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.

personal stories in sermons...

Sharing a personal story in church as part of a sermon is a challenge and a skill, almost like trying to putt a golf ball and sometimes it can be overhit and does not hit the mark, and missed the intedned target. I have heard personal stories shared in church that are not relevant to anybody but the speaker and that is a problem - how can a preacher share a story effectivly?

I believe that when one shares oneself a story should be short, to the point and accesible for all, this is easier said than done, but to achieve this I think a story could be shared with a friend before it is shared in a wider arena and therefore as a kind of litmus tests to see if the story ellucidates the point being made in the sermon well. I once heard Rick Warren say: 'you need a point for the head and a point for the heart.' In other words the story has a purpose, to illuminate a bible teaching, if it does not do that, perhaps it is for the ego? A challeneg to all preachers including myself!

Dialog in preaching?

Dialog in preaching requites utter humility and a real vulnerability – a lectern is safeplace and almost there is a sense of – when I have the mic, Im in charge! At least I have seen that played out many times in churches. Dialog recognises God speaking to a whole community and not just one person and I have seen / am seeing this done in two ways:

1. In cafe style setting or even in pews, the preacher can give a chance for people to break in to small groups for a few minutes to ponder a sermon point or scripture and really engage with what is being share. I love this as it is almost like a seed is planted and then the watering begins right away in the pew! It is like Mark 4 and the story of seed falling on good ground on fast forward!

2. I am part of a small congregation of around 25, at the moment we sit in the church spread out, there is talk of all moving into the sanctuary and from there sitting in a circle and creating an intimate community and foster a sense of sharing together. In this style, the preacher will have no lectern to hide behind, will need to be more conversational and again promote dialog.

Stop being a lone ranger...

A minister often preaches week by week, preparing alone, immersed in scripture and various books, while this dialectic with others that have studied the texts is good, I don’t think it can be a substitution for chatting through face to face about the sermon text and what it might mean for today. I have seen some great ideas for this:

- There is a facebook group called liturgy where people talk about the text coming up for Sunday and share ideas, stories, jokes and take home messages. A great on line way to not be a lone ranger!

- Meeting with other ministers within an Archdeaconry in the Anglican Church to possibly brainstorm together the upcoming Sunday readings for preaching, to share ideas, but also to pool resources e.g videos, photos, people with skills in a given subject.

- My old church had a ‘service planning group’ who brainstormed sermons 3 months at a time, planned a roster and creative ways of sharing the message – then the pastor was still involved but from a team approach, discerning with others what God might be saying to their church, rather than alone, this approaches leaves the ego at the door and involves more people and so thereby more gifting and personality types, which then illuminate the bible in several ways rather than one way.

Virtual Grapevine

Communication in church travels along many paths, not all of which can be controlled by the church itself, one of the newest aspects to this is updating a status on facebook, if say 50% of the church are on facebook, then news will travel at a broadband pace. This is good, as news can travel fast when needed such as: ‘bring a plate to church Sunday for the monthly lunch’ – a notice or more personal: ‘please pray for a sick member of the church, just been to see her, asks for prayer.’ This is good and beneficial. It can also be negative as everyone wants to feel included in the church and its life, so hearing of news second hand or after everyone else can lead to feelings of being undervalued, there could also be unclear communication and a Chinese whispers affect. However, leaders can embrace and shape this virtual grapevine by having good communication strategies in place and have limits on what information can be shared by staff on line via facebook and other such tools like twitter. In doing this, a congregation can communicate 24/7 and increase church community the other 6 days of the week.