Moving images behind the words on worship songs – a help or a hindrance?

We had this fascinating question from John Spencer which we thought we’d throw open for comments.

“My wife and I have been attending a local Pentecostal church and they use Powerpoint projection of the words of the worship songs.  But they also project moving images behind the words – such things as crosses silhouetted against moving dark clouds, planets and exploding stars, rivers, waterfalls, people out of focus with their hands in the air, etc.  Personally my wife and I find such moving images a distraction from the worship and feel that they are quite unnecessary.  E.g. When we sing the William Booth hymn “Send the Fire”, we don’t need to see flames from a gas fire in the background while we sing the stirring words!

Do you happen to know if the projection of images as well as words of songs is a widespread practice in churches?  Is it a new trend?  I wonder if it is unique to the place where my wife and I have been worshipping of late.”

To answer John’s question, yes it is a bit of a new trend. We’d be really interested to know what other people think – do you find it helpful or a hindrance? My church uses one image of a boat on water which makes me feel quite seasick but sometimes I find pictures quite nice to help meditate on. It can be good to engage some other senses beyond singing.

Do comment in the box below.

Above is a rather nice example of an image from http://www.chrisrouse.us/worship-isnt-boring-so-why-are-your-lyric-slides

If only they were all as tasteful!