Why Every Church Needs Video Engagement

Chris Anderson, the head honcho of the TED talks, discusses how web video accelerates innovation (h/t Seth Godin). While the whole video is interesting as he talks about how web videos inspire innovation and advancement, check out about 9:30 into the video (you can click the timeline to fast-forward to it)

Here’s the segment:

9:30 Humanity watches 80 million hours of Youtube videos every day. Cisco actually estimates that within 4 years, more than 90% of the web will be video. If it’s all puppies, porn and piracy, we’re doomed…Video is high-bandwidth for a reason. It packs a huge amount of data, and our brains are uniquely wired to decode it.

He also expands on his embrace of online video in a recent CNN article:

I’m convinced that the latest iteration of crowd-accelerated innovation, fueled by Web video, is about to ignite the biggest learning cycle in human history. There are huge implications for the future of global education. Tomorrow’s best teachers will be global stars reaching literally millions of kids. And talented students around the world will no longer have their potential destroyed by lousy teachers. They can learn directly from the world’s finest.

What I take from this rise of online video is three when applied to churches:

1. There’s a need for online video component to your church. Video has become ubiquitous not only because of its negative aspects of emotional coercion and seductive psychological manipulation. Rather, the brain is more fully engaged, the Created is more in tune with the rest of Creation when engaged in video. While print and spoken word are absolutely essential and train different parts of your brain (particularly critical thinking), the counterpart of video of services, preaching, teaching, conversation will be an essential component in coming years as a partner to the gatherings of followers of Christ.
2. There’s a weeding-out of bad preachers and teachers of bad theology.  We are fearful that the web gives a platform for bad theology and hate-filled rhetoric. It does. But the bad teachers will become either exposed or isolated from the global discourse…I mean, when anything comes up that says “Fred Phelps” I ignore it for my own sanity.  So long as people don’t embrace the fanciest of web fluffy sermons or write off  preachers for isolated sermonic shortcomings (we are human and I have bad sermons on occasion!), the potential for better theology and preaching is possible.
3. There’s a jump-start to alternatives to the dominant narrative. There are always critiques to dominant forms of Christianity that emerge in some circles (liberation, feminist, process, etc) and sometimes have a hard time expanding beyond their base to anywhere other than academic circles. With web video, explaining those subjects and providing a context for their emerging theology can make a better connection with other social groups. You can imagine a web chronicler taking a social event and collecting/presenting a dozen responses from faith-filled people from their different backgrounds…all on one page! Perhaps that respondent will be you from your pulpit, pew, or in a t-shirt at home in front of a webcam.

What do you think?

• If you have online video from your ministry context, what role does it play and how is it received?
• If you do not have online video from your ministry context, what considerations have you made regarding it?

Discuss. Welcome to our visitors!