Technology to the glory of God

I grew up in the church with folks that had a very narrow working definition of the word “worship”. Generally, in the evangelical world I was entrenched in, “worship” is essentially translated into Christian-talk to mean “praise and worship music”. Now that I’m a deacon in charge of the sound at Mars Hill church, I’m privy to the ins and outs of service production. So that common, yet narrow definition of “worship” just won’t do anymore.

Worship in the context of the church service doesn’t simply include singing songs of praise, but the technology needed to make that happen. This would include the technology associated with the whole production and the people that operate all the “stuff”.

The tech gear used in our services include-but is not limited to-the use of mixing consoles, video switchers, projectors, microphones, and lighting fixtures. Each is a tool that we believe helps to create texture to draw people into an environment that’s most conducive for worship.

The unfortunate fact, however, is that most churches’ technological system is often more of a distraction than anything else. Anyone who has set foot in a church has probably witnessed a least a little of the following:

• Feedback emitting sound systems
• Such poor sound fidelity that the spoken word evokes memories of the teacher’s voice from those old Peanuts cartoons
• Lighting systems that often serve no greater purpose than to spotlight the pastor or baptismal
• Song lyric slides that are out of sync
• Cheesy video fades

Aside from the importance of reliable tech gear, production volunteers play a key role in that they are seen as an extension of the band. Because if they’re not performing their duties well, or if there is a technological glitch, the worship service will be negatively effected in much the same way that a poorly played worship song becomes a distraction. And we’ve got the abovementioned flubs all over again.

On the other hand we can become fixated on technology when it becomes a means to an end in itself. Tech stuff becomes an obsession because all the other “cool” churches are doing it and we’ve got to “keep up with the Jones’”. Of course none of us are immune to the covetousness of tech envy but in our church we do feel it incredibly important that technology be used as a tool which God has given us for the sole purpose of pointing it back to Him in a proper, worshipful response. This way the technology gets used as a means to the end of worshiping God.
Our biblical mandate to worship God is clear. And based on our theological convictions, the means by which we worship Him is completely open-ended and limited only by sin. Once we get first things first in our theology of worship (of course this is an article in itself) we consider how worship specifically relates to the use of technology. The following scriptures guide us as we pass on our shared theological convictions onto our staff and volunteers:

• Excellence (Exodus 34:26 “Bring the best of your firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God’) The concept here is that God is so good and powerful that He deserves the best and most costly sacrifice that we can bring. Because we are human, this sacrifice is imperfect, but it must always be our goal for our sacrifice to be the best we are capable of.
• Creativity (Genesis 1:1; 1:27 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’; “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him’) Our Creator graciously created us in His image and in that image we were endowed with creativity. As with all other human attributes he gave us this gift in order that we would give it back to Him for the sake of His glory; and in this giving back, God gives back to us in the form of our joy.
• Glorification (Revelation 5:12 “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!’)

Why do we glorify God? God built us to give Him glory, and as this verse states, it is because He is worthy of our adoration.

Worship service technology will look different from church to church. And the contextualization of the gospel does not begin and end with spoken word. Given its proper place, the gospel invades every corner of our lives, and we respond to Jesus’ work-in part-by redeeming the culture around us. Those of us involved with tech oriented service at Mars Hill see audio, lights and video as an opportunity for God to be glorified in a unique way. Even the tiniest detail-such as a volunteer pushing the down arrow on a keyboard for the next PowerPoint slide-will not be withheld from Him getting His glory.

Joel Brown is a deacon on staff with Mars Hill running Audio Production and assisting Pastor Tim with band development. He also leads the Mars Hill band “Red Letter”. You can hear Joel’s band at the Ballard campus Sunday evenings.