Should sermon points be shown on screen?

Sparingly. Text on screen competes with the person speaking, so it earns its place when it is something the congregation should carry out of the room — a main idea, a memorable phrase, a passage structure. Every sub-heading on screen turns a sermon into a lecture slide deck.

When should church announcements go on screen?

Before the service, on rotation, while people are arriving and talking. That is when they are actually read. Announcements during the service compete with what is happening and are usually forgotten by the car park.

Does a countdown timer before the service help?

Yes, more than most churches expect. It tells arrivals how long they have, gives the band a definite end to soundcheck, and publicly commits the church to a start time — which is usually the real reason services drift.

What makes worship lyrics readable on screen?

Short lines broken where they are sung, generous type, high contrast, and a change of screen that lands slightly before the line is needed rather than on it. Lyrics are read at singing pace, which is faster than reading pace.

Presentation

Everything else on the screen: sermon points, announcements, countdowns and lyrics

By Mambo Mutinda · Founder & CEO, TajiCast

10 August 2026 · Updated 8 September 2026

Scripture is the main thing a church screen does, but it is not the only thing. Sermon points, announcements, countdowns and lyrics all compete for the same surface — and most churches show more than helps. This is about what earns the space.

The rule underneath all of it

Text on screen competes with the person speaking. Reading and listening use enough of the same attention that a congregation cannot fully do both. Every slide is therefore a trade: what is on the screen has to be worth some of what is being said.

That single test settles most of the questions below.

Sermon points

Applied to sermon points, the test is unforgiving. A screen showing every heading turns preaching into a lecture, and the congregation reads ahead instead of listening.

Show a point when it is something to carry out of the room:

The main idea, once, when it is reached.
A phrase worth remembering exactly.
The structure of a passage, when the structure is the argument.

Leave it off for:

Sub-points and transitions.
Anything the preacher is about to say in the next sentence anyway.
Points that exist because the deck had a slot for them.

A good discipline: if the point would still help someone who arrived ten minutes late, it is probably worth screen time. If it only makes sense in the flow of what has just been said, it is not.

Keep the design quiet

Sermon points share a screen with scripture, so they should share its look — same face, same weight, same margins. A different design for every kind of content makes the screen feel restless.

ImagePhotograph: a single sermon point on screen, in the same visual language as the church's verse display

One idea, in the same voice as the scripture beside it.

Announcements

Almost every church shows announcements at the wrong time.

Before the service is when they are read. People are arriving, talking, settling. A rotation of clear slides gets genuine attention in a way that the same slides mid-service never will.

During the service they compete, and lose. An announcement between songs is heard once and forgotten by the car park.

What works on a pre-service rotation:

One thing per slide. Two events on one slide means neither is remembered.
The essentials only — what, when, where. Detail belongs in whatever people do next.
Slow rotation. Long enough to read twice, which is longer than it feels when you are setting the timing.
A way to act. A QR code that opens the sign-up or the church app closes the gap between interest and action while the person is still holding their phone.

The countdown

The cheapest improvement most churches can make to a Sunday, and consistently underrated.

A countdown on screen before the service:

Tells arrivals how long they have, which settles a room faster than an announcement.
Gives the band a definite end to soundcheck.
Commits the church publicly to a start time — which is usually the real reason services drift.

Keep it simple: large numbers, high contrast, and the service name. A countdown with three lines of text underneath is not a countdown.

Start it when people begin arriving, not five minutes before. A countdown that says 20:00 does more work than one that appears at 2:00 and only tells latecomers they are late.

Worship lyrics

Lyrics are their own discipline, and the differences from scripture matter.

They are read at singing pace, faster than reading pace, so type has to be larger and lines shorter than you would set for a verse.

Break where the line is sung. A lyric broken to fill the width fights the phrasing and the congregation stumbles.

Change slightly early. The next screen wants to be up just before it is needed. On the beat is already late.

Two lines at a time suits most congregations. Four lines means people read ahead; one line means constant changes.

If you run songs as well as scripture, this is where a full presentation suite genuinely earns its place — song libraries, arrangement handling and lyric flow are real features and not worth recreating by hand.

ImagePhotograph: worship lyrics on screen from mid-congregation, showing line length and type size in a lit room

Sung pace is faster than reading pace — set larger than feels necessary.

How much is too much?

A rough hierarchy for a normal Sunday:

Scripture being preached — the screen's main job.
Lyrics, while singing.
A countdown, before the start.
Announcements, before the start.
Sermon points, sparingly.
Everything else — usually nothing.

If the screen is busy through the sermon, something in that list is being over-served.

The takeaway

Everything on screen costs some attention from the person speaking. Make each thing earn it.
Announcements and countdowns belong before the service, where they are actually read.
Lyrics need bigger type, shorter lines and earlier changes than scripture does.

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Frequently asked questions

Should sermon points be shown on screen?: Sparingly. Text on screen competes with the person speaking, so it earns its place when it is something the congregation should carry out of the room — a main idea, a memorable phrase, a passage structure. Every sub-heading on screen turns a sermon into a lecture slide deck.
When should church announcements go on screen?: Before the service, on rotation, while people are arriving and talking. That is when they are actually read. Announcements during the service compete with what is happening and are usually forgotten by the car park.
Does a countdown timer before the service help?: Yes, more than most churches expect. It tells arrivals how long they have, gives the band a definite end to soundcheck, and publicly commits the church to a start time — which is usually the real reason services drift.
What makes worship lyrics readable on screen?: Short lines broken where they are sung, generous type, high contrast, and a change of screen that lands slightly before the line is needed rather than on it. Lyrics are read at singing pace, which is faster than reading pace.

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