The other day on BlueSky I saw a post from a Gen Xer: “This week I’ve learnt that PowerPoint Parties are a thing”. And that’s how I learnt that PowerPoint Parties are a thing. I’m not sure just how much of a thing they are in Australia, let alone Tasmania, but if they’re not I’m going to do my best to make PowerPoint Parties happen. Because they so obviously have great potential to serve gospel ministry ends.
There are some cultural trends that are good to be aware of, and that might serve as a youth group talk illustration or social event idea but are otherwise largely useless for gospel ministry. Like the Ice Bucket Challenge. Others, such as blogging, podcasts, YouTube and TikTok, have potential for individuals or larger media organisations, but are not as effective for local churches and other ministries. The PowerPoint party, however, has great potential.
PowerPoint What?
The trend was sparked by ironic nostalgia for school projects featuring PowerPoint presentations with unnecessarily elaborate slide transitions and so on. The parties feature several presentations of around five minutes, followed by questions and interaction. They can be themed or open, light-hearted or more earnest. It seems to me it is Generation Z’s bathetic answer to the TED talk. What a fun way to spend an evening! What a great way to empower the nerds and info-dumpers in our midst! And what potential for leveraging this trend for gospel ministry!
The Gospel Ministry Potential of PowerPoint Parties
A fresh idea for social nights, if trivia nights, board games and bowling have become overdone, a PowerPoint Party might be worth a try. I could imagine it working whether the social night were for a break in regular programming, to have some fun as a team, or to invite non-Christian friends to meet Christian friends.
A PowerPoint Party approach could also be an inclusive variation of a preachers’ workshop. The format sends a signal that those seeking to improve in public speaking need not be suited to preaching sermons or other stand-alone speeches.
A PowerPoint Party could easily be adjusted to various softer modes of evangelism: exploring ethical questions; reviewing books, films and TV from a Christian perspective; personal testimony nights; dealing with apologetic matters; or even simply presenting dimensions of the gospel—say, three or four ‘cross-words’: redemption, triumph, atonement, reconciliation.
With any of these, my guess is that the key to their success as PowerPoint Parties, and not just lectures with slides, relies on a few things. First, to embrace a keen commitment to engaging—not necessarily by being entertaining and funny, but also by being brief, specific, personal or something else. Secondly, the approach requires some willingness to understand an affectionately ironic use of the medium. Something about a PowerPoint Party slideshow, I suspect, is that it needs to be a bit ‘extra’: playing with the cheesy, dated ‘features’ of PowerPoint in formatting, sound effects and slide transitions; adopting something of the posture and timing of someone delivering a presentation; creative attention to choice of image, diagram and text—again all with at least a slightly postmodern, self-referential or intertextual slant.
I am very curious to find out if Christian ministries have already been trying some of these. And I can’t wait to facilitate one through our university Christian Union, if I can enthuse our students.
