Exploring the Church — in Virtual Reality
Various experts speculate that we are moving away from the Information Age, and into the Age of Experience. Technology continues to fundamentally change not only the way we gather and share information, but also how we connect with each other. This shift is only becoming more apparent as the technology integrated into our society becomes more sophisticated and people look to it to fill more facets of their lives than ever before.
If those experts are right, this pursuit of experience through the ever-expanding capabilities of technology will further disrupt and revolutionize how we interact, not only with the people and the world around us, but also with the one being created in the digital realm.
Is the church ready for that shift? How does it interact and innovate in this emerging format while staying true to the principles of the Bible? How does it move from information to experience and engage humanity in a whole new paradigm, and ultimately point them to Christ?
As Christians in tech, how can we contribute to this revolution in meaningful ways?
A New Frontier
Pastor DJ Soto is already inhabiting one facet of this new frontier with Virtual Reality (VR), and living in the tension of the expectations of past while moving towards the future.
It’s not something that he planned to do, but what began as a mode of entertainment — a new means of watching movies and playing games — quickly took on a new dimension in his life when he encountered Social VR. As DJ explored this new, immersive world, he realized that it was a place where he could experiment with church in Virtual Reality.
It may have started as a side thought in the summer of 2016, an experiment with the latest application of VR tech, but it soon evolved into a thriving church-plant that is reaching people all over the world of different backgrounds and beliefs.
The first service was attended by five people — DJ was pumped! One of the people that attended in avatar form was an atheist from Denmark who shared that while he would never set foot in a physical church, he was really intrigued with what VR church was all about and decided to check it out. Today, more than fifty percent of those who attend would not identify themselves as Christ-followers.
VR Technology is providing a new avenue for sharing Jesus. In DJ’s eyes, the environment offers a new and innovative opportunity to interact with a church community in a completely different construct, a radical paradigm shift for the bricks and mortar institution most of us are familiar with.
VR offers an immersive interface where people can use the technology to develop real and meaningful relationships across boundaries — whether physical, geographical, or spiritual — that would normally prevent many of them from walking through a physical church’s doors. Now people “spawn in” when it’s time for the service, and a real community is forming.
Real People in Avatar Form
When asked about how being made in the image of God plays into this world where people, who are designed by God, are now designing and interacting through avatars of their own invention, DJ responds that our bodies are simply a physical shell. “When we talk to each other it’s spirit to spirit, mind to mind — that authenticity is just as existent in VR as it is in the physical reality we’re used to,” he reflects.
Behind the avatars there are real people, and Pastor DJ Soto is reaching them in VR just as much as in the physical reality we are all used to, and perhaps even more authentically. According to DJ, the avatar creates a level of anonymity that actually facilitates a profound level authenticity.
It’s evident by the way that DJ speaks about the people he encounters in VR that they have very real friendships. Whether they have met in person physically or not, they have had a deep and real impact on him.
He tears up when telling the story of baptizing a girl who has a condition that leaves her confined to her home — her physical body that is. VR has opened a new world to her, a way to experience life again: “She was just crying, and later she says that she didn’t think she’d ever get to do all this again — she never thought that she could be baptized, she never thought that she could be part of the life of the church again,” DJ shares.
At VR church, the technology is also allowing a different experience of the Bible. A major transition for the church over the past year has been a move away from traditional sermons where DJ would stand on a platform and speak, to a more experiential format unique to the VR environment. “Now my sermons are like, everyone stand up…I’ve created this world for us to explore for the passage of scripture we’re talking about and we’re going to go experience that.”
One of DJ’s favourite sermons was exploring the passage of Isaiah 43:2, ‘When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown.’ For this sermon, they created an environment where the congregation could get up and go through a deep river of difficulty. They could walk through the water, and feel what it was like. “It makes experiencing the scriptures at a whole new level…there’s unlimited potential!” DJ beams.
Leveraging the technology that fuels Virtual Reality, people are able to create in ways they haven’t been able to before. The VR Church environment includes ‘Christmas World’ where you can visit Bethlehem and actually walk through the village and experience the area virtually first-hand.
When DJ spoke on the end of the book of John, where Peter jumps out of the boat to go meet Jesus, they went to the shores of the Sea of Galilee virtually: “We recreated that whole scene. So we actually walked on the boat, we walked on the water. There was a campfire over there with lighting effects.”
Unlimited Potential
With unlimited imagination, there is unlimited potential for what Virtual Reality can make available to those that would explore it. In the AltSpaceVR platform the VR church occupies, the church members are experiencing the expression of the church in a whole new way, DJ explains: “Church is now a virtual world that we can explore.”
VR is an emerging frontier; as prices for equipment come down, it is rapidly becoming more widely accessible. The worlds that are being created are becoming more advanced and immersive. As we enter this age of experiential tech, people are looking to these new experiences to expand their reality.
Pastor DJ Soto never imagined there would be so much interest in his foray into VR and, with coverage from outlets like Wired, The Daily Show, and USA Today adding to the attention, the social commentary has been plentiful and reactions are varied.
Running a church in Virtual Reality is certainly not without controversy, but as our interactions with technology continue to evolve, it’s less about where you stand on the topic of utilizing technology in the expression of the church and more about whether or not you’re in the conversation.
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