I recently spoke with a church media buddy of mine about the visual content that his church uses on Sunday mornings. Simply put, their method focuses primarily on using still backgrounds, while occasionally bringing in a motion during high-energy songs. At first, this really surprised me. My visual setlist is typically the exact opposite; it’s pretty rare to see a still background during the music portion of our services. This difference intrigued me. After he started to explain to me their reasoning behind the choice, I was quickly reminded that not every congregation is the same. Every church is going to have a different style or flavor that works best for their people. And that’s okay. In fact, I would encourage it. It’s not about aligning yourself with everything that the Joneses are doing this week. Rather, our goal should be to use the resources that are available to us to create an excellent presentation that works best for our church family.
Undoubtedly, there are some rules that should be applied to media in every church. This certainly isn’t a license to use Birth of a Hero for lyrics or that oh so wonderful cross clipart you found on Google. Using easily readable fonts and professional looking images is day one stuff. Hopefully you’ve found this site a valuable resource when it comes to those across-the-board guidelines. But when it comes to the small things like motions and stills, it’s important to do what feels right in your church. Look around next weekend and ask yourself if your current media is effective in your unique environment.
