Why Lighting?

[Wojobass]

I am a huge fan of using lighting to enhance the entire service. It give us a chance to direct the congregation with out audio cues that something is about to happen. If you have ever seen a show in Vegas, you know what I'm talking about. The challenge for churches is finding the right balance ie., how much lighting, moving lights, hazing, ambient light, and your target demographic. Hope everyone has a great week.

[russhutto]

"God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness." Genesis 1:4

Need I say more...

[SeanMichael]

Originally Posted by blindeyesopen

"God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness." Genesis 1:4

Need I say more...

Right on!

My thoughts: Since we are a designed by our Maker to have different senses I think that we should utilize those senses for the glory of God. We are in an age where every tv commercial, movie, magazine, and even video game is designed to capture our attention (and our wallet) through the use of flashing lights and an overall big production.
We as a church body can then in turn use these same techniques to capture people as they walk in the door and direct them to the glory of our great and wonderful Maker.
The trick is how much can you use before it begins to turn into a distraction rather than an enhancement? I think the answer can be found through prayer and allowing God to speak to us. Personally I find that shifting color scemes, spotlights, and esp ambient light add so much to our worship.

Sean

[twc_admin]

Agreed -
I think we've done great appealing to sight, sound ... most of the senses in worship ... one sense I guess we don't much think about out, actually is smell ... incenses, fragrances, etc.

I'll save that for another thread, haha!

[SeanMichael]

Originally Posted by twc_admin

Agreed -
I think we've done great appealing to sight, sound ... most of the senses in worship ... one sense I guess we don't much think about out, actually is smell ... incenses, fragrances, etc.

I'll save that for another thread, haha!

ha ha it's funny you mention smell. We had a staff meeting today and someone mentioned some ideas to enhance the building and more importantly the service by using fragrances throughout. Very interesting! I'll have to keep you posted.
Sean

[Bad2103]

Personally, I think great lighting is an awesome addition to worship. Moving lights are awesome and can really enhance the worship. I really like Wojobass's thought on demographic though. I'm probably quite a bit younger than most of the people on this forum and I love crazy lighting. I wouldn't mind an insane laser show while we're at it. But the effectiveness of having "good lighting" is going to be completely dependent on the people in the congregation. I've attended some very conservative churches that hadn't even yet discovered padding for their pews and I'm certain that they wouldn't appreciate a light show to go with their hymnody. Given to the correct demographic though and it becomes a powerful tool.

[milepost13]

it's hard to answer this question, because everybody's answer is going to come from their own personal opinions, based on their own context. Big, extravagant (sorry for that word) lighting isn't something we value at NHC because it isn't something that our culture values. We were in Vegas or LA, it might be a different story.

Having said that, we do have stage lights and are working at using them better to help us worship.

Nate

[NLoomis]

Light is an important part of worship. Anything that helps your congregation focus on and worship God should be pursued. What are stained-glass windows if not a way to bring purposeful light to a church? A blacked-out stage with a pin-spot on the cross is a powerful image, for example. Even the Christmas eve candlelight service is using light purposefully to convey a sense of simplicity and wonder.

Nathan

[Smitty]

Great posts you all! I agree that lighting is a tool that we need to learn to use effectively, while NOT overdoing it.

Smitty

[Bad2103]

Lighting is typically used to evoke emotion. For example I'll use the spotlight on a cross. If you use a bright white spotlight to light a cross on a dark stage then you draw people's attention to Christ and probably his holiness as white tends people to think towards purity. But if you're singing a song about how we're all sinners and not deserving of God's grace then you could use blue filters across the stage and maybe leave the white spot on the cross because the blue is associated with the sadness of sin. The emotion that the people feel from the style of the music playing can be multiplied many times over by the visual aspect of "mood lighting." More on the effect of the colors can be found here... http://creativelatitude.com/articles...usa_color.html

p.s. I like the stained glass concept. 17th century stage lighting