The Metaverse?

Before we get to more practical intersections of ministry and technology consider this quote from a recent article on C|net News.

“The Internet in 2016 will be an all-encompassing digital playground where people will be immersed in an always-on flood of digital information, whether wandering through physical spaces or diving into virtual worlds.”

That’s less then a decade. And what happens in the metaverse? Well the distinction between physical and virtual worlds blends. Communities like Second Life mentioned before in this blog represent a slice of this metaverse.  We move from blogging to lifelogging where much of what is seen, said and heard is recorded and immediately available for review and reflection.

I noticed the other day that a recent sermon by pastor Dan included the call of a rams horn played as a video segment within the sermon.  While not quite the metaverse the use of the video call and Dan as “virtual pastor” creates a world where the virtual and physical mix to create an active worship experience.  In the metaverse, this is taken to the next level!

Here is a recent sample from this growing universe.  A company call Electric Sheep Company (link not provided due to some content accessible through the site) specializes in designing 3D world experiences accomplished the following. “In Fall 2006, ESC worked with MLB.com to test a live baseball game within Second Life. We had the two essential elements: live video and the social interaction of fans in the virtual stadium, but we wanted to take it one step further. We built bobbleheads of the baseball players and programmed a set of web and SL applications that took a live XML statistics feed from MLB.com and automatically drove all the action on the field.”

In a religious context this could be very interesting. Instead of current video shots of the Holy Land a congregation could visit a historically accurate virtual recreation of the city of Jerusalem at Passover. I don’t know if I want to attend the actual last supper or a rendering of it but it is clear that these technologies will power the gospel message forward if the church embraces the opportunity to use them to share the truth of Christ.

Other more interesting variations may be the introduction of RSS (relatively simple syndication) feeds of supplemental information related to Bible study materials provided to small groups as they discuss the reality of scripture in every day life. Again, in the sermon mentioned before, the importance of the calendar in everyday life was mentioned.  A real-time feed of important calendar celebrations could provide additional context for worshipers and enhance the understanding of the material.

In a Bible study series this could include additional translations of the passage being examined and if the passage included a discussion of a given area, such as the sea of Galilee, technologies such as Google Earth could provide 3D views of the area today and in historical context.

If you will hang with me for one last example.  Several years ago I was able to walk the main street in Ephesus while in Turkey.  As I stood and looked at the surroundings I imagined Paul in that same place taking a new truth to the people who walked amongst the statutes of Roman gods on a daily basis.  In the coming metaverse we may not only be able to discuss Paul’s journey but transport ourselves into those very moments!  It is important to understand the power and peril of just such virtual world experiences.  Who will define these places and assure the integrity of information streaming in real-time to Christians and non-Christians alike?

In many ways the sites of Springhill are familiar with the power and promise of technology and the advancement of the Gospel.  So when you view that next sermon on-line or on-screen, read a blog (like this one) or search scripture on-line while flipping through Wikipedia to gain historical context realize that the moment is now for the church to take advantage of the digital age to reach people for Christ.

In fact, taking advantage of technology should be nothing new — just think about the printing press and the Bible!  So, in a world where 5+ million people will gladly gather in a virtual setting (and perhaps prefer it to getting in the car on Sunday morning and driving to a local church) what will we do to respond in love and take Christ’s message to “the ends of the metaverse”.