Pictures, Moments, Emotions

“Pictures. Moments. Emotions.”

This is a quote from Lester, p.466 in the context of how images are used to capture negative moments. However, this sentence stood out to me as to how churches can use images to create moments and to create emotions. The implications I see for congregations are on how churches can use technology and images in services to creative an atmosphere.

By this, I mean that a church can engage people with what they see in everyday life, not how most operate, which is artwork that is static e.g a display from Sunday school which is modern (which churches seem to consider being anything 5-10 years ago). The art, images and video we use is dated and not correspondent to most people’s heavily image driven lives. I know in this there are huge sweeping generalisations but overall, they are accurate from my experience and so the above quotes becomes a challenge to Church.

How are we using pictures, how are we creating moments and how are we releasing people into various emotions? The potential to do this is enormous, but requires time and money to be done well. The main challenge of the quote is about engagement with culture and with people, something Jesus came to do and still longs for.

metaphor, story, mystery and image in evangelism

As churches reach out to the communities that surround them, the passion is to share Jesus and to most this seems obvious! Reflecting on this however, the main way this might be done is in posters, alpha courses and other events, that might well include a symbol of a cross – to people on the ‘inside’ this carries: ‘Metaphor, story, mystery and image’ but to those who don’t know – it might mean nothing and in terms of church communication this is hard to understand.

Evangelism then in images and logos is important as people need to understand what a church is saying. For example, my old church had a sign with a picture of a vine and a message saying: ‘All Welcome’. As I critically reflect on this, most people would have thought we were part of a vineyard, selling wine!

Evangelism can only succeed (I believe) when a church carries Metaphor, story, mystery and image in and through its people. In this way the people embody the message and are living epistles and hopefully image bearers of Christ.

Other forms of communicating story...

Puppet shows are a brilliant way of sharing stories across age generations, once all the kids are on the mat and paying attention, all the adults are also on the edge of their seats, anticipating something creative that will draw them in and touch their lives as well! I have seen children’s talks and puppet shows tell amazing biblical truths in fun and simple ways, so I think that this approach can tell stories and communicate values well.

The other aspect that can do this is: Banners and art work in churches – I have seen some cringe worthy efforts in a lot of churches, bright rainbows etc, that really just put me off, but I have seen banners once or twice communicate a story – in my old church, one Sunday morning, we all put our hands in paint and then on a huge canvas, spelt out CPAC: which is Churton Park Anglican Church and also: Connecting People and Christ, it summed up the unity of the church and the vibrancy of the place in vivid color, every time people see it (which is weekly as it hangs over the alter), they are reminded of their place in the story of the local church and in the story of God.