Technology in Worship: Discerning "Fittingness"
Perhaps the best term we could use today to talk about the value of new technologies in worship is the biblical concept of "fittingness." Does the use of particular technologies in particular ways fit with the purpose and flow of the worship? We don't use a hammer to drive a screw, and we ought not to use communications technologies in ways that interfere with communication in worship -- with communication among God, the congregation, and individual members. Again, think of the flow of worship as a kind of dialogue; as soon as the dialogue is interrupted, worship is no longer "fitting." Worship is not meant to be like a performance or movie, where "consumers" passively take in the messages from the experts.
Fittingness is not just a matter of style. In fact, the so-called worship wars between contemporary and traditional services are leading us astray. The question is not whether worship is contemporary or traditional, high-tech or low-tech, PowerPoint-inclusive or PowerPoint exclusive. Instead we need to ask the more difficult questions about fittingness: Is God being glorified and praised? Are we being moved to worship in Spirit and truth? Do we "hear" from Jesus during the service? Do we "see" our sins more clearly? Are we filled with gratefulness for the journey ahead? Are we challenged to go out into the world as agents of God's Kingdom?
Then we can ask the question that we tend to avoid: Is our worship "excellent," to borrow language from the Apostle Paul. Young people tell me that a lot of the high-tech worship is "cheesy." Yet adults think that such worship is what "kids" want. Ironically, older adults tend over time to be greater supporters of the use of PowerPoint and video in worship than do younger members. Why? Because they feel a new freedom to worship expressively without being tied to holding a book or always having to sing harmony from an older hymn. They say they… want worship to be more emotionally fitting than much of it has become in many mainline and evangelical churches. But they don't want the worship changed so radically that it no longer includes the older practices, harmonic hymns, the "order" of worship, and so forth.
Young people witness some of the cheesy video and computer "art" in worship and they see it for what it is: kitsch. Stock clip art. Old-fashioned, 19th-century background images under song text: the sun shining on the Cross, running streams, baby faces -- all of the stereotypical images that say, "Christians are crummy artists and naive sentimentalists." To them, such kitsch is like handing out illustrated kids' Bibles to high school students and telling them that these images represent the depth of insight and excellence of the Christian faith.
See related article on Technology and the Church.
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