New Book on Worship

January 12, 2004 == MEDIA ADVISORY

Calvin College's Quentin Schultze has a new book out on worship called
"High-Tech Worship?" -- published by Baker Books.

It was inspired by a tour of churches he did in Florida while on sabbatical a
couple of years ago. He started seeing technology running amok in worship
services and when he got back to GR he decided to collaborate with the Calvin
Institute of Christian Worship to take a look at how churches use technology
and what they could do differently.

It's a nice little book -- 103 pages of pretty easy and interesting reading,
with some sidebars and charts to help guide people in the pews as they think
about worship.

On January 29 Schultze and others will lead a daylong workshop sponsored by
the Worship Institute on using new technologies wisely in worship. Presenters
will address topics such as designing PowerPoint slides, tuning technology to
worship style, using presentations as sanctuary art and fitting technology to
architecture. Participants will receive a copy of Schultze's new book and a DVD
of "best technology practices" with examples from Protestant and Roman Catholic
churches around the country.

In the book Schultze tells the story of a worship service in which the pastor
was welcoming worshipers "in the name of" when the Microsoft Windows logo came
up on the screen behind him.

"Worse yet," he says, "the computer program than blasted the Windows boot-up
sound over the house speakers. Instead of hearing the name of Jesus Christ,
worshipers heard the Microsoft musical boot."

He uses the example to symbolize the fact that technology and God sometimes
compete for attention in worship. The same technologies that can enhance
worship can detract from it -- and not always so obviously.

"Technology," he says, "has become a critical part of many church worship
settings in North America. Interestingly the church is growing the fastest in
places like Africa and Latin America, where technology is rarely if ever
incorporated into worship. But in North America, particularly in the U.S., we
are the most tech-optimistic people in the world. We see tech as the solution
for problems in education, in politics, in medicine and now in religion."

For "High-Tech Worship?" (subtitled Using Presentation Technologies Wisely)
Schultze worked with his former student and now seminarian Steve Koster to
survey all churches in Kent and Ottawa counties to determine how many are using
new technologies and what sorts of advantages and drawbacks they have
experienced.

When asked what motivated churches to adopt visual media technologies, 84
percent of the respondents said "to gain contemporary relevance" and 77 percent
said "to gain youth relevance." Schultze doesn't think the reasons are
necessarily bad, but he does worry that many churches are putting too much hope
in the power of technology alone to revive worship, attract youth and
evangelize.

He notes that an in-depth study of seven technology intensive churches across
the country -- including CentrePointe in Grand Rapids -- found that the real
benefits are much more subtle yet very important. Using technology tends to get
more members involved in planning and conducting worship. It also leads even
more contemporary churches to consider older forms of visual communication in
worship, from liturgical dance to greater attention to decoration of the
sanctuary.

For a news release on the book see
http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2003_04/high-tech_worship.htm
To set up an interview time with Quentin contact him at schu@calvin.edu
For background on Quentin and pics see http://www.calvin.edu/~schu/

-end-
Received on Fri Jan 9 09:53:12 2004