Take me to... VR Church?

D.J. Soto believes you can be saved through VR. Among the many interesting uses people have found for VR headsets including sex, gambling and other... well interesting uses, DJ Soto and others have started metaverse churches. "VR Church is a spiritual community which exists entirely in the metaverse to celebrate God's love for the world. We believe church can be anywhere at anytime with anyone... even in the metaverse. The metaverse is an immersive virtual reality experience where we can work, socialize, and even go to church," its website says.  

There was something highly unusual about a recent church service where Pastor Craig Groeschel led two people to Jesus: the service was held in virtual reality. "One church in multiple locations," said Groeschel in an Instagram post published Monday, December 13. "Now including #metaverse in @altspacevr! Celebrating those who attended and the two people who decided to follow Jesus! Swipe to see. #werejustgettingstarted." Craig Groeschel is the pastor of Life.Church, a multisite megachurch based in Edmond, Oklahoma. His Instagram post from earlier this week includes a video clip of part of a virtual church service where he invites people to follow Jesus.

As the clip begins, Groeschel mentions forgiveness and knowing God, saying, "Call on his name today. When you call on the name of Jesus, he hears your prayers, he forgives your sins, and by grace he makes you new. Those who say, 'Yes, I need his forgiveness, today, I give my life to Jesus,' if that's your prayer, lift your hands high right now." You can see at least one person in the back of the virtual auditorium raise his or her hand at that point, after which Groeschel leads the attendees in a prayer.

Carey Nieuwhof, founding pastor of Connexus Church in Barrie, Ontario, commented on Groeschel's post, saying, "This is amazing. Of course you're there." Author and speaker Christian Caine, who founded Propel Women and The A21 Campaign, also commented: "Just wow!!!" Many people who responded to the post praised God and expressed how encouraging the news was. "This type of innovation is why we have the YouVersion app," said one. "Talk about being ahead of the curve!" The YouVersion Bible app, which recently hit 500 million installs, was founded by Life.Church pastor Bobby Gruenewald. Another user suggested that by going to virtual reality, the church is fulfilling the Great Commission. A spokesperson for Life.Church had this to say: "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."

The question is: is it actually Church?  Doing ministry in virtual reality is a hot topic among believers and church leaders. Just this week, a Twitter debate ensued over whether virtual church is truly "church." Earlier this year, ChurchLeaders ran a brief podcast series on the digital church, interviewing several ministry leaders on the topic. One of them was DJ Soto, the founder and bishop of VR Church, which launched in 2016 on AltSpaceVR, the same platform that Groeschel mentioned in this post. "It's not a ministry, it's not a little side thing that we're doing," Soto told ChurchLeaders. "This is the body of Christ in the metaverse." He pointed out that churches tend to be slow to adopt new technologies, which he believes is "unfortunate," and he encouraged churches to be more open to these developments. "I think that the future is digital, virtual or augmented," he said.

Not everyone agrees, of course. Pastor and "Analog Church" author Jay Kim believes there are benefits to technology, but does not think true discipleship can take place without being in person. "Discipleship is about proximity and practice," he said, "that we live closely with Jesus and that we practice the way of Jesus and that way is by its very nature communal." According to Kim, "If everything is online and you believe the church to be a peddler of Christian content, then church becomes nothing more than Netflix."

Regardless of what you think about whether an exclusively online church can be correct, there seems little doubt that the metaverse is a "ripe mission field" to some. When VR Church first began, attendees were primarily unchurched people, said Soto. "Many atheists came, and for the longest time, my church services were full of atheists and agnostics."