Being involved in multimedia tasks during worship is not only somewhat stressful (everyone will see your mistakes on large screens), but also can tax one's spiritual connection with God.
We all need nourishment from God's word no matter how we serve the church. Media team members work at tasks throughout the se rvices. Typically, a glass barrier is between them and actual worship service. Continual disengagement can lead to bitterness and resentment toward the ministry.
If your multimedia team is small, the negative effects can be even greater. Tasks can easily take priority over actual worship.
It is important that multimedia team leaders care about the tasks they need to accomplish, and about the spiritual atmosphere of the media room and about the spiritual growth of team members. Here are a few tips to help guide leaders.
Schedule and train.
Make sure you have enough team members to staff multiple services on a monthly basis – and that the schedule allows them to attend some worship services without other responsibilities. If your media team is not large enough to do so, start a training program. If no one else volunteers, taper your media ministry.
Minister to the media team.
Build relationships with your team members and communicate with each about their spiritual growth. Set the ministry atmosphere in the media room. Pray as a team before services. Consider a monthly prayer meeting.
Allow downtime.
Plan services so your media team can respond to God's word through prayer and worship outside of the booth. This might mean a stationary image on the screen or no video recording during this time.
Foster reverence for worship.
Set guidelines for things that should happen between services such as eating, visiting with non-essential staff in the media room, surfing the Internet, having personal conversations and texting.
Offer a break.
If you identify a spiritual need or malnourishment in a team member, allow him or her to take a break from the tasks and be a part the worshipping congregation. This means you need to build a strong team. You may even consider a media fast. God can use this opportunity to move the hearts of potential team members.
These tips will help your team members balance serving the church and strengthening their personal relationship with Christ. Take action today to ensure you have a team that is spiritually strong as well as skilled.
—Darby Jones, eMarketing Coordinator at United Methodist Communications.