Today at 1:30 p.m. PDT (4:30 p.m. EDT), Paul Watson of Reaching the Online Generation will be giving a presentation about Online Ministry in Second Life. Paul Watson is a writer and speaker who is developing strategies for reaching out to people online.. He comes from a church planting background – his family spent time in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and India. You can read about Paul's thoughtful and incisive work at http://ReachingTheOnlineGeneration.com. Paul writes about themes that go beyond the “hype” and “wow” aspects of online ministry, asking penetrating questions about the best ways of finding, approaching, and discipling online communities. The themes of prayer and scripture are powerfully interwoven throughout his work and underline the importance these have in his approach to all aspects of ministry.
This summer, Paul will be leading a course and eight-week guided mission in online ministry, teaching the basics of ministry and church planting, and also their application within the online setting, including Second Life.
To learn how to join Second Life, click here. The location will be the Sky Park in Eternal Creations. All are welcome.
Second Life is the home of an Anglican Cathedral that includes clergy and laity from Anglican and Episcopal churches all over the world. You can learn more about the Anglican Cathedral Ministry here. If you have no idea what this is or have questions, please feel free to comment. We've got a host of Cafe regulars who are also members of the Anglican Cathedral at Second Life.
If you miss Paul for this unique event, he will also be speaking at the Christian Web Conference at Biola University in September, 2009. More information about that event at http://ChristianWebConference.com.
This event is hosted by the Anglican Ecumenical Society and tekklesia.com. To find the location of today's event, contact contact Wilfried Ansome in Second Life.
6 comments:
oh my goodness
is that a skunk with butterfly wings?
I think it's a person with black pants and grey shirt - unless you see someone else?
Great presentation, by the way - enjoyed it very much. Great seeing the turnout too! ;-)
bb
We do need some more good people interested in ministry in Second Life - Anglican and otherwise. If you're interested, be sure to send me, Wilfried Ansome, an IM in Second Life. I can help show you the ropes and hook you up with some good people who can use your gifts.
Online ministry for me is an awakening calling. I was surprised at the kinds of responses I got to one page submissions to our DSJ Blog "Soundings". It is one thing to preach from the pulpit. It is another to get feedback on a piece that is critical. It opens up new avenues to reach out but also ways for the community to offer corrective feedback. I believe it is very much a ministry of faith since most who view what is written will remain hidden in God's Kingdom. I would like to get into the video aspects also since society is more visual that aural.
Interesting concept, at first the visuals reminded me of very early computer-games. I work with a few people who play World of Warcraft and they've shown me how elaborate the visuals and graphics are on W. of W. The other thing is that SL has a potential appeal to a rather small number of computer-savvy people, relatively speaking. A positive point is that it may work, on a certain, for those who are geographically isolated from a local Church, yet feel the need to have a virtual community. There was an episode of South Park, which one of my co-workers referred me to that had to do with World of Warcraft in which a rogue character was killing-off everyone else's characters. No one seemed to be able to stop him, so they referred to the people who actually run the game. Their determination was that not only was this character generated by someone who had played the game non-stop for six months; but even worse it was generated by someone who had absolutely no life. Then there was a shot of the culprit who was slouched in his chair with his keyboard atop his morbidly obese gut, a real slob. What I'm saying is that virtual Church is just that ... virtual Church. Now if it morphs into something else wherein you can kill-off opposing bishops and campaign for vast New Provinces, it may have more of a "Mass" appeal. Nonetheless, its interesting and I shall have to look at it again.
BCP, don't overestimate the "computer-savviness" thing of people who come to SecondLife. A friend in our Bible study doesn't use facebook much because she finds it "way too complicated."
I don't really think of this so much as "virtual church" as a ministry & discipleship opportunity - there seem to be a lot more in Second Life who are "seeking" something they know not what, than elsewhere. Such people are often much closer to being prompted by the Spirit - than those who feel satisfied with life. I don't doubt that there are also more morbidly obese slobs in SL than elsewhere - but God loves morbidly obese slobs too ;)
Fortunately, for some, SL fellowship is a steppingstone to finding a "real" church - it helps and edifies until they are ready to take that next step.
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