| A steady transition has been taking place in church services with the employment of visual electronic media intended to enhance the worship experience for congregants. Electronically assisted worship utilizes presentational software and hardware to incorporate video, film clips, texts, graphics, lyrics, TV broadcasts, Internet, Twitter, and even iPods. Adding visual presentational media raises questions about their effectiveness in assisting worshippers in finding deeper meaning as a result. These media are costly and require leaders trained in their use. A review of literature indicated that these media can be distracting and cause a loss of qualities that define worship. Within this narrow context, this research has focused on the uses of visual electronic media (VEM) and their effects, if any, on the levels of worship satisfaction among congregants that attend churches employing these technologies. McLuhan and McLuhan's (1988) tetrad of media effects model served in part, as a useful framework from which to examine the effects of the introduction of VEM into the church environment.;This study was an exploratory research project that surveyed 566 congregants taking part in worship services in 26 Pentecostal congregations in the southeastern United States. Participants reported that VEM was effective in enhancing the meanings of texts, lyrics to songs as well as creating a deeper sense of worship satisfaction. Qualities were not reported as being lost as a result of electronic projections of texts and lyrics. Participants identified qualities that had been discovered or rediscovered from their use. Results further indicated that a positive attitude about media applications in church worship was significantly predictive of worship satisfaction levels among congregation members. The perception of a leader's competency in the use of VEM was also significantly predictive of the participant's levels of worship satisfaction. |
