In 2021, there are more worship backgrounds for churches to choose from than ever before. There’s such a vast selection, in fact, that it can be overwhelming. Church media is constantly changing and just like with any other form of design, trends can sometimes come and go quickly. But that just means there’s plenty of room to be creative as you choose backgrounds to enhance your worship services this year and beyond.
Let’s look at five of the most popular church background trends for 2021 (including some indispensable ones that are sure to stick around for many years to come).
https://www.worshiphousemedia.com/motion-backgrounds/84304/natures-palette-4-motion
1. The Classic: Nature Backgrounds
While nature backgrounds have evolved in style and quality over the years (we’ve come a long way since the “Bliss” scene used as the desktop wallpaper of Windows XP!), this type of background is a stalwart of church background trends. When you think of nature scenes, you probably think of mountainscapes, forests and trees, oceans and beaches, rivers, waterfalls, sunsets, sunrises… we could go on and on. These scenes are all perfect as either still or motion backgrounds for church. And the possibilities are as endless as the beauty of God’s creation itself.
With the improved technology of cameras to capture these beautiful nature scenes, as well as high definition resolutions and screens being more commonplace in churches and worship venues these days, nature backgrounds can look ultra-modern and they naturally create an environment for worship.
The best nature backgrounds for worship will have enough contrast to be visually interesting, but not so much that text is hard to read. Or at least, there will be a good area of the background that leaves room for text. This way the text does not conflict with the visual highlights of the background. After all, the text of your lyrics, scriptures, and sermon points needs to be easy to read.
While there are certain techniques like shadowing to enhance the visibility of text over nature scenes for example, current styles are leaning away from those and instead moving toward a cleaner look with simple fonts. Keep that in mind when looking for a nature background that works well behind your text.
https://www.worshiphousemedia.com/motion-backgrounds/83639/spring-to-life-6-motion
2. Most Flexible: Abstract Backgrounds
Abstract backgrounds represent a huge category of the worship backgrounds that are available for church. Most backgrounds that could be described as abstract are digitally produced and incorporate elements like textures, bokehs, light leaks, particles, computer generated clouds, etc. There is such a wide range of abstract backgrounds to choose from, you’re sure to find a type that will fit the specific needs of your worship service or event.
While you may first think of high-energy abstract styles and backgrounds for youth worship or young adult events, there are also many more subtle styles of abstract worship backgrounds.
The great thing about abstract backgrounds is that you can find them as bright or dark as you want, as colorful or subdued as you want, and as busy or simple as you want. This means it’s typically very easy to find the perfect background that makes your text highly visible, which is great for all ages and demographics! And if you have colored stage lighting, you can easily coordinate colors to make a complete look as well.
https://www.worshiphousemedia.com/motion-backgrounds/93108/raised-hallelujah-8-motion
3. Popular: Nature Backgrounds With Abstract Enhancements
We’ve explored nature backgrounds and abstract backgrounds as two different worship background trends so far. But how about a combination of the two? This combination happens to be a very popular style for many modern worship backgrounds. For this style, designers use already beautiful and inspiring nature scenes and then apply some of the elements commonly found on computer generated abstract backgrounds to them.
These designs add color and creativity so you can use backgrounds to build a theme and color scheme behind songs or scriptures. And not only that– they also provide more contrast and texture so your text can pop out above the scene for better readability.
https://www.worshiphousemedia.com/motion-backgrounds/90225/grace-and-joy-4-motion
4. Cutting Edge: Backgrounds Based On Shapes
On the cutting edge of background trends, you’ll find many trending worship backgrounds with designs based on shapes. Shapes utilized in various ways in backgrounds can add an interesting layer to nature scenes, abstract textures, or any combination of the two.
Whether a circle, square, rectangle, or even a triangle or hexagon, there are many creative designs incorporating different forms of shapes to make ultra-modern, futuristic looking scenes that boldly direct attention to the content on your screens. And if your screens are positioned in a way to be a part of your stage environment, backgrounds with shapes can even be incorporated as an element of your stage design.
https://www.worshiphousemedia.com/motion-backgrounds/90622/stripes-and-trees-squared
5. Clever But Simple: Backgrounds With Boxes
A church background trend that’s not necessarily based on a background at all is the use of design elements like simple boxes as backgrounds or over the top of backgrounds. These boxes provide a visual element to strengthen and support the text on your screens.
Whether you use your worship presentation software to generate boxes around your text, design them in a photo editing app like Photoshop or Canva, or purchase premade backgrounds with the box as part of the image, this is one way to instantly modernize your worship background look.
It could be a white box outline surrounding the text of your worship lyrics or the scripture you’re displaying, a solid black box stretching across the entire middle of the background, or maybe a solid white box where you’d use black text on top (try these with only two lines of text on each slide for a great look). It could even be a transparent box that uses the natural coloring of the background behind it.
You can be as creative as you want to be and experiment with adding any of these box design element ideas to your worship slides. You may find that it’s a simple step you can take to enhance the look of any of your existing backgrounds or make the new ones you purchase go even further.
In Conclusion
The backgrounds on the screen for your gatherings will also subtly (or not so subtly) shape the experience for those attending. Just like any on-screen media, they are a direct expression of your church’s identity and worship style. For that reason, you should make sure the backgrounds chosen for your services week in and week out are consistent with your worship style and represent your organization well. Members of your congregation or first time visitors can easily be made comfortable by imagery and backgrounds, and maybe they’ll even engage in worship quicker with the help of carefully chosen worship backgrounds.
Ultimately, every element of your church gathering is important. Even if it seems like picking backgrounds is insignificant in the grand scheme of things, it is a worthwhile effort. And when you take the time to get it just right, it’s even an act of worship itself!
No matter what type of church background trends you find yourself aligning with, the important thing is that you harness the power of backgrounds and visual media to help create an environment for worship that directs the attention to Jesus!
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