Lyric Projection: Helping or Hurting?

We all (well most of us) love technology. It increases at an amazing rate. Who can really remember not having a mobile phone now? There is the assumption that technology always brings improvements. I’m not convinced this is always the case, not only can technology not be helpful but I think some of the technology we use to help can actually be a hinderance.

Take the mobile as an example. It’s great that at any point in the day and just about anywhere you are you can call someone. The downside is that means at almost any moment of the day someone can call you. Finding a quiet moment in the day has never been so difficult.

Now let’s get to the real point of this blog, lyric projection. There are big plus points to this, especially when compared with the OHP and even song books. The biggest plus is the easy and the speed at which you can get song lyrics on to the screen which allows the worship to be taken off the planned set list if necessary. There’s no need to stick with a song that isn’t right for that moment just because the lyrics are displayed. Like the OHP this is very fluid for those following the lyrics. There is no scanning through a book to find what song is being sung.

Now the downsides. For this we need to look back at not only the early church but even before that. In Numbers we see Miriam and Moses leading a group in worship. They had no lyric projection, OHP, song books or even anything printed at all. Leading worship required great faith in God and great reliance on God rather than technology. The times of “spontaneous” worship or “singing in the spirit” where common place then, mainly because that was all they had. Our technology is fantastic and to those that enter a church that don’t know the songs it can break barriers for them but is it holding us back from something much greater.

People go to gigs and sing a long, there aren’t words on screens, yes they know songs from CDs but there will still be songs they don’t know. You don’t have to sing every song and if the songs are too difficult to pick up then should we be using them anyway?

Matt Redman wrote the song “the Heart of worship” after his church at the time in Watford decided they had become too reliant on the worship band and they got rid of it for a time. They stood in silence for large periods of time as the church learnt to worship but over time songs emerged from the congregation and they were able to reintroduce the band bit by bit. Could or should we be trying the same with our OHPs and lyric software? Have we put worship and God in a box that we need break out of? Are the things we have developed and used helping or hurting?

Many people often say faith is spelt R-I-S-K and leading worship like this right now is certainly a risk and needs the church and leaders to have faith but just think what God could do.