There’s probably not many places where technology hasn’t worked its way in, but the Church seems a bit reluctant to move on. The church should be using as many ways as practical to share God’s word, so in the same way as the printing press made it easier to replicate bibles, computers should make it easier to share bibles, sermons and ideas worldwide. The fact that you are reading this on a blog means that you are most of the way there. Now I’d like to share what I do on a Sunday…
My main role is of the church projectionist. At the Gerbil Church we have a projector and screen that is used to display hymns, intimations and appropriate pictures. This equipment was donated by the group that runs our Wednesday cafe. We have been doing this for about five years and it seems to be working well. The older members of the congregation appreciate the fact that they can sing out and don’t have to hold a heavy hymn book. CH4 is a real pain in the neck for a member with spinal arthritis.
It all depends on the minister and church. Will this add something to your congregation and aid you in spreading God’s message? As a minister, you don’t need to be the technology expert. It’s not your job. You just need a projectionist that has a rough idea what they are doing. So don’t let the technology put you off.
I'll come out up front with figures - you're going to need around £2000 for a PC, projector and the bits to make it work. If you're planning on spending that much, there are better experts than me to give you advice, so consider this an introductory lesson.
It works like this. At some point through the week, the minister will email me with an order of service. Using Microsoft Powerpoint I will prepare a presentation that has the Sunday hymns in running order. If the minister requires any pictures I will either use what she has supplied to me, or I will have a look around Google or in my own archives for something appropriate. On Sunday morning I will transfer my Powerpoint file to the church PC and then spend the next hour pressing the space bar every time there is a new verse, or watching and listening for my cues in the service. It’s not that hard to do. In fact, now we have a library of hymns, I can usually knock together a presentation in about ten minutes. It’s just a case of dragging and dropping the files.
So how do you set this up?
What you’ll need…
A screen – a smooth white or light coloured wall will be fine. Once the projector is on, the eye tricks you into thinking the wall is white. You can buy a portable screen if you need to move the setup around
A projector –this is the biggest expense. Somewhere in the region of £1000 to £1500, depending on the size of your venue, how big the screen it is, and how bright the church is.How long is a piece of string...
A PC. An older PC, either desktop or laptop will work, but if you want to buy new, £300 will get a laptop with enough power to do the job. It needs to have an RGB SVGA or VGA output, depending on which set of letters the PC company is using to describe the hole where you plig in the projector.
Presentation software. Either Microsoft Powerpoint which you pay for, or Open Office which is free and just as good.
People. A team of four means they will only be doing it once a month. The people is the hard bit, as you can’t get them from PC world. Try your Sunday School or Young Church. The older members may have been shown how to use Powerpoint in school and could be made to feel a real part of Sunday worship at the point where they fall into the gulf and get lost between the young and the old church.
It all depends on the layout of your church as to how this works out. One church in the borders has two projectors, displaying the service on a wall on either side of the pulpit. This gets around problems with restricted visibility. Gerbil Church has an odd layout, so we politely invite anyone who wants to see the screen to move over a bit. Older churches are a pain in the proverbials, as they have pillars everywhere. Bankfoot church has a perfect layout, but it’s brand new and has wide open spaces inside.
The Gerbil Church uses the projector for other things, such as Guild meetings, so we put the projector away after each use. Many churches just leave the kit set up or find a way to suspend projectors from the ceiling or pillars out of the way. Once you know where you want to put it, your projector can be set up in about five minutes.
If this is something you want to try, leave a comment and I’d be happy to offer assistance. You can visit The Gerbil Church in Fife, or I’d welcome an excuse to take the bike for a run some Sunday and pay you a visit.
I think the Auditoire de Calvin would possibly be beyond even you, Spot! Gorgeous building, but very quirky and because of its historical context, can't really fit built-in screens. Result means the portable screen was put in the centre where the communion table normally is... and the three windows blasting sunshine down don't help... projector is, however, pretty high in the lumens department at least. So, we're kind of stuck with sommat that is more intrusive than is desirable aesthetically.... hmmm. But it sorta worked yesterday!
ReplyDeleteMy home church was gifted two large black lcd screens, which are attached to the underside of the gallery. The black makes the actual screens recede when we don't use them, and that's quite cool. We just need to be a little more imaginative in the way we use the technology tho!
Unfortunately there are few churches where a projector won't look a bit odd. As you know, it's about the trade of between the kit looking out of place and the kit adding to the message. I'd like to change the location of the screen, but change is unpopular.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I didn't mention, is that a projector can work out cheaper than buying multiple copies of hymn books, specially if the congregation likes a blend of CH4, Mission Praise etc.
re. the cost and hymn books - yup, absolutely!!
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