Hmmm, not entirely sure I know exactly what you mean, but I'll take a stab.
Typical to many contemporary, young adult demographic night church meetings, we do pretty much everything from a screen.
Without a book or sheet of paper for a guide, any visitors needs alternative cues. So our meeting leaders work hard at... well, leading. As opposed to just MCing the gig.
So the leader will direct the flow of the meeting, introducing many of the elements or using key images on the screen to give a clue as to what is next.
That what you mean Steve?

Mmmm

The Church I attend, South Yarra PC, doesn't do anything special. Because we are inner city(?) we usually have visitors every Sunday. There is a service sheet enclosed with the Hymn Book, the minister leads the service from start to finish with the elders sharing the Bible readings. Really very straight forward, not confusing, a service designed for the worship of God, with all the traditional elements for such a service.

This morning there were between 80 and 85 in attendance of whom perhaps 30 were children of various ages. The children stay in for the service which runs from 10.30 am for maybe 1 hour, 20-30 mins. Sunday School/Bible class occurs immediately before morning worship. After church almost all stay for morning tea which includes various dips, snacks and things for the children, with a church lunch together last Sunday in the month.

Not high tech at all, and no one seems to mind. I commend SYPC to any visiting Sydneysiders - we are on Punt Rd between Commercial and Toorak Rds.

Hard to answer. At 8am, it's prayer book. At 10am, it's printed bulletin/service sheet. At 5 and 7pm it's data projector.

DO I vote 4 times?

All three can be done well or badly.

I think most churches would use a combination of printed handout and overhead/video projector.

I guess Steve is asking which is the primary maping tool?

I agree - giving you multiple options would have been helpful - my apologies for the oversight. Perhaps just list the 'map' used for the service you attend, and list in the comments here the details of the different services. Thanks for your feedback.

I also agree with you Sandy - they can all be done poorly or done really well. Can you think of particular examples of these? Things you'd like never to be seen done again!?

8 a.m.: Prayer book
9.45 a.m. Printed sheet for those with poor eyesight, and data projector for the rest.
6.30 p.m. Data Projector.

Prayer book meetings are done badly when the person leading them reads badly or demonstrates a lack of comprehension of what he is reading- this can be picked up by ad lib comments made or by the wrong emphasis in the way in which the person reads.

Data Projected needs to be in a large font size, without a distracting colour as the background. If one is saying a creed or praying a confession, it is imperative that is the prayer/ creed does not fit in one projection, the change to the next slide occur promptly so that there is no artificial pause in the middle of the prayer/creed.

Does a Service Leader/MC count as a 'mapping tool'?

Steve, one poor experience is when the minister read the Lord supper service from the standard sheet but the some of the projector slides were not consistent. There were extra parts and missing parts.

What is your opinion about displaying the Bible passage during Bible reading?

At my church, in one service, the passage is displayed and the reason is that it is convenient for people to follow. The Bible is provided at the welcoming desk but most people do not grab them.

In another service, it is not displayed so that people have to read directly from the Bible instead of relying on the projector.

@Johnson Thie
Personally, I will always display the Bible reading on the screen as well as encouraging people to follow it in their own Bibles.
I want to make it as accessible as I can to as many as I can...

8am is always a Prayer Book Communion service.

10am uses video projector - no set service.
Bible reading page numbers are displayed on the screen so people can find it in their bibles.
2nd Sunday HC.

5.30 uses video projector - no set service. 4th Sunday HC

If the Bible reading is done well, you will get more out of it if you listen and don't try to read along.

However, this may be the only time that people open their Bibles all week...

@David McKay
Now David, you can't make sweeping statements like that ;) Some people will get more out of a well read Bible reading perhaps, but certainly not everyone.
Not everyone learns best by audio input, some are more visually focussed.
Not everyone can find their way around a Bible - even if they are given page numbers.

For visitors, the overwhelming feedback we get is that having it on the screen in full is very helpful, allowing them to participate more fully in the meeting whether they have a Bible or are even comfortable finding their way around one.
It's easy and excellent way to be inclusive and welcoming for meetings using projection as their 'map'

Hi Neil,
I am interested having the entire reading put up; I've generally only put up the page numbers. In your experience, have all age groups appreciated having the reading on the screen?

I've sometimes had the verses I'm talking about up on the screen during the Bible Talk. Have you tried that?

Hi Philip,
Generally yes, all age groups seem to value it - that's assuming that the projection system is capable of displaying suitably sized text, etc.
Older people appreciate not having to scrabble through a Bible, and younger people (the congregation I'm responsible for is predominantly Gen Y) expect stuff on the screen.

Visuals in my talks are deliberately sparse but pitched at using occasional images to reinforce an idea or point, other graphic 'tools', and the text of verses I refer to in the talk.

Neil, I think that sweeping statement is generally correct.

[so I disagree with the statement that all generalisations are wrong!]

I would point out that having the script of tonight's news would not make it easier to absorb what the newsreader is saying, but harder.

I got this from Clifford Warne and from my own personal observation.

Speaking of having it all on screen: in too many churches the screen changes are not done well. [But also there are a lot of crook Bible readers who don't even go to the trouble of reading the passage aloud to themselves first.]

And although there is something to be gained in having the prayer book stuff up on screen [and omitting the bits in the book which aren't relevant to the twenty ninth Sunday after Trinity], it would also be helpful for peopel to have their own prayer book and own hymn book to use at home, which they're less likely to have if it is spoon fed to them on the screen.

Actually there is education research that suggests that comprehension is increased if you only listen and don't read along with the text while someone else is reading it. So I do that in church.. although all the pious think I'm some sort of renegade.

It was in the secular press and we did an article on it last year. The point about Bible reading was made by the researcher.

Whether you want people to have their Bibles open in church for other reasons is another matter.

I've heard this too - one of the people at church pointed me to an article he'd come across with these research articles. I've also noticed this myself when I read the Bible out loud (e.g. in Bible study). I get to the end, and I can't remember anything I'd read!!

I think reading out loud is how we were meant to read the Bible, because that's how everyone read until about 900 AD.

Reading silently did start coming in around the time of Augustine, but it was so unusual that Augustine commented on Ambrose doing it. [Ambrose was muttering rather than reading aloud.]

Steve, I conducted an experiment in a series of read-throughs of the Bible and when I read The Books of the Bible: a presentation of Today's New International Version, I tried to read it out loud. I was mainly able to do this, but didn't want to disturb the rest of the household [my wife, the budgies and the cockatiel] so I did it early in the morning in the dining room with the door shut].

I think it is easier for your mind to wander when you are reading silently.

I enjoyed the experience, which I recommend.

Thanks for sharing your experiment David - I'll give it a go and see how I find it. Anything that makes reading the Bible easier and stops my mind from wandering is worth a try!