many of the elements we use in our worship just wouldn’t work or feel right in a ‘normal’ church environment . so our worship relies on creating the right environment - a place where people feel relaxed and yet aware of being in a sacred place

below are some thoughts on creating an environment for worship based on our experience:

light : because we are using projected slides and video, a darkened space is necessary . this also creates an atmosphere of quiet and enables us to ‘fade-in’ the worship . we often use candles as illumination or a coloured image projected over the worship area from the rear of the hall . the only drawback can be reading in the dark, if this is a problem we usually use pocket torches

furniture : although we meet in a church, we do not usually use the sanctuary furniture or the usual seating . these are associated with ‘traditional’ worship formats and can restrict us in creating our worship . we often block off the sanctuary area with large white sheets which we project onto from behind . unless we’re creating a cafe style event the chairs are stacked and removed and replaced with large rugs and cushions - this allows freedom of movement within the worship and means there are no barriers between each other and the environment . an altar is often created with three low tables covered in white cloth . we have also used a low circular altar to create a circular worship space, but this can create problems with positioning the projection equipment if there is stuff its essential that everyone can see at the same time (eg words for hymns or prayers)

equipment : most of the gear we use is hidden out of site behind wherever possible, this is good from a safety point of view as we don’t have to worry about cables . we used to have at least 2 people ‘behind the scenes’ operating the gear, but this prevented the operators participating in the worship . we now try and keep things a bit simpler, the sound gear is out front with the DJ part of the congregation, and we usually use remote control for operating the video

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