The Value of High-Quality Photography and Design for Church Media
Travis Silva

Before I came to Jesus, I wanted nothing to do with Christians because I thought they were unrelatable and boring. I associated Jesus with those followers and decided I would rather stay in the world, where it was fun. When I encountered Christ and became a Christian, I realized that Jesus wasn’t like man of His followers, He was creative and thought outside of the box.

Jesus used parables, stories that summoned mental images, to enhance spiritual understanding. With modern technology, we can do the same but to a different degree. Research shows us that looking at images allows us to utilize a different part of our brain than hearing or reading alone, causing us to better comprehend what we’re learning.

Visual Impact
We live in a culture that is immersed in photography and imagery in virtually every aspect of life. Marketing firms take advantage of this to increase sales and generate revenue for their companies. They have profound understanding that high quality images cause people to desire the products they’re promoting. The problem is that they use that desire to plant thoughts in our minds about purchasing things that we don’t truly need.

What if we, as Christians, changed how we operate and did everything as unto the Lord, with excellence? All too often, we don’t invest into the Kingdom of God in areas that will be effective. A great example of this is living in a culture enamored with state-of-the-art photography, yet the church displays poor quality and undesirable media.

Many churches today don’t take advantage of the resources available to them to promote the Kingdom of Jesus in a way that is relatable to the culture. In the body of Christ, we all play a part. In this world there are many people whom God has given the gift of creativity. Creativity is imperative to impact our culture today! If you are not one of those people, perfect! Do what you are called to do! But I want to challenge you to think about what you could accomplish with not only your gifts, but with the support of others’ creativity and the resources they have made available.

Stock Photography with a Christian Emphasis
Below are a few benefits to using Christian Stock Photography to ensure you’re being relevant and relatable.

o Sermon Slides. We’ve found that when slide images are high quality and specific to your sermon, they have the power draw people deeper into the teaching. Poor images, however, can become very distracting.
o Bulletins and Handouts. The availability of Stock Photography allows you to present great visual aids of what is going on at your church or in other ministries you represent.
o Blogs and Websites. Professional photography not only presents a lasting mental image of your content, but it also increases the quality of your site and makes your church/ministry more inviting.
o Social Media Pages. Engaging Stock Photography is essential to building a quality social media page that will attract people’s attention and spark their curiosity about the contents of the page.
The truth is, most ministries don’t have a strong photography or design team, which places more of a burden on the one doing all the above jobs. However, when they learn about all the resources available (some free, and some at a small fee) and how to use them, it enables them up to do what they do best.

Let us all work together as the body of Christ, giving our very best in everything we do. Giving EXCELLENCE for Jesus!

The above article, “The Value of High-Quality Photography and Design for Church Media” was written by Travis Silva. The article was excerpted from www.christianmediamagazine.com web site. April 2018.

The material is copyrighted and should not be reprinted under any other name or author. However, this material may be freely used for personal study or research purposes.

This article may not be written by an Apostolic author, but it contains many excellent principles and concepts that can be adapted to most churches. As the old saying goes, “Eat the meat. Throw away the bones.”