To See or Not to See: Communication, Cooperation and Co-creation in the Use of Liturgical Media Art in Protestant Worship

Abstract

This research examines why churches are using Liturgical Media Art (LMA), specifically the use of projected or displayed images and texts, in their worship. Using a long term ethnographic study of four congregations, two in the UK and two in the USA, the research reveals a number of important issues for those who lead and those who prepare the materials used in the worship. The results show that LMA is providing added educational, missional and liturgical value through increased participation of the congregation in the worship of the churches researched. The research also identifies that those who lead worship, those who are the congregants in the worship and those who prepare the materials used in worship all have a very different perspective on the use of LMA. In seeking to understand the different approaches this research posits the role of self-esteem as a way of interpreting the three viewpoints. In looking at one possible measure of the effectiveness of LMA, this research examines the role of ‘surprise’ in relation to memory as well as how memory traits may be encoded so as to provide a long term retrieval of the images and associated service content.

Using the work of McLuhan as a lens to examine the way churches employ LMA, this research focuses on the learning that can be found when there are problems with the use of LMA and its presence in the worship becomes obvious. The research posits a number of outcomes for ministerial formation and ministry that would aid the use of LMA in worship today. The research draws on the work of many writers from various theological, sociological, philosophical disciplines to reflect theologically on the use of LMA in our worship today. It also briefly considers the new ‘environmental projection’ being adopted in some churches.

This research confirms much of the anecdotal evidence offered for the use of LMA and adds to the current literature about the use of LMA