I've decided it's finally time to try out one of these online churches for myself. The one that I am going to start with is one that seems to crop up a lot when I'm researching cyberchurches, and that's St. Pixels. Their vision is:
- to create a sacred space, a welcoming and witnessing community on the internet.
- to make disciples by providing opportunities for theological reflection, discussion and exploration
- to proclaim Christ through the use of the Internet and related technologies
The main hub of the site is the online church--which they call St. Pixels Live. After downloading some java program you can access the church from your computer (it automatically installs a shortcut on your desktop!!! A little bit invasive for my liking!!!) You can then either register or log in as a guest; I decided to register since this is the only way to receive the full features of the program. After selecting my sex (male) and creating a personal avatar for myself, I finally entered the church.
However, I was a bit disappointed. The 'church' was not really a church but a slightly modified chat room, where different rooms are just labelled after different parts of a church i.e. the porch, the sanctuary and for some reason the bar. My initial feeling was also that this was a place for children--everything was decorated with bright colours and the cartoon avatars which just look bizarre and not in keeping with my idea of 'church-like'. Also, there was the problem that there was no one in the church except for me! That is, until Pen arrived...
According to Pen's profile she loves firelight and looking at the stars. Also, apparently her occupation is 'absolute lunatic'. Despite her peculiar profile Pen was very nice and told me the site was a very friendly community with kind and supportive folks and recommended times to come back for worship… which I did, but that is a story for another post!
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