Should You Use Visual Aids?
The Unashamed Workman blog has a list of arguments for and against the use of visual aids like PowerPoint in sermons. It is a compilation of the comments that the blog received on a previous post. Some of the interesting ones are:
FOR
1. Visual images were frequently used by Jesus to illustrate the word he preached.
AGAINST
1. It shows a lack of confidence in the word preached.
3. It can produce a ‘lecture feel.’
I think the turning of a sermon into a lecture is a very real danger and anything that pushes towards that should be at the very least critiqued heavily. After having said that however, I think that visual aids can be helpful, but the preacher must never become dependent on them. Many of us will be called to preach at least on occasion in venues and churches that do not have the technological hook-up to run PowerPoint slides. If that is the case, one should still be ready and able to handle the word just like all of other preachers have done through the ages.
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