Effective Instructional Images: 2012-03-11

Friday, March 16, 2012

Brochure 1

Again, I thought this had gone up earlier. I've used personal images from my teaching experiences as well as info from the grant. I am still unsure of what I will put on the bottom of the back panel, but will figure that out soon

CRAP

Sorry this is late, I (thought I) had posted it last week, but clearly that did not work. I used the primary colors to add a change to my image (straying from black and white)

Visuals in Churches

Cherelle shared an interesting post about the uses of visuals in her church.

As I could not attach a photo to my comment, I am attaching one here. This is from the Unitarian Universalist (UU) church I attended in Underwood, MN. It was custom painted by a local artist. I believe it represents the well UU's commitment to use "wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life." (http://www.uua.org/beliefs/principles/index.shtml)

Peace, Matt

Eric Web Activity 9.1-9.2

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Brochure Rough Draft!

Visual Literacy and Church Planting

As some of you know, my husband and I (and a team of people) just planted a new Church here in Harrisonburg, VA. A Church plant is the process of establishing Christian church in a new location. This differs from a new church development (which is where a church, existing already, starts something new within). Launching a church plant is starting everything from the ground up. There is a lot of work that accompanies church plant; Planning location, timing, community purpose, target congregation, funding, outreach, leadership teams etc. Similarly to a business, a large component of Church Planting is its marketing plan. When developing a marketing plan for a new church, there are two focal points:

1. Sharing the specific mission/vision of the church plant with Christians and non-Christian

2. Sharing and emphasizing Christian doctrine, at large.

Using visual literacy techniques can be vital expressions of the specific purpose of the church plant, and that of the Christian Faith. The effective use of visuals in a church can also help individuals with understanding, remembering and performing.

The name of our Church is “Divine Unity Community Church”, called DUCC for short. This logo consist of four “U”’s to display DUCC. The logo puts emphasis on “Unity”, which is also a key element of the Church’s purpose. DUCC’s motto is “Welcome home…”, as the church has an emphasis on being a family (again with the unity).

In the front, the décor has a warm set up (like family room). This picture shows one of the walls which have posters representing our church's mission. The key visual here is the city skyline, denoting another key element of the Church, “community”.

My husband, Chris (DUCC’s Lead Pastor) is indeed a visionary leader and for each sermon series (which last about a month or so), he works with our 3D team to develop an illustrative sermon sets to enhance the message. The main point of an illustrative sermon is to engage the congregation (learners) by communicating the message visually. This month Pastor Chris is teaching a series called “Give me a Brick- Restoring the Ruins”. This sermon series is all about the biblical book of Nehemiah and his journey to rebuild the wall of his community. The picture above is of a fake brick wall developed by our 3D Team. The bricks are designed to break apart and be rebuilt (Pastor Chris is rebuilding the wall each week as he is teaching biblical principle and doctrine).

These are just some examples of how my church uses visuals to communicate or teach a message. Here are some sites that also discuss a churches visual plan:

This is a posting about visual arts using during the worship service: http://worship.calvin.edu/resources/resource-library/visual-arts-in-church-making-the-invisible-word-visible/

This purpose of this consulting business is to aiding a church’s design team: http://www.ccisolutions.com/StoreFront/category/consulting-church-audio-video-lighting

Have you ever thought about visual literacy and Church? The next time you attend church, pay attention to what the church is communicating visually. Do you think it is intentional (like DUCC) or by coincidence? Do you think this is too much effort for a church when the focus should be worshiping God?

You are welcome to visit my church located at 182 Neff Ave, Harrisonburg, VA 22801. We have service at 10AM every Sunday and bible study on Wednesdays at 7:30PM. You can also check us out at http://www.facebook.com/ducchurch or http://www.ducchurch.org/

In general, what are your thoughts about this topic?