My hunch is that if you’ve found my blog you’ll be well aware of ‘Second Life’, but just in case….. Second Life is a 3-D virtual world created by it’s Residents. It started in 2003 and by March this year had over 13 million ‘Residents’. Have a look at this introduction via youtube if you have no idea what I’m on about and have literally 4 minutes 13 seconds to spare.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b72CvvMuD6Q
The conversation I had with a Methodist Minister earlier today sparked off this blog – he runs a worship service every Wednesday evening in Second Life. I can almost hear instant objections as to why this isn’t a great idea, how it’s a questionable place for Christians escaping reality etc. However, no one can deny there’s 13 million real people behind those avatars and, I guess, most as near to knowing Jesus as most other communities around. Since operating from primarily a regional perspective I’ve become aware that as Baptists, our greatest strengths are also at times our greatest weaknesses and this is one area where this is, maybe, shown up. We focus on the local, which generally speaking I’m all for in terms of incarnational models of mission and ministry, but who engages with these big strategic questions of how do we reach people in this digital age? Is there a Second Life Mission Advisor out there?
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