I’ve come across this problem recently, that people talk about ‘Multimedia Worship’ but without defining what we are talking about we could have completely different things in mind.
- So what is ‘Multimedia Worship’?
- Does simply using Powerpoint(TM) make a service multimedia?
- Do you use ‘art’ in a service, and if so what does THAT mean?
- If you use photos, drawings, paint or torn paper on an OHP – is that multimedia?
- Does multimedia just mean you’ve got to use more than one thing?
I don’t know and I’m certainly not going to define, but I would like to raise the question that you need to figure out in your head what you mean by it and make sure you agree with someone you are having a conversation with about this that you are on the same page or you could so easily be speaking a crossed-purposes.
But to focus on VIDEO – which is the main – but not only – thing that I am interested in and that this blog is about in the context of visuals and visualisation of worship.
Even when talking about the use of “video in worship” there is such a variety of things that this could mean….
‘point making’ Video could be used to make a point, introduce a topic, lead a meditation or prayer:
this example from a couple of years ago was used to set the scene of which Jesus we were speaking about i.e. the ‘Jesus of Revelations’, not the ‘little baby jesus’ or ‘the miricle maker jesus’, etc.
‘bible reading’ where the video replaces the Bible reading with a dramatized version of the text:
‘video art’ could be visual backgrounds for a specific section of a service (during a read meditation, behind the preacher, etc) or for specific songs – either with the song words or with the words overlayed live, or non-specifically during the worship or any other section of the service…
My point is, keep an open mind when talking about video in worship or multimedia services. We don’t all have the same thing in mind and there are so many variables it is worth defining what you mean by those terms if and when they come up.
