Backgrounds behind song words – yes or no?

I was delighted to find the post below on Jamie Brown’s excellent blog. It reminded me of a discussion we had here way back about the usefulness of images behind words in worship. Its a particularly pertinent post for us as we’re about to launch our some new Worship Backing Band products which will include individual video downloads of backing tracks which feature white lyrics on black backgrounds. We chose that for all the reasons suggested in the comments on the previous post. Too many people find them distracting, for some (such as people with ADHD and other conditions), it actually means they severely struggle to engage in worship. At best, with the choice of images being so subjective, they alienate many of your congregation.

I know that some churches do it well – please join the discussion and tell us what you like about images and how you think they can work. In the meantime do enjoy Jamie’s post below:

I tend to think that when and if churches project song lyrics during a worship service, they should take some time beforehand and pay attention to the little details in order to remove as many distractions as possible.

I wrote about ways churches can practice “projecting excellence” here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Some churches take the opposite approach and don’t pay much attention to the projection at all. In many of these churches, one hallmark of their use of backgrounds.

I’m all for using a background – if it works well and isn’t distracting – but usually have a hard time with different pictures popping up on different slides as if a picture of a man in a field of grain with his hands stretched to the sky is supposed to help me engage with God any better.

A friend of mine recently visited a church like this and it got me wondering. How tacky can you get?

Let’s explore.

Here we have the classic hymn “All Creatures of Our God and King” over an ice sculpture of two swans, creating a heart shape in the middle. Poignant.

Or how about the chorus of “How Great is Our God” with some cute kittens to help you worship?

And what could help us think about how everlasting our God is more than the space shuttle shooting into space!

This picture makes me feel peaceful. And Jesus returning will make me peaceful. This is a great combo!

All kidding aside, what on earth could make you want to worship Jesus more than chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven?

God walks with me even in hard times. Blessed be his name.

That reminds me. Dogs are a man’s best friend!

I think I will save this one for the opening song next Easter. People will go crazy!

And finally, this one is self-explanatory.

On second thought… maybe pictures are too distracting as backgrounds. I think I’ll stick with simple.

This first appeared at the Worthily Magnify blog written by Jamie Brown. Thanks for kind permission to use.