The one about Video game evangelism and even church...

I got an email today from someone who I think I met at a Emerging Church event I went to....But anyway it had a link going to this blog talking about video games possibly being missional in nature. Well, I responded twice with the following (little bit reworked) responses (I thought yall my find it interesting...and please let me know if you know of any church that would actually consider this...I want to be a part of it...even if it is only in the thought processes):

1st Response Post:

Well, this has been a vision of mine for quite some time, and since I am a United Methodist Pastor, I am longing to see a conference/district/church that would be willing to take heavy amounts of risk in ministry to share the good news of Christ in new and different ways.

BTW: Andrew, the gaming world has already taken over Hollywood
see this link.

But, I am seeing that LAN parties with computer geeks (Geeks is now an acceptable term to computer people, not as bad as Nerd, or Looser heh) are becoming the new arcades of the present. Yes, there is lots of start-up costs, but you would be reaching a huge demographic of people (not just kids or teens) and you can develop great relationships with them all! Yes, you will have to get over the mature ratings of the games that most people love to play, but the potential is amazing! If you want you could even provide classes to parents or guardians that could teach internet safety while their children are playing a LAN party. Now this is just the outreach aspect....

(I know of a group of college students in Lexington KY who have already created a LAN Cafe as a business and I am very interested in how it is going)

What if you (or I) could preach a sermon while everyone was playing a game? As they interact with the environment, you give meaning to what they see and bring them into the Biblical Narrative, but this time it is interactive, they decide what they want to see and where they want to go. Yes, it is a streach, but it could be done!

(I know in Halo 2 when you play as the "enemy" sometimes you will find a computer controlled fellow alien bending over a already dead alien, and say something like, "Go now, and begin the great Journey") Religion and Honor to the aliens is a huge part of the entire story of the game! Maybe game designers (Bungie) are attempting to slowly meet a need in the post-post modern generation?

I am an avid gamer and love playing Halo 2 for the Xbox and especially over Xbox Live. It is amazing the community they have created in that game...just like the amazing community they have created with Everquest (Evercrack). There are people who are getting married online via their Everquest representation, with a Pastor and guests and everything...even the game makers were present and gave them gifts that they can use while they are gaming.

The online gaming world understands how to meet the Post-Modern needs of the world today. Look at the most popular shows on TV...what do you see? You see community..........Friends, Cheers, Sex in The City, Survivor, all of these are meeting a need to allow the view to join into the community represented in the shows with them. Way back when it used to be all about family (I love Lucy, Leave it To Beaver, The Adams Family, etc...and in some cultures it still is (Hispanic) but now it has changed to personalized community. (i.e. "I" like knowing that "I" belong.)

But, I have been hoping that someone somewhere could pull off the new ways of doing ministry via video games!

(I think I bloged this a small amount in the past, but maybe not to this extent.)

Second Response post:

Oh, and another thing..... I consider myself to be an e-vangelist! (Everytime I play Halo 2 I live a life that is one full of Christ, in the hopes that they can see the truth behind the voice. Actually my \\\\\\\"clan\\\\\\\" is made up of several Seminary friends and others who rarely cuss and are always developing relationships with other players.

I have another vision where a local church has classes to teach people how to share the Gospel and make friends online. you could offer computer classes on how to chat, email, blog, and forum post all for the purpose to develop a relationship with others, and eventually share Christ with them. Then somehow get them involved in a church that they would be comfortable worshiping in.

I even wrote a paper on this idea in Seminary.

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(Ok, I am still working on the "GREAT songs" post and I will put it up as soon as I can find time) Thanks for your patience!!!

KUTP!