june 13, 2006
Shipoffools.com’s Online Church to Re-open as St. Pixels
John Wesley, Methodism's 18th century founder, said: "The world is my parish." Now, 300 years later that 'parish' includes cyber-space as well.
Wesley may not have been able to predict the phenomenon, but two years after the virtual doors swung shut on the world’s first online 3D church, a new worshipping community, St Pixels, officially re-opens this week -- with plans to go 3D in the autumn.
Created by UK Christian Webzine shipoffools.com, St Pixels will be sponsored by the Methodist Church of Great Britain.
According to a media release, in the summer of 2004, shipoffools.com spent four months with a trial run of the church. In different parts of the world, people logged on at their computers and became cartoon characters -- ‘seeing’ each other on-screen in a gothic-styled church.
They talked together through speech bubbles, sang hymns, listened to sermons and prayed. The church generated high levels of traffic, achieving an international profile and reputation.
On the busiest day of the pilot, 41,000 attempts to log into the church and on average over 7,300 visits per day were recorded throughout the four months. More than half the visitors were under 30 years old and 60 per cent male.
"This kind of response begins to dispel the notion that church is only of interest to silver-haired spinsters," says Simon Jenkins, editor of shipoffools.com.
"Even more significant than generating high visitor numbers, the church created a space on the Internet where people could join others in worship and become involved in a new form of Christian community. The church became a visible sign of the worldwide Body of Christ."
When the 3D environment closed in September 2004, a community, formed during the experiment, continued online -- using chat rooms and bulletin boards. This community has grown and attracted new members -- both Christian and non-Christian -- and is engaged with the challenges of being church online.
"We are enormously encouraged by support from the Methodist Church for this new adventure," said Jenkins. "We are looking forward to a creative partnership with them in the years ahead."
Jonathan Kerry, of the Methodist Church, said: "'Foolish' was the reaction of some stalwart Methodists to the news that we were supporting an online church, but many more were delighted, intrigued and inspired by the pilot project."
He added: "We are extremely glad to continue our support of the project into its next phase as St Pixels. Bricks and mortar churches will continue, but now supplemented by on-line Christian communities."
Visit www.stpixels.com and www.shipoffools.com to read more.
Message Board: Would you attend an online church? Is an online church a good idea or not?
For more information phone Simon Jenkins (editor, shipoffools.com) +44 (0)208 9933936 / +44 (0)7808 297146 or Stephen Goddard (co-editor, shipoffools.com) +44 (0)1744 733898 / +44 (0)7930 198209.
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