Second Life
When it comes to online ministry, much has changed … and much has not. A couple weeks ago a group of computer programmers and web gurus told me about a cyber church in the Second Life world. As they described it, I became intrigued. First, the “people” that attend the church are actually avatars that are controlled by people sitting behind keyboards literally all over the world. The church service, Bible studies, discussion, etc., are in real time and are led by real ministers. There’s real music, real preaching, and real ministry going on.
At first, it would be easy to dismiss the phenomena as just another computer program attended by people who are addicted to computer gaming, etc., and that this isn’t a “real” community at all. It’s funny, though, that’s pretty much the same thing I heard ten years ago when the congregation I led took the plunge to get out from under our real estate and became a network of Seattle house churches. Having no building meant we couldn’t “really” be a church.
The first cyber church I reported on was the Alpha Church in Under the Radar by me (Bill Tenny-Brittian) and Bill Easum. That was several years ago and much has changed in the world of cyberspace. So much so, that a church that churches that treats their website like a Yellow Pages’ ad are falling further and further behind in their evangelistic effectiveness. Today’s church website must be both invitational and interactive. Sure, there are folks currently in our congregations who will never so much as fill out a poll on the church’s site, but the question is, what are we doing about those in our communities (both locally and cyber) who are looking for a safe place to explore the faith and/or ways in which to further their faith via the web? Today’s church websites can easily include blogs that invite comments, devotionals that include journaling options, prayer rooms that offer both live and long-term posting opportunities, training videos, podcasts (audio broadcasts), polls, and even spiritual self-assessment inventories that suggest the “next step” in their faith walk, based on their scores. There are scores of these “web-empowered” churches out there … you can find some at the Web-Empowered Church website and the Examples page.
Churches that treat their website like more than an online newspaper ad with a map and service times are the churches that are telling the community “We’re here for today and are reaching into tomorrow.”
Bill T-B