Choosing the Right Media for your Message

Trevor Miller

The arrival of Jesus on the earth was known as the Good News. Since that moment, men and women have spread the message that the God of the universe became a human and sacrificed His life to rescue a broken creation. The truth is, there has never been greater news. The Church throughout history has used every means necessary to offer hope to all people. In the early 4th century, churches in Europe began to create stunning stained-glass depictions of stories within the Bible. Sharing the Good news with a culture that was largely illiterate was both beautiful and creative. Stained glass gave way to overhead projectors and eventually various presentation software. The means have changed over time, but the message never has.

Deciding the best form of media for your next worship experience can be a daunting task, after all people’s souls are at stake. However, there are three simple questions that can help guide you.

1. WHAT IS THE TONE OF YOUR MESSAGE?

As the congregation leaves the service at the end of worship, how do you want them to feel? What emotions are you aiming for? This will help determine the colors, music and images that your media will portray. The effectiveness of your message begins long before you enter the pulpit or get behind that podium. The social media you choose to promote your worship will set the tone. The countdown at the beginning of the service should continue the tone as people arrive. Each song background or message slide will reinforce the tone. Bright colors can create a happy environment, while cooler colors can create a more somber mood. Epic music can make people excited, while more relaxed music can cause people to be more pensive.

Are you wanting to share cleaner graphics for a simple approach or grungier graphics to create a little grit? To help you answer this first question, write down how the passage you are teaching makes you feel? Use short descriptive words. Once you can capture that, replicate it for your people.

2. WHERE WILL YOUR MEDIA COME FROM?

When it comes to curating a worship experience, there are three primary ways of acquiring the media you need. You will either be an investigator, a creator, or a delegator.

The difference between these three may have to do with budgets, timelines or church staffing. An investigator is someone who combs the internet for premade media that happens to fit your worship experience tone. Whether it is through a Google search or one of the many websites with ready-made countdowns, backgrounds and movies, the investigator does the research that accomplishes the goal.

Secondly, a creator is someone who has the skills to design and edit the exact media that is desired. The creator can expend as much energy as they would like planning and theming to bring the message to life. Lastly, a delegator is someone who knows the kind of media they want to create for a specific tone and has the resources to pay another company to create.

The benefit of the delegator is that they can spend their energy in other places because the design effort is being done by someone else. By delegating the media can also be a higher quality than can be created otherwise. The media should serve the message, and that should direct you.

3. WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE?

Who are the people sitting in the pews or the chairs? What is the age demographic? What is the socio-economic status? What are their professions? What do they do for entertainment? How long have most of them been in Church? What area of the country is your church in?

Knowing the answers to these questions will ensure that your illustrations, stories and images are vehicles that help your congregation grow rather than roadblocks that stymie their spiritual development. Poorly chosen media can be offensive, if you are not careful. Poorly chosen media can undermine trust if it is inaccurate. Poorly chosen media can be distracting if it is better suited for another venue. Before you use media that is based around some kind of cultural fad, will your congregation understand? When choosing music for a video in service, consider whether your people are more Mozart or moreColdplay. The Apostle Paul was masterful in the letters he penned to the early Church, and one of the reasons why is because He seemed to truly understand his audience.

A worship experience is far more than just a message that is preached; it is the confluence of hospitality, worship, sacrament and teaching. Good media helps bridge each element together and highlight each one on their own.

About Trevor Miller

Pastor of Men’s/Young Adult Ministries
Mt. Horeb United Methodist Church | Lexington, SC

Trevor Miller is a graduate of Columbia International University where he earned his degrees in youth ministry, outdoor leadership and Bible. He has a background working in student ministry and currently serves as the Pastor of Men’s and Young Adult Ministries for Mt. Horeb United Methodist Church in Lexington, SC. Trevor has a passion for creatively communicating the transforming power of the gospel. He and his wife, Jenna, currently reside in Lexington with their 2 boys, Eli and Owen.

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