Why Second Life? (Part 1)
We have been in a beta test of our Second Life campus for the last couple of weeks and we are already getting some great questions and commentary from the media about our purpose in having a “virtual church” in Second Life. Additionally, many people have been asking the question: What is Second Life? Why should I care? Instead of responding everywhere…I figured I would discuss the purposes here:
Note that this is an learning experience for us. We do not know for sure if we will be successful.
First Purpose: We want to use our island as a way to share the Gospel with users of Second Life who do not know Christ.
As of today, there are over 5 million users of Second Life. Users of Second Life create avatars (characters) and interact with other avatars in a 3-D virtual environment. Second Life looks very similar to a video game to most people who experience it. The main difference is that all of the characters in the game are controlled by other people and all of the environments are created by the users. These avatars interact using a text chat (with audio chat coming very soon) as well as by making gestures.
Some have suggested that sharing Christ with users of Second Life is a complete waste of time since many people are using avatars to pretend they are someone else and consequently you cannot be sure if they are real. What I have found so far is that there are definitely people in Second Life who simply want to hide behind their avatar and say/do things they normally would not say/do in real life. However, it is this same lack of inhibition that leads people to ask questions about God they would not normally feel comfortable exploring in real life. Creating an avatar becomes a very non-threating way for people to explore more about God.
Our mission is not to lead avatars to become fully devoted followers of Christ. It is all about the real people who are behind each avatar.
Here is a pic of my avatar “Bobby Simon”..I think he’s already a follower of Christ.
Visit 
It is a great idea… and a lot of fun too! I’m “Shua Rau”. I’ll see you around the campus.
I was on earlier this week and everything looked really great. I look forward to what God is going to do through this new campus. Also, are you going to NAB this year in Las Vegas?
Don,
I will be at NAB in Vegas. I was thinking about having a meetup with anyone interested on one of the evenings…what do you think?
Shua,
I’ll see you around.
I would love to get together and chat. I’ll be flying in Monday and leaving Wednesday.
I am excited to see how we use volunteers on this new campus. Real people controlling their avatars showing the love of Christ to other avatars controlled by people who need Jesus. I know it’s new and sounds crazy, but I have a really good feeling :).
If any of you are interested in volunteering at the Second Life campus when we go live, let us know at internetcampus@lifechurch.tv. We can put you on the interested list. Then when we open for ministry we will let you know how you can be a part.
Into the unknown,
Brandon Dagostino
(Brandon Donaldson / Internet Campus Pastor)
Love the idea. I think Second Life is somewhat silly, but highly addictive. Do you plan on taking up an offering in Lindon Dollars?
- “Nintendoh “Revolution”
We do accept Linden Dollars. Not quite sure on the logistics yet.
[...] Why Second Life you ask… check this post out from Bobby. Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
When I stumbled on to Second life it was because someone suggested that we ought to take a missions trip in Second Life not knowing what it was about I googled it and found out. I have not been on Second Life a lot, but I have discovered Lifechurch.tv there and love the island.
Love what Lifechurch is doing there keep up the good work.
This is pretty awesome. It’s clearly not a waste of time to share Christ with anyone. I’m curious, though, to know what kind of traffic you’re getting at the campus.
Bobby:
I’ve had some tremendous spiritual encounters on Second Life on the LC.tv campus. I’ve prayed for and with other people and had several opportunities to discuss Jesus with non-believers. I think SL is a tremendous way to further the reach of LifeChurch.tv and I’m excited about the direction the church is heading in.
Keep up the fantastic work!
Agape,
steve
I guess my question is why Second Life and not another game like WoW. Online games can be a real addiction, and can suck you in as quick as any drug. I just want you to know though I think that it’s an amazing idea who’s time has come.
[...] This is a continuation of my previous post on why we have built and island in Second Life and to also answer some questions about what Second Life is. [...]
Scott,
WoW is hugely popular and certainly an online community, but it is far more restrictive in the types of activities that we could do as church.
That is the main reason why we did not use it.
I agree, I think it does have its dangers as does anything else, however I personally have encountered many non-believers already on there (most from Europe) and have shared personal conversations with them about Christ. Many have said they are hungry for Christ, but probably would never attend a traditional church in RL. This is so true depending on a countries culture, laws, etc. Especially in parts of the world where Christians are under true persecution.
Looking forward to Easter weekend, Bobby. Campus looks GREAT.
Rick
aka Brok Klamath
I like the concept, but I have a question. Do you think you may be leading more people into sin by asking people to join due to the explicitly sexual nature of Second Life itself? I think it’s great to reach out to unchurched and there definitely are many in the virtual world, however I know that if I joined Second Life with the excuse that I wanted to check out your virtual campus I would soon be tempted to try “virtual sex” whether that was my original intention or not simply because it is right there with the church and so easy to access anonymously. Every man I know is tempted sexually and if it is as easy to partake in pornography as a click from behind my computer screen I’m going to do it. That said I am sure you have inadvertently allowed real life church members to join Second Life on the premise of virtual church but ending up getting into porn. I love the concept, but the bottom line is I can access LiveChurch.tv’s virtual campus in the same click I can access Second Life’s virtual sex, and behind a screen, fake avatar, and without accountability sex wins every time.
Ryan,
I appreciate feedback and the concern is definitely understandable. So hear my response simply as transparent view of my thinking.
Here is the way I process the issue:
The temptation that Second Life offers in regard to sex is not unique in it’s accessibility. It is just as accessible on the Internet and in so many places in real life. This blog you are reading is pretty much just as close to pornography as our island is in Second Life. I could post a link here and you would be “teleported” (just like in SL) to another site on the Internet that has porn. You happen to trust this site and know it is a safe place.
Anonymity is even more of an issue on the 2-D Internet because a person doesn’t even have to be identified as an avatar or even with a username…they can be completely unknown to other people.
I have been a Second Life resident since 2005 and have not had any trouble at all navigating to appropriate areas and avoiding those that are not…Second Life actually allows you to not display areas that are designated as “mature” by default. It doesn’t mean that it is not possible to find adult content..it is. I’m just saying it is possible to not find it if you desire to.
So here is the bottom line from all of that…
If a person wants to find sex in the metaverse or on the Internet…they will find it. If what you said is true..that sex wins every time in this environment…I would not sign up for Second Life…it would not be wise.
I pray that no one falls into sin of any type as a result of our efforts to reach the lost. I also know that if we are going to reach the sick…we are going to have to get out of our safe environments and put on God’s armor and do it!
Bobby,
Regarding Ryan’s post, don’t the guys at XXX Church have a presence on Second Life? If so, can you shed some light on what they’re doing to make an impanct there. Thanks.
The guys at XXX Church have a presence on our island “Experience Island”. At this point…they have videos that talk about masturbation and pornography as well as links out to their website where they have additional content. It is really just a start on their part…I am sure it will expand over time.
Hi guys,
I’ve been into gaming ministry for a while now. There’s many Christian teams(called “clans”) online, and it revolves around developing a community in online games like Halo, Call of Duty 2 etc., and doing ministry using tools like ventrilo which let you talk to your team members online.
I started my own Christian Team, Jesus Lives a year ago, and we have had online discipleships, and lots more. You can check it out @ http://www.teamjl.net - We’ve had online discipleship which went really well, and an event at the end of December for which we had around 80 people in and out - http://stage6.divx.com/Dec-25-0-AD
There are some huge Christian communities such as http://www.menofgod.us and http://www.christiancs.com
I really like this initiative, and hope that everything goes well =]
God Bless ‘_^
-Suraj/String
Great idea! Hope it works as you desired. May the Lord take hold of it all and use it to accomplish His eternal purposes. Keep your intention pure and pleasing to God and He will take care of the rest. Always, always, be willing to change when God points toward another direction. God Bless!
Lalskii
[...] In a completely different world, the guys at LifeChurch.tv are an innovative bunch indeed. Bobby Gruenewald, (Innovation Leader) is already notorious for opening up a Campus on virtual reality world Second Life. Don’t know what it’s all about? Check out the Wikipadia entry here and follow through his reasoning here and here. His next venture is on flavor of the month social networking mega tool, Facebook. [...]
[...] reality gaming in everyday life. For example, I am intrigued by LifeChurch.tv, and its efforts to plant a church in the virtual community of SecondLife. I spoke with Terry Storch at the GodBit dinner while I was at SXSW, and he reported that the [...]