Tag: metaverse

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Megachurch’s ‘MetaChurch’ Announces 6 Virtual Salvations

Two months ago we wrote about one of the largest churches in America announcing that they have joined the #Metaverse, digitally recreating their church so that those who wish to attend church services and interact using virtual reality may do so, in a move that has major implications for the future of the church and the use of digital media within the space.

Back in November, Craig Groeschel of Life.Church, (LC) an 85,000 member, seeker-sensitive, multi-site based in Oklahoma that has nearly 40 locations, made the announcement on Facebook, announcing that they had joined the metaverse and that anyone was free to join their space. Unsurprisingly, their pastor and lead visionary is an awful preacher and habitual scripture- twister, making it par for the course that he’d be on board for something like this. While LC is not the first church to join the metaverse, it is by a factor of 1000 the largest and most prominent.

In a nutshell, the Metaverse is an online virtual world that incorporates augmented reality (AR), persistent virtual worlds which exist in real-time even when you’re not playing them, videos, the use of Virtual Reality headsets and hardware, 3D holographic avatars, and other means of communication. Though still in its infancy, as it expands and develops, it will begin to offer a hyper-real alternative to the world for people to co-exist in.

This last week, one of the pastors at Life Church, Ryan Sharpe, announced that the metaverse church had grown so large, that they had to create another room, on account of having so many virtual attendees. He also announced that 6 people within the metaverse “made the decision to follow Jesus,” likewise pointing to the way it was connecting believers who might otherwise not have attended.

He also posted a few pictures and videos of the service.

Of course, Life.Church simply assumes that this is healthy, and this sort of virtual reality attendance is acceptable to fulfill the requirements of not forsaking the assembly of believers.

As one astute commenter wrote in response to this news:

“I imagine for anyone who is actually saved through this, the very first urging from the Holy Spirit is likely to be “Get out of the Metaverse. Now. And never go back.”

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Christine Caine, Pastors Praise ‘Sim Church’ Metaverse

With news that Craig Groeschel’s 85,000-member megachurch has joined the metaverse, creating a virtual reality simulation where congregants can, much like SimCity characters, attend church remotely from the comforts of their home with a VR headset and interact with other remote ‘congregants’, several big names have come out in support of his deceptively demonic idea, including Christine Caine, Mike Todd, and Carey Nieuwhof, writing on Instagram:

“This is amazing! Of course you’re there.’
“Just wow!!! 🔥🔥”
“NEXT LEVEL!– THANK YOU LORD!”

Unsurprisingly, the words of excitement come from those who possess little to no discernment.

There is Christine Caine, the charismatic, egalitarian, one-time leader from Hillsong who preaches the word/faith prosperity gospel while leading a network designed to empower women to become preachers and pastors. Caine holds to the notion that Jesus died on the cross to give you possessions, wealth, and health, and that it is there for the taking if you have enough faith and confess it positively. It’s no surprise then that she cut her teeth on Hillsong, the Brian Houston-led boondoggle that has the reputation for being among the most immature, scripturally ignorant, and carnal people in the history of the world to ever call themselves Christians. Despite these troubling factoids about her, her swag will get sold as she gets promoted as one of the elite “Lifeway Women.”

Also Transformation Church’s Lead Pastor Michael Todd, who is known for crowd surfing during his church’s worship service and spending a lot of money, including giving away $3,500,000 in houses, cash, and cars, spending $65,000 to buy 168 pairs of shoes, purchasing a real estate complex for over $20,000,000, and giving $600,000 worth of reparations to three people for the ills that befell them and the suffering they have endured on account of racism and white supremacy.

Carey Nieuwhof is a seeker-sensitive pastor heavily involved in Barna and known for his platform and influence in trendsetting and developing Christian leaders. He habitually suggests he’s cooler than everyone else, writing articles like “5 STUPID THINGS THE CHURCH NEEDS TO STOP DOING TO MAKE PROGRESS’ that include gems like ‘ranking sin selectively, commenting on politics, being weird online’ etc.

In response to the interest generated by their new ‘location, Life.Church sent out a statement to Churchleaders, saying:

With recent emphasis on the metaverse, organizations around the globe are taking a closer look how to leverage virtual reality—including the local church.

Last weekend, Life.Church hosted its second-ever church service in Microsoft’s virtual reality platform called AltspaceVR. Nearly 100 people attended the service, and two people made the decision to follow Jesus. 

While critics might question if real connections can be made in the metaverse, Life.Church has seen countless lives changed through relationships in digital spaces over the years. With 15 years of online ministry experience (including services in Second Life in 2007), Life.Church has found that people are often more willing to let their guard down and have deep, meaningful conversations more quickly from the safety of anonymity than they are face-to-face.

As new opportunities like the metaverse emerge, Life.Church continues to be passionate about leveraging technology to bring hope to people where they are, especially those who might not otherwise set foot in a physical church.

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Huge Implications! Pastor Launches Metaverse for Megachurch

The pastor of one of the largest churches in America has announced that they have joined the #Metaverse, digitally recreating their church so that those who wish to attend church services and interact using virtual reality may do so, in a move that has major implications for the future of the church and the use of digital media within the space.

Craig Groeschel of Life.Church, (LC) an 85,000 member, seeker-sensitive, multi-site based in Oklahoma that has nearly 40 locations, made the announcement on Facebook, announcing that they had joined the metaverse and that anyone was free to join their space. Unsurprisingly, their pastor and lead visionary is an awful preacher and habitual scripture- twister, making it par for the course that he’d be on board for something like this. While LC is not the first church to join the metaverse, it is by a factor of 1000 the largest and most prominent.

In a nutshell, the Metaverse is an online virtual world that incorporates augmented reality (AR), persistent virtual worlds which exist in real-time even when you’re not playing them, videos, the use of Virtual Reality headsets and hardware, 3D holographic avatars, and other means of communication. Though still in its infancy, as it expands and develops, it will begin to offer a hyper-real alternative to the world for people to co-exist in. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg changed their parent company name to Meta, and you can see more about their vision for Internet and Social Media 2.0 here.

Can’t attend a concert? Put on your VR headset and you will be transported to the live event, where you can interact in real-time with other people attending. Want to visit a museum? Walk around in a completely replicated structure with other people likewise visiting.

Don’t want to or can’t attend church, perhaps because you’re leery of COVID-19? You and your family can put on your headsets and be taken to LC, where you are meeting a friend who is also attending. You can watch the sermon live, then the both of you can have fellowship while hanging out in the lobby talking about the sermon. You can walk over to the virtual basket and give your tithes- real currency that will be deducted from your online account and put into the church coffers, or you can walk over to the wall and read the pinned bulletin, perhaps about the next membership meeting you can likewise attend remotely.

The metaverse is more than live streaming an event via zoom, but rather it is an alternate reality and universe persistently existing in the background 24/7 where you can be anybody and do anything you want.

Right Now LC is using AltspaceVR, a well-known platform owned by Microsoft that is cartoony in nature but is the stepping stone for something more realistic. Given the superstar status Groeschel enjoys within broader evangelicalism, we fully expect many more churches to make similar announcements within the next year, to the point that in the next decade or two, almost every church will be on board and will have a space in the metaverse.