The Mindset of Metaverse Ministry
Web3 compels us to re-evaluate our theology
Synopsis: When consulting with church leaders about Web3 ministry, I used to talk about platforms and hardware. However, now I talk about The Mindset of Metaverse Ministry.
Newsletter Summary:
The Way Things Were 🗝️
The Way Things Are ⛪
The Way Things Will Be 🤖
PODCAST Update 🎙️
Extra Resources ✨
The Way Things Were 🗝️
Way back in 2010, I (D.J. Soto) was a volunteer and then eventually an ordained pastor at a large physical church in the northeast of the United States. During that time, I launched an online “streaming ministry”. It was your standard live stream combined with a text chat for our Sunday morning church service.
The reason I put “streaming ministry” in quotes is because there was a strong resistance amongst our church leadership to think of it any more than that. My hope was to build a full online church experience from large worship to small groups. Essentially, an attendee could be “online-only”.
However, church leadership was concerned with the online experience replacing physical church attendance on a Sunday morning. In other words, anything that affected physical attendance and giving was a “no-go.”
A church member could not be “online-only”.
No hate from me because honestly, this mindset is only logical. This current generation of church leaders was educated in seminary and theological systems that were void of any digital expression of ecclesiology. This is all new. A reluctant and hesitant attitude is prevalent among church leaders. Technology is feared because of its disruptive tendencies to physical church attendance and some even claim it to be a tool of the devil.
There’s data behind this attitude: the State of the Church 2020 from Barna revealed what we as pastors really believe about technology. Look at the bottom of this image. What do you notice?
Notice waaaaay down at the bottom of the image how we truly valued digital and technological trends. It’s pretty much off the radar. I imagine these numbers are shifting in this Covid-era, but I still engage in conversations that reveal resistance even as we transition into Web3.
I do not intend to be dramatic, but I believe that to be an effective church in Web3, a radical tactical shift is required.
The Way Things Are ⛪
In 2020, I watched the theology of the church change in real-time. It was fascinating!
Before Covid, some held a strong attitude against digital and technological tools of all kinds. Then Covid happened. In a matter of weeks, I saw the theology change among even the staunchest critics of the online church.
A church in my community that was against online services (in the past a friend tried to get them into live streaming with no luck) created a church online experience and encouraged everyone to attend. From my understanding, it was a great success, and they even started adding cameras to increase production value.
The theology about church online changed, not because of a chapter and verse in the Bible, but because the experience compelled us to do so.
You would think our theology would shape our experience, but it was the other way around. The experience of Covid shaped our theology.
All of a sudden we are coming to grips that the hardcore theology we embraced about the church being only physical was in fact rooted in tradition, form, and fashion. We could not imagine the church taking another form.
(Remind me to tell you sometime about the pastor who thought VR Church was unbiblical until he visited, then he change his mind. Yet another example of someone’s experience that shaped their theology.)
The Way Things Will Be 🤖
This brings me to the shift when I talk with church leaders about the metaverse. I used to have conversations about which metaverse platforms to use and what hardware to buy, but now I lead with these critical beliefs that I’ve learned as a metaverse pastor for over six years:
An online attendee and a physical attendee are the same. One is not better than the other. Express your ministry with this value in mind.
The fullness of the ecclesia can be experienced in the metaverse. This means the metaverse church is not lacking in any way.
I believe these mindsets are critical as you approach ministry in Web3. Otherwise, you will not be effective. You hit what you aim for.
Incidentally, the next generation will have zero issues gathering and expressing church in virtual communities because they were birthed in the era of digital relationships in platforms like Roblox and Minecraft…just ask Daniel Herron.
I encourage you to have a conversation about this mindset shift. It’s not a matter of should (is it okay to do church online?) or could (what things can and can’t be done online?).
It’s a matter of how.
PODCAST Update 🎙️
Production of “The Future of the Church is the Metaverse” podcast is underway! I’d like you to meet my co-host, Pastor Alina
Alina was a flight attendant and had a passion for skydiving untill she became disabled about 10 years ago. She has an autoimmune condition as well as a rare disorder called Erythromelalgia. These keep her confined to her home a majority of the time. She is now a pastor at VR Church and has started a charity giving VR headsets to those in need. She is married to a loving, supportive husband and is blessed to have her VR family. She says she has never known so much love as she does today.
We hope to release the podcast later this fall!
Extra Resources ✨
Haven’t mastered Web2 yet? Our friends at Digivangelism can help!
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Enjoy this conversation with the Church Leaders Podcast about why a Virtual Reality Church is just as legitimate as a physical gathering.
Image from https://www.barna.com/research/whats_on_mind_americas_pastors/
Honestly, this is something that is really impressive and has made so many people happier thanks to modern technology. Virtual reality app development has been a hot topic over the past few years, but it has mostly been limited to video games, entertainment and educational purposes. Recently, more and more people are interested in exploring new areas of VR application development, such as medical training and design visualization.
https://servreality.com/nft-blockchain/metaverse-development-service/