What is Visual Worship?

This is the first in a series of special posts written by friends of Midnight Oil. These guest bloggers bring unique insights into the interface of image and ministry. We hope you learn from their experiences and find useful applications to your own context.

As I’ve been on the road having conversations with pastors, worship leaders & techies who are all trying to figure out how creativity works in worship, I have had a growing burden to gain a clearer understanding of what true, biblical worship is. I have much to learn and more scripture to dig into than i can comprehend. Here are some of the main things that have stuck with me, and here are some questions I’m asking myself in hopes of finding the answer to “What is Visual Worship?”.

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There’s no doubt that we live in a visual culture, and that culture has become less and less interested in the institutional church. While we have the most powerful story to tell, the way in which we tell it is often the least powerful way for the time in which we live.

Quite often, the reading of scripture in worship is the least engaging moment of all. Rather than approaching scripture as story, scripture is often shared in a dry, emotionless way or done as a broken, monotone, congregational reading. With screens so prevalent in worship now, the most common approach to scripture in worship is to just put the text on the screen and hope that people read along. Are any of those methods really very effective for our visual culture? Probably not.
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Ash Wednesday is quickly becoming one of the most popular mid-week services of the year. Churches with both evangelical and mainline roots are discovering the service as a great way to enter into the story of Jesus’ journey to the cross, culminating on Easter. Here are some notes and creative suggestions for doing an Ash Wednesday service.

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Here at Midnight Oil we talk a lot about metaphor. More than just a gimmick or a shiny hook on which to hang some thoughts, when it comes to communicating visually in worship, visual metaphors aren’t just the a hook for the message, they are the message itself. When creating images in a worship setting, good use of metaphor is key to making images work and the message stick with your congregation.

Here is how one of our graduate students put it in a class we recently finished teaching:

“Metaphors seem like they are much more “all-encompassing” than anecdotes. In fact, even a metaphor can have a few relative anecdotes within it to help drive the point home. I think the major point is that metaphors aren’t things that you just add to a sermon to help people pay attention as if they need to be attached to the truth of the message as an attractive advertisement. Metaphors aren’t a way of “dumbing down” the real message. Metaphor is the real message being shared in such a way that it relates to a new group of individuals in a powerful and meaningful way. While anecdotes can have this effect by making one of the stories memorable, metaphor has the capability to allow the hearer to connect to the truth of the message through various points of entry and to take that truth with him/her even when they leave the service.”

- From Nathan Hand, NNU class fall 09

To see some visual metaphors for worship, check out our comprehensive list here.

Earth Movers, for a focus on the power of service in the name of Christ
Family Matters, for a focus on the issues related to the importance of family
Grains of Truth, for a focus on Mark 2:23ff, when the disciples eat grain on the Sabbath
True Colors, for a focus on Jesus as light of the world, using the spectrum as a metaphor
Firewall, for a focus on erecting barriers to sin in our lives

Do you title your service? Similar to a sermon title, a service title appears on all major communiques throughout the Sunday morning experience such as screen imagery, bulletin covers, signage, and digital and print banners. It is often less informational and more connectional than a sermon title. A good title focuses the congregation’s attention on the topic of the day in an engaging and memorable way.

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