If your Church is worshipping outside, then it may be appropriate to put up a tent. After all, there is a precedent for this in the Old Testament – i.e. the Tabernacle. This will keep everyone dry should a summer thunderstorm come through. Otherwise, everyone will be scrambling to find shelter. That can be a significant disruption to worship.

How do you support meeting in the “Tabernacle” with technology? Perhaps you have an outdoor Public Address (PA) system that you can use. Wireless microphones are used in most services, and they will work great outside. You can try a projector screen, but the ambient light may be too strong to see words projected. So you may need to use hymnals or printed song lyrics. Or you could have the lyrics online, where everyone could read them off their smart phone.

Outdoor meetings can be a great way to help people get back to worship. They will provide plenty of fresh air, and will be fun for the children. Technology will work outside. You just need to do some planning.

Many Churches are moving to outdoor worship as a way of maintaining social distance protocols. If you have worship on the Church lawn, then people can space out as they feel comfortable.

The challenge is to have a PA system that handles this. Think of an outdoor concert. It has to be loud enough to drown out the noise of traffic going by. But it also has to be soft enough not to offend anyone. Perhaps you need multiple speakers set up so that everyone can hear clearly without being too loud.

With Churches starting to think about meeting in person again, it makes one wonder how that might work. Suppose you meet outside, where you have lots of space for social distancing. You could easily fill up the front lawn with people sitting in folding chairs. What are the technical considerations?

First of all, you should consider the weather forecast. If it is going to thunder and lightning because a thunderstorm rolls through, then the preacher will be upstaged. And everyone will probably scramble for the front porch of the Church, where they will huddle together. If the weather is cold, then the elderly will likely skip the service.

Secondly, make sure that you have a sound system outside. Think of an outdoor concert. With traffic rolling by, there will be lots of external noise. You need a sound system that can reinforce the word spoken and hymns sung so that everyone can hear clearly, even out by the street.

Thirdly, consider what you need to do pre-service and post-service. Normally, people congregate in the vestibule to converse with one another. Outdoors, that will look like something else. Try to consider effective ways to pass out bulletins – e.g. via an electronic link. Provide coffee if that is the normal pre-service fellowship time, but deliver it to anyone seated.

Worshipping outdoors reminds me of Camp Meeting. There, you had a Tabernacle to keep the rain off, but plenty of cool breeze in the evening time. It was relaxing and enjoyable. Try to make your Outdoor Worship a time to refresh the soul.