Microsoft PowerPoint has been a staple of my preaching and teaching for the past fifteen or so years. Outlines for taking notes to be included in the bulletins have also been a regular part of our church services. Anything that can aid in the communication and retention of God’s Word in people’s lives is fair game, in my estimation and practice.
But, I have been rethinking the indescriminate use of PowerPoint, just throwing up information on the overhead screen. For those unfamiliar with this modern technological "tool" it is a computer program for projecting your outline on the screen so congregants can see the preaching outline, see the scriptures you are quoting, read quotations from experts, see a visual representation of a key point you are making, etc. These certianly can aid in keeping people’s attention and at times be helpful. But, I have been uneasy with relying too much on the visuals and becoming lazy with good old fashion homiletics. Here is some of my thinking and the questions I have been asking myself:
1) I sometimes feel enslaved to the production and use of the powerpoint. Irrational maybe, but it’s there.
2) I get the feeling that when I put up a new slide, people stop listening to me and are focussing on reading what’s on the slide. It seems that the more information, the more I lose them. The slide takes over.
3) Do people get less used to seeing the scripture in their own Bibles if it is all presented on the screen? The corollary is do people see less need for bringing their bibles to church, and slowly begin losing the commendable and essential Berean ability to "examine the Scriptures to see if these things are so" (Acts 17:11).
4) Have I lost confidence that people are intelligent enough to know that even though their Bible version might differ from the mine, it still means the same thing (and the preacher has the responsibility to explain the different readings)?
5) Am I discerning enough to sense what really requires a visual representation and what does not? If I am reading a text to them, and they are trying to read it on the screen for themselves, then one of those may not be necessary. In fact, when I am the listener/viewer, I tend to tune out the speaker as I try to absorb everything on the screen.
6) Am I losing the ability (or becoming too lazy) to create word pictures, tell stories effectively, communicate creatively because it is so easy to flash up colorful, artistic clip art?
7) Have I given into the superficial notion that all visuals always make for better communication? When I began to ask, "What will including this particular slide do to enhancing the learning process?" the amount of visuals began to decrease. (Note, I realize for some preachers who never use any visuals, maybe the message is to start using some — but to do it with a purpose and not just because it is popular).
8) Is preaching really to be like a lecture, whose goal always is the rentention of knowledge? One young medical student said once, "In that sermon I felt like I was sitting in on a medical lecture, there were so many slides full of information to be memorized."
That’s just a few of my thoughts. Now, don’t get me wrong, I haven’t given up completely on the usual of visuals and Power Point. It is just that I have curbed it way back. As for whether or not my preaching is better or more effective, I leave that for others to judge, and ultimately to what God thinks. However, we must constantly be thinking about how best to communicate God’s Word, for in the end, it is God’s Word that has the power to change lives.
By the way, I am not alone in my changed thinking on this. Check out these links for what some other folks are coming to think about the overuse of PowerPoint.
http://www.preaching.org/powerpointretention/
http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/03/16/288796805/physicists-
Chuck Gianotti