MEDIA IN
Ministry GO SOCIAL
The traditional model of a sermon is set up perfectly for auditory learners—those who learn best by hearing information. But some people learn better by moving and touching (kinesthetic learners) and others by seeing things in front of them (visual learners).
This difference is recognized in various ways. For example, preachers love to look out and see someone taking notes (a kinesthetic way of engaging the material).
FILM REVIEW
Finding Dory This summer blockbuster is the sequel to the Academy Award- winning 2003 animated film Finding Nemo. Dory, who also appeared in the earlier film, is a blue tang with short-term memory loss. As a young fish, she wandered away from home and now, as an adult, she begins having memories of her parents and becomes desperate to find her way home. Nemo and his father, Marlin, try to help her, as do a seven-armed octopus, a whale, a bird, a turtle and other sea creatures.
Technology is another way to invite people of various learning styles to engage in the Sunday morning proclamation. Pastors could encourage people to type notes on their phones that will help them absorb and remember what they’ve heard. They could encourage people to take pictures of the moments that stand out to them in worship, engaging their visual senses. Or congregants could draw on their tablet as they experience the word.
These are all ways to help people engage more with worship, not distract from worship.
Technology helps us reach the world On a given Sunday, Pastor Jones preaches to a congregation of 100 people at St. John Lutheran. He is a good preacher, and the Spirit moves through their worship. But at the end of the day, the only way for people to experience the amazing things God is doing in their worship is for them to come to St. John.
But if members checked in on Facebook when they come to worship, all of their friends would see it and could talk about it in the week to come. If another member tweeted one of the pastor’s insights from the sermon, hundreds of people would also learn from that insight. And if someone posted a picture of an uplifting moment to Instagram, all sorts of conversations could happen about the work God is doing.
The worship of the church is a public act. Social media allow us to reach the world and engage people far beyond the church doors with the word we are encountering in worship.
David Hansen Hansen, pastor of Spirit of Joy! Lutheran Church, Woodlands, Texas, is a regular contributor to this page.
46 AUGUST 2016
As Dory undertakes this noble quest, we identify with her longing to return to the place where she belongs, a place of peace and security.
Although Dory is often overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy, she manages to persevere through the chaos of new places and many different faces. Luckily this heroine is advised to ask herself: “What would Dory do?” and it becomes her personal mantra and a source of self-esteem (Walt Disney Pictures/Pixar, PG—mild thematic elements).
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Photo: Walt Disney Pictures/Pixar
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