A fellow approached me at the end of a seminar that I’d conducted in the Diocese of Wellington and said that he had just planted a Cathedral.
He had my attention.
Immediately!
The Reverend Mark Brown is an Anglican originally from Perth. He serves as C.E.O. of The Bible Society in New Zealand. Mark is passionate when it comes to reaching unchurched people for Christ.
He explained that Second Life, a virtual internet community founded by Linden Lab’s Phillip Rosedale in 1999, comprises some 13 million members. Mark Brown is convinced that Second Life is a valid, unevangelised mission field. Hence the Cathedral.
Mark founded The Anglican Community in Second Life in May 2007. It is an international ‘church’ comprising some 400 people from more than 20 nations. [Is this the world’s fastest growing church plant?].
Two services are offered on a Sunday. There is also a mid-week service, a Bible Study and a number of topical discussion groups. Mark tells me there are hundreds of what he refers to as ‘fellowship encounters’ around the Cathedral.
Attending a virtual service first involves downloading the Second Life software onto a hard drive and then logging in. Once inside, you search for ‘Anglican Cathedral’ and then ‘teleport’ (to use the lingo) to the Cathedral grounds. Having been welcomed by the service leader you then click on a virtual pew and select ‘sit’. The sermon has been pre-recorded and at the appropriate time it is streamed into Second Life.
Mark contends that, “At the heart of mission to the virtual world is the desire to glorify God. Technology is simply a new context in which to express this. Where people are, so the church needs to be also. This is a rather messy process as there are no maps and limited rules of engagement.”
He rightly, in my view, observes that “For the church to maintain relevance, we need to pitch our tents in new lands and set about learning the language.”
Fair enough. Given that the internet ‘family’ now comprises some 1.3 billion people Mark’s concerns are well founded.
And what is more, the Anglican Church in New Zealand is taking this ministry seriously. Very seriously. Mark has been licenced as the incumbent of the Anglican Cathedral of Second Life by the Right Reverend Tom Brown, Bishop of Wellington.
I’ve recently been using the Cathedral as an example of creative engagement with a world that does not know God in Christ. The responses tend to be very, very mixed. There are those who are wildly enthusiastic and others who are genuinely affronted by the notion of virtual fellowship. It all seems to turn on the question, ‘can a non-geographic virtual community be a genuine community of faith?’
You can see more at the Anglican Church in Second Life web site or read a fuller paper on the history and philosophy of this ministry in pdf format.
And if you want to chat to the source, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Stuart Robinson is the National Mission Facilitator for the Anglican Church of Australia and the rector of St Paul’s Anglican Church, Chatswood.
