make it a part of your everyday routine.

A lot of churches are scared of "target audience" thinking in identifying the target audience for worship. There is fear that a preacher might make some people feel left out. But the idea that a preacher can reach "everyone" is myth. It's impossible to reach everyone.

There are metaphors that will have a general appeal for some listeners and a very specific appeal for others. In other words, some will find deeper levels of meaning in any particular metaphor, while others have little personal connection to it.

6. Immerse yourself in visual culture.
Len is currently working with a congregation on their "worship presentation." One Sunday morning the church's worship producer asked him to listen closely to the sermon. She was concerned that the preacher's message on alcohol and drugs was too heavy-handed.

Len's response was that it was information, sensitively portrayed – but information that may or may not have any impact. A person dealing with addiction probably already knows such information, but is helpless to stop her or his behavior. For someone being tempted, such information is no match for the desire to feel good. So what is a preacher to do? What option is there to the time-honored Christian tradition of using information as a scare tactic?

Information isn't bad; it just can't hold a candle to the glimpse of reality that one experiences, say, when watching a movie. To preach such a message is to shift from a sermon based on the written word to a sermon based on the visual word.

The idea of learning to think in image is a plea to discover the power of art to communicate the gospel. Give listeners more than information. Give them an experience of God through image and story that will open their eyes and help them discover why Truth is so true.

7. Finally, just do it.
Recently someone asked how to help an established congregation make the move to visual preaching. Our suggestion is to demonstrate the power of communicating God's word through image. Although having a theological rationale is vital, and something we love to talk about it, it's a bit counterproductive. Engaging in rational, logical debate about visual experience is like reading a Web site about the Grand Canyon. It gives a glimpse, but it's not the real deal. Our advice: demonstrate, don't debate.

Jason Moore and Len Wilson are partners in Midnight Oil Productions, www.midnightoilproductions.com. Their goal is to further the vision of worship for the digital age through ideas, resources and seminars that work for churches.