Last week’s post discussed lighting in worship. Some lighting effects can greatly enhance the corporate worship experience–others can be a distraction. Additionally, much can be done with lighting and creativity to transform the front area of your worship space to an area that enhances worship, and much of this can be done on a tight budget.
Historically, the church has been really good at creating worship spaces that capture the imagination visually, incorporating the arts to help us worship wholistically, telling the stories of God, and helping us worship. Today, churches are generally constructed more like blank canvasses that really don’t seem any different from a secular meeting space. There is nothing there to draw our senses to our magnificent God.
Transforming that space can be a very rewarding venture and one that can engage people in your church with creative arts talents.
One website that I have found really helpful in sparking the imagination is www.ChurchStageDesignIdeas.com. Churches send in their church stage transformation stories and pictures. While some of the designs may be distracting in some settings, you can find many ideas to work with in your church. Here are some examples; click on the photos for more information:
Creative use of fabrics and lighting:
This one is done with aluminum window screen and lighting:
Black landscape fabric, white paint, and a broom:
Here’s the before and after for this easily transformable (i.e. removable) stage design:
After:
A bit more complicated, but rather nice:
Here is an example of a church (First Baptist Church, Oklahoma City) with a beautiful traditional-style sanctuary that has used lighting to enhance the setting:
Is your worship space rather anemic and plain? Get together some creative folk, take a look at some ideas, and get to work. Help capture the imagination of your people to focus their hearts on our magnificent God.
Please share in the comment section any ideas your church has carried out.
