In 2008 we witnessed some amazing developments within media and technology. Such items include: full deployment of digital over-the-air television, the end of the high-definition disc format war, more location/GPS-based devices (such as the iPhone) in the hands of consumers, high-definition video saturating the internet, the rise of twitter, and much more.
And don’t forget about the live holographic interviews we saw during the 2008 election coverage on CNN. While I don’t think that we will see this in many churches in the near future, I don’t think it’s too far-fetched to say we will see something like it not too long from now.
These new technologies have been interesting to watch and exciting to use, but what does it mean for the church and how can we expect to see church media change this year?
The Interactive Church
At any conference, you can find attendees taking notes on their laptops. Imagine people coming to church with their laptops, PDAs, and Smartphones—using them to interact during the service. Congregants could open their web browsers to the churches internal web portal where they could take notes, ask questions, obtain next steps for further study, find links to scriptures, register for a related small group, sign the attendance sheet, etc. There is a long list of possibilities for churches who would like to implement this type of interaction. Using these tools would not be a requirement for everyone, but it would be an enhancement for those who choose to engage in that way.
Even if a full example of this doesn’t happen, one way or another I believe we will see new uses of social and interactive media within church services. A few churches have started exploring the potential for text messaging during services, but I expect more churches to begin incorporating this and taking it to the next level in 2009.
The Video Church
In 2009 the use of video in churches should continue to increase. More and more churches are going high-def, using image magnification, doing bumpers and trailers, using videos for sermon illustrations, and much more. We also will see many churches using video as their primary teaching method either on various occasions or every Sunday. It doesn’t matter if the church is multi-site, multi-venue, or a single-site; video teaching is being used in churches across the globe.
Church Presentation Software
I believe we will see some exciting new developments for Church Presentation software in 2009. Effects and techniques that used to take multiple switchers, keying software, and other hardware are all being done with software-based applications now. Applications like ProPresenter from RenewedVison are eliminating the need for churches to own lots of expensive gear in order to have elaborate video presentations during their services. This year we should see new ways of controlling presentations, new ways of integrating video into worship, support for multiple video feeds coming in and being switched via software, and much more.
The Open-Source Church
I know that I am stealing a term from the tech community and taking the term “Open-Source” out of context a little bit. But many of the principles and the methodology of “Open-Source” software can be applied in the church world. At NCC we give away every sermon series, video illustration, bumper, trailer, and graphic that we create. We do this with the hope that another church will take our ideas, build upon them, and do it better than we did.
It all belongs to God, right? So why not give it away to other churches? There are some influential churches who are already doing this and I think in 2009 we will continue to see other churches adopting this “Open-Source” idea—offering their resources free of charge for the betterment of the church community.
Media as a Megaphone to our Culture
By using modern avenues of media and technology, using the “Gutenberg Press” of our day, we can provide cultural contextualization to the Gospel. We will be able to meet and address our culture where they are by leveraging technologies like twitter, Facebook, youtube, and other mainstream tools.
My hope and prayer for churches in 2009 is that we wouldn’t just use avenues of technology because they are new and cool. But instead, that we would look at the people who live in our communities and see how we can speak to the culture in which they live. That God would give us the fortitude and courage to try new things, to be innovative within our services and to use these tools for outreach—that each church would strive to find ways to communicate the Gospel to people through any and every means necessary.
Dave Clark is the media pastor and Georgetown campus pastor at National Community Church in Washington, DC. You can connect with Dave on his blog at daveclark.com or you can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/dave_clark.
