The Barna Group indicates that over two-thirds of Protestant church congregations have projection screens in their auditorium. A church which avoids using media in its worship services in now the exception nationwide. Enter John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church and noted author/theologian. When recently asked, “What are your thoughts on drama, movie clips, and the like in a church service?”, Dr. Piper had this to say:
I’ll start with the freedom that we have in Christ, and then I’ll move to the position that I operate in.
The New Testament isn’t explicit on forbidding using a screen to put the lyrics up, or to put the scene of a waterfall behind it, or to make the waterfall actually move behind it, or to show a picture of your fishing trip to illustrate the big fish that you caught and how your people should now go out and be “fishers of men.” The Bible doesn’t forbid it.
I’ll be gone in a few years and you can do whatever you want to do, but I believe profoundly in the power and the till-Jesus-comes-validity of preaching. And by that I mean the spirit-anointed exposition of the Scripture through clear explanations and applications of what’s there. There’s something God-appointed about that.
I think the use of video and drama largely is a token of unbelief in the power of preaching. And I think that, to the degree that pastors begin to supplement their preaching with this entertaining spice to help people stay with them and be moved and get helped, it’s going to backfire. It’s going to backfire.
It’s going to communicate that preaching is weak, preaching doesn’t save, preaching doesn’t hold, but entertainment does. And we’ll just go further and further. So we don’t do video clips during the sermon. We don’t do skits.
I went to a drama at our church four days ago. I believe in drama. I believe in the power of drama. But let drama be drama! And let preaching be preaching! Let’s have the arts in our churches, but don’t try to squash it all into Sunday morning. So I get worked up about these things.
That’s where I am on that. Free. Nobody is going to go to hell because of this, in the short run.
My problem is this: I REALLY respect John Piper and definitely lean toward his viewpoint on a number of issues. And even though he really just wop-wopped my entire career path I must still stop to consider whether or not he might be right. Perhaps there is a middle road between intent and abuse…
copied from Desiring God
Very interesting. I have to agree somewhat with not leaning on media for preaching…but…
Could using a video clip, or a short skit, or the like, perhaps be compared to Jesus using parables (fictional stories) to make his point? As long as the media is just a tool, and Scripture is still the meat of the message, I would have to disagree with Piper. But…if the media is the meat, and the Scripture is taking 2nd place, I’d have to agree with him.
As always, Piper goes hard-core and the rest of us are left to discuss the ramifications. I don’t think that Piper coming out and talking about this issue necessarily “wop-wopped” your career-path, but I think it definitely throws a yellow card at media ministries everywhere, cautioning them to not follow each other blindly trying to incorporate the next media shout, lighting technique, or video clip series. Media ministry should be tied directly to the proclamation of Jesus and should be at the disposal of the pastor. In effect, media should follow preaching, not lead it.
“Flash and Trash” on video screens during worship and sermons are definitely distracting. It makes people zombies, they don’t actually think about the words they sing and lift up in praise, because they have to look at the worship leader’s head projected to 100x zoom right by the words, haha. There is a middle ground we must reach and Piper is a little extreme on this, but I understand what he’s saying in that it can become a distraction from the carrying out of the Word of God, which is exactly why the church is there to begin with.