New Technology in Church: What Virtual Reality is Doing

There has been an increasing amount of churches out there that have life streams that you can watch from your home. This is very helpful for people that cannot leave there house; weather it’s because of an anxiety, depression, too busy or any other reason. We know the importance of coming to church, but if you can’t than how can church be the same online. What about baptism, how can you be baptized if you don’t come to church? How can virtual reality or other technologies help with this? What is virtual reality?

Virtual reality is the newest thing in gaming, exploring, traveling, etc. Virtual reality is an artificial environment which is experienced through sensory stimuli (such as sights and sounds) provided by a computer and in which one’s actions partially determine what happens in the environment. You start by putting on a headset that tracks your movements and adjusts the image to how you are moving. You can interact with the objects on the screen with two controllers that act like hands. Also, you can hear everything that is going on with the headphones. This device is also growing in popularity around all generations. It’s the new way to experience new things physically, and doing so without moving. There is a huge group of people that do not go to church because they physically cannot make it there. So using virtual reality it can make church more enjoyable and fun, especially baptism.

With a woman who is home bound baptism finally became a reality to her thanks to virtual reality. Alina Delp, 46 rarely leaves her house due to erythromelalgia, a rare condition that makes it painful to be outside for longer than a few minutes. What she saw was herself portrayed as a purple, robot like avatar stood submerged in the water while Pastor D. J. Soto proclaimed her new life in Christ and her sins washed away. When her avatar floated to the surface, dozens of congregants and family members cheered, their avatars sending heart and clap icons floating skyward. She said, “It was powerful. As D. J. was speaking and I was under the water, I could feel this life I lived before being lifted away, and there was this new, amazing future for me,” she said, getting emotional. “I was there. It counts.” She believes it as a real experience just like getting baptized in the water. This story is an example of a different way the church can reach more people. It opens another avenue for innovation and ministry. This is the next generation of home ministry and evangelism for people who don’t go to church, especially with the help of live streams.

This can be combined with live streams of church services and can really help people learn more about the gospel and Gods word; to eventually they can get out of the house and join the church community physically. Virtual reality and live streams don’t have to be the only church experience people are getting but it can defiantly be a stepping stone to something great.

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