Digital Display Usage at RRPC
Should RRPC Take the Next Step in Digital Display Usage?
Worship is about more than tradition—it's about connection. In our sanctuary and across our livestream, people come to be guided, comforted, and included. But that only happens when they can fully engage with what's happening. Currently, our in-person worship relies solely on the bulletin, hymnals and verbal cues. Adding a display is another means of connecting to congregants in our sanctuary during worship services—or any service performed at RRPC.
Our YouTube livestream shows the pulpit and choir, but not the lyrics, scriptures, or prayers being shared. That leaves a large part of our worship—our shared voice and message—hidden or hard to follow by those joining us online.
(ABOVE) Conceptual image of the proposed large-screen display mounted to the wood beam above the chancel.
A simple solution solves both problems:
A digital display at the front of the sanctuary allows everyone—especially guests, children, and those unfamiliar with the hymns and liturgy—to sing and follow along easily.
Overlaying lyrics and slides onto our livestream ensures homebound members, traveling families, and online guests feel fully part of the service, not just observers.
This is not about adding flash. It's about clarity, accessibility, and engagement—the kind of small change that makes a big impact on worship participation for both regular attenders and newcomers.
Why This Matters
Our church has already embraced live streaming through OBS (the software we currently use to stream our service to YouTube). However, our worship experience—both in-person and remote—can be significantly enhanced by integrating OpenLP (software that allows displayed text, images, and more).
Key Benefits of OpenLP
OpenLP provides seamless integration with OBS for overlays and full-screen lyrics, while allowing easy management of hymns, scriptures, and slides from our sanctuary computer. Hymn lyrics are already available in OpenLP, and prayers, responsive readings, and other liturgy can easily be made available for presentation in the sanctuary as well.
Members who cannot attend in-person will be able to see hymns, prayers, and other worship elements from their computer, laptop, or phone—something not currently available with our OBS-only system.
What We Already Have
OBS is set up and functioning well. OpenLP is readily available for easy download and is completely free. OpenLP is easy to use and there is already an experienced OpenLP user in the congregation.
How It Works Together
OpenLP projects lyrics and presentations to a local screen. OBS captures the OpenLP feed and streams it via YouTube. Presentations are synced prior to Sunday morning with worship service flow, including songs, verses, prayers, readings, etc., as desired.
Implementation Plan
Phase 1: Start using OpenLP visuals during Sunday worship minimally, to display only hymn lyrics on the new large-screen display.
Phase 2: Add OpenLP overlays to OBS live stream for remote viewers so hymn lyrics can be seen on YouTube.
Phase 3: Add additional visuals, as desired, for Call to Worship, Prayer of Confession, Doxology, or other readings or responses. This will also be available to YouTube viewers.
Summary
This is an easy, low-cost upgrade to our current worship technology—and it's easy to put in place within a few weeks.
Important Considerations
Physical Installation: The display will be mounted on the wood beam directly above the communion table, covering only a section of the front beam. The 85" thin-screen LED TV will fit within the confines of the beam itself. The view of the chancel will not be impeded in any way, and there will be no screen covering the chancel cross (see image above).
Traditional Resources: Hymnals will not be removed, and bulletins will continue to be available to anyone who wants one. Congregants may choose whether to view the display or traditional printed materials.
Worship Experience: Congregants may enjoy looking up while they sing, or during the Prayer of Confession, responsive readings, and other liturgy. RRPC pastors would likely appreciate seeing more faces as we sing praises and join in prayers.
Pastoral Recruitment: Pastoral candidates may see the use of technology such as this as attractive and helpful in their decision to come to our church.
Community Use: Display technology will be especially useful to outside organizations that use our church. A past example would be Menaul School's baccalaureate program, which could have benefited from increased visibility during their program with student names, images, prayer wording, and more.
Welcoming the Next Generation: Visitors may be younger than the vast majority of our members—they are, in fact, RRPC's future. Making our worship experience accessible through technology may help attract and engage younger members. We should take measures in technology advancement to welcome younger members for their sake and the sake of our future church.
— RRPC Technology Task Force