America’s favorite pastor and his church is now officially mobile.

One side effect of having this megachurch adopting the iPhone app platform for live online mobile worship is that this also basically legitimizes this medium of “doing church.”

The Saddleback Church iPhone app has links to Twitter and Facebook to keep you connected with Rick Warren’s social media web.  You can also view live streaming video of worship services at Saddleback Church.

When you’re on the go, there’s also an easy menu of recent video sermon messages which you can watch on demand.

Just like the Gospel, the Saddleback iPhone app is free.

As technology advances the Church continues to evolve with it. There is a small but growing contingency setting out to define the frontier for the Church in the virtual world. Church online has moved beyond live online interactive broadcast worship. It now includes full church communities within Second Life and other similar virtual world platforms. I was able to get Neal Locke a current scholar completing his graduate work at Princeton Theological Seminary to help weigh in on the legitimacy of virtual world churches with respect to those with claims to the Reformed tradition of the Church. His guest post below is just a tip of the iceberg, and hopefully will open some eyes and spark some new creative thoughts for church leaders of the future.

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As the proliferation of online communities like Facebook and Twitter continues to attract widespread attention and commentary, a more subtle revolution is taking place that will have more far-reaching consequences for church and culture—the advent of virtual reality.

Projections by researchers in the technology industry indicate that 80% of active Internet users and Fortune 500 companies will be engaged in some sort of virtual reality platform within two years.[1] Analysis of current participation shows that well over 100 million people already are.[2]

As people continue to migrate into these virtual worlds, they bring their institutions with them—in the prominent virtual reality world of Second Life, for example, there are already presences maintained by major universities, corporations, government agencies—and churches.  The legitimacy of churches that function entirely in online virtual worlds has been the subject of much debate in the past year, and this will no doubt continue for some time. Reformed churches, however, are confessional, and thus guided by our our confessions. This seems an appropriate place to begin when exploring the issue of churches in virtual reality: How do the confessions define church? What do they have to say about presence and worship that transcends presence? How do they speak to the church in the midst of cultural, technological, and social upheaval? The reformers who wrote the confessions—even those in the last century—likely did not anticipate the particular reason for which these questions are now being raised, and yet their work displays a remarkable understanding of human nature, society, and theology. In this way they offer both guidance and example for those who seek to be the church in the virtual world.

To begin to explore these questions, I believe we need to take a look at different ways in which the Confessions describe or speak about the church, especially those ways that highlight a dualistic tension between two seeming extremes. This will be helpful in raising a wide variety of ways in which the Reformed heritage intersects and intertwines with issues surrounding churches in virtual reality. In addition, the classic Reformed “Marks of the Church” can be used to see how online churches measure up.  As the church in a virtual reality is further defined , a look at other distinguishing “marks” of the church hinted at, but not prominent in the Confessions can be read with an eye toward those that seem to hold particular promise for fresh expression in online churches.

For churches in virtual worlds, there are still many challenges, both theological and practical.  But the weight and thrust of the Reformed Confessions does not seem to condemn participation in them, nor does it seem to deny their legitimacy. In fact, the bold spirit of innovation in which many of the Confessions were written seems an argument in favor of new and experimental types of churches.

And yet, the Confessions do caution and admonish, striking a careful balance between a Roman church that refuses to be reformed, and Anabaptist churches who have gone too far. Perhaps this is the via media that Reformed churches in virtual worlds ought to seek out—not hanging back, but neither striking out empty-handed. Let them take the cherished Confessions along, freshly elevating neglected sections from newly digitized pages, but still finding familiar ways to proclaim the Word, administer the sacraments, and exercise discipline.

They will be a pixelated people, dispersed yet gathered, and visibly set apart by the God whose grace fills and transcends all of creation (including technology) to reach the elect in every time and place.

[footnotes]

1 Gartner Research, “Gartner Says 80 Percent of Active Internet Users Will Have A “Second Life” in the Virtual World by the End of 2011”; available from http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=503861; Internet; accessed 20 January  2010.

2 Kzero Worldswide, “Looking across the metaverses. Total registered accounts.”; available from http://www.kzero.co.uk/blog/?p=1832; Internet; accessed 20 January 2010.

If I walked into your church today, just how many people do you think would have said “Hello” to me?

Most churches think evangelism and visitor retention is a big deal. Churches create tactical plans, committees, strategy and more.

But the big secret is that it all starts with “Hello!” — Does EVERY PERSON in your church or ministry live this out?

One of my randomization rituals entails taking one day a month and committing to saying hello to EVERY PERSON that I cross paths with throughout the day. Sounds easy, sounds silly, but it is actually pretty hard to do! Our culture and society (especially in NYC!) has become a society of strangers existing together. Just get onto an elevator full of people and you’ll understand just how close we can be with others and still never bother to say a simple greeting.

If you are self-aware of this simple practice, you might be surprised at just how often you choose to look away, look at the floor, stay silent, or just simply walk right past people you do not know.

Remember that culture is formed top-down. So your behavior is critical in influencing how others in your spheres of influence actually act. What’s more is that I’m willing to bet that if everyone in your church has a mindset to simply say “Hello!” or “Good morning!” or “Good afternoon!” or “Hi there!” to every person they personally see coming into the building, you’re attendance will change within weeks. Seriously.

Do you yourself say “Hello!” to everyone you see at church? And what do you think about this one-word answer to visitor retention in your church? Please leave a comment below and share what you decide after reading this post.

One of the brothers at our church, Gil Kim, offered up this congregational prayer during a recent Sunday morning worship service. Throughout the prayer you could feel his trembling and crying out to God coming from inside — which gave these words below tangible authenticity in spirit. While some prayers are completely ad-hoc, I was glad to find out Gil had some written cues for his prayer offering. I asked him if he could flesh them out into a publishable text representing the prayer he led during service to share here with you. As you read this text, perhaps you can join in with your own prayer following Gil’s A-C-T-S framework.

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Let us go to God in prayer….

[Adoration] Father God, we come before you in prayer, humbled by your majesty, feeling small and unworthy of your Grace. Lord, before a word is spoken from our lips, you know what is in our hearts. And although we strive to know your thoughts, we will always be short. We wish and hope to follow your will, for if we do the things that are pleasing to you, who or what can be against us? Not one soul . . . not a whole nation. Lead us in the way everlasting. (Inspired by Psalm 139)

[Confession] Lord, teach us how to repent. Teach us to hate evil and move away from sin. Lord, we have done so many bad things in our lives. We have made others cry for all the wrong reasons. We have coveted other people’s wealth and given respect to the amount of money or the size of the house our neighbors have. We have spread rumors and lies on occasion, all the while thinking we are good and Godly people. Lord, teach us to repent.

[Thanksgiving] Lord, we thank you for giving us your only begotten son, Jesus Christ. Thank you for the Bible, which shows us how to live our lives. Thank you for the cross, for when Jesus sacrificed himself, he became the Lamb of God. With his blood, he washed away ALL OF OUR SINS. He made us pure in your eyes and gave us an opportunity to have fellowship with You again. Please let us not squander this opportunity, but instead share it with others.

Thank you Lord for our beautiful wives, our endearing husbands, our loving parents, and for our adorable children. Thank you for letting us understand through our children, why we are punished, why we are disciplined, why things are withheld from us. We know now that we do the same things to our children because we love them. All of these things are signs of love, difficult to understand to the child and also difficult for us to understand with you. Please continue to teach us how to live our lives in Christ.

[Supplication] Lord, we pray for those in need. We pray for the hungry, for the homeless, for those who have not yet been saved. Teach us to embrace them, to help whomever crosses our path, for that random meeting is not coincidence, it is a divine opportunity to show the love of Jesus by action. We hope through the suffering, you create perseverance, character and finally hope in us. And hope does not disappoint us because YOU have poured out YOUR love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom YOU have given us (Romans 5:5).

Lord, we pray for our pastors and their families. Let the Holy Spirit continue to guide them in all things. We pray for all the ministries in Cornerstone. For all the people who do not get worldly praise, but are building treasures in heaven. Praise God for all who serve Christ; to serve is to live in Christ and to serve to grow in Christ. May we continue to grow, work in unity and harmony with each other.

[Closing] As Christians, we have been taught to live a life of humbleness and forgiveness. Please let us remember to remove our pride and always love one another.

We pray ALL of this in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

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How do the congregational prayers offered at your church resemble or differ from this sample congregational prayer above? Please leave a comment to let us know how so?

This is a tip that can really pack the pews. . .But most churches never use it.

In fact, only 2% of church members actually follow-through with this secret weapon to grow a church.

Did you know that 73% of people who do not attend church have never been invited?

And couple that with the fact that up to 82% of people say that go to church with a friend if they were invited, almost every church out has the potential to grow their attendance rosters within the next 4 weeks.

Why are only 2% of church goers inviting new friends and family to come to a church worship service, event, class, outing, picnic, retreat, bible study, or fellowship group meeting?

What excuses are you holding onto that prevent you from creating annual invite-a-friend weekends (other than Easter or Christmas!)? How can you change the culture of your church right now to be more INVITING — literally? Why haven’t you created pass-along conversation tools to hand out to EVERYONE in your church?

In the Catholic faith, it is customary to enter the church and then dip your fingers in the Holy Water made available up front and then make the sign of the cross. It is a reminder of the baptism that one has made into the church body.

Even though the Holy Water is not meant to be injested, some churches are taking the fears of the times into consideration. Here, the pesky old H1N1 fears have taken hold today.

Check out this invention: sanitized Holy Water dispensers . . .

But can HOLY water be sanitized? Does sanitization change the nature of the Holy Water — as transubstantiation does in the Catholic tradition to the bread and wine of the Eucharist?

Necessary? Profound? Irrelevant? Just curious, what’s your reaction to this?

Critics of church online all point to the sterility and breakdown of human connections across the digital highway.

Stefana Broadbent, an anthropologist who has studied human relationships across technology (cell phones, IM, Skype / video chatting, Facebook, etc) for over 20 years, has come to a different conclusion.

While you watch this video of her presentation on how the Internet and technology actually increases intimacy in human relationships, you’ll find the eerie Dunbar number coming up (120-150!). Technology hasn’t drastically increased the number of real connections we manage online - humans are in the end humans.

But of course there’s a little twist. . .

Did you notice the typical number of people each person connects with in close relationship (80%…___ intense relationships) when using technology mediums? Surprising? No?

Broadbent’s findings can have real implications for how church online approach and use technology to communicate and connect its people.

But this learning isn’t just applicable to digital worship communities trying to build out complete online church experiences. Technology won’t just by default destroy or degrade intimacy in relationships — it can actually leap across distance and social/cultural structures (like workplace rules) to enhance and build relationships where offline just can’t compete.

The presentation in this video is an interesting data point when thinking about how to approach the use of social media by pastors and churches.

What do you think?

A new nationwide study shows that there’s a shift happening with how people view and engage with the Bible.

Young adults have an overarching skepticism regarding the Bible not present in older audiences surveyed.

So what does this mean for your church and ministry?

One way to look at it is that what you’re doing right now isn’t working.

It’s time to not just try different things. It’s time to BE different.

Are the sermons being crafted for the pulpit taking into consideration some of the issues important to the younger generation? Is your church’s discipleship curriculum trying to engage the younger Mosaics or are you just trying to force it upon them? Is your entire ministry embracing some the easiest ways to gain and keep the attention of our church’s future?

If you pay attention, you’ll see some of the things this report has found to be useful in evolving your ministry work:

• Young people want to participate in the process of learning
• They are turned off by too much formality in sermons and lectures on the Bible
• Instead of classrooms, they are craving experiences that appear unscripted and interactive
• One way dialogue is the old way. This group want a medium that allows open and honest questioning
• They want technologically stimulating, creative and visual content
• They want to grow in communion with their peers through authentic relationships

Does anything strike you as completely opposite of what you’re seeing now in the church?

Today’s guest post is from Kathy Leonard of Church Initiative. The ministry’s original purpose was to equip churches with resources to help people recover from the pain of separation and divorce, also to help couples remain together or reconcile whenever possible. Kathy shares a unique tactic one church has used to help get people in the door to its ministry programs.

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A blip in the church bulletin. . .
An abbreviated pulpit announcement. . .
A spot on the church calendar. . .

How well is your church getting the word out about its programs?

And are people in your community even aware of the help available for them?

Lazybrook Baptist Church in Houston has gotten the attention of nearly every person driving by their church: “Do you relate to Jon and Kate?” reads their marquee. I can imagine the drivers doing a double take, then thinking “Yeah, I can relate to that.”

Although reality TV isn’t reality, it deals with real issues that people are facing. It’s one reason people tune in. That’s why it can be a great starting point for promotional efforts.

For example, Jon and Kate’s reality TV breakup hits close to home for people facing their own broken marriages. And Lazybrook’s new DivorceCare support group program aims to reach the separated and divorced in their community.

Using hot topics from reality TV as a church promo tool can relay a variety of messages:

• “God has something to say about the things you’re thinking about.”
• “What you hear on TV isn’t the final word about [relationships, parenting, sex, etc.].”
• “Church is a place where people can find answers to their questions and solutions to their problems.”

Pop culture is a vehicle your church can use to go straight to the heart of people’s problems. And you can be creative in expanding your ideas beyond marquees and reality shows!

Let’s draw people into our churches by:

* Connecting the spiritual with what they are already thinking about
* Making them aware that God has a something to say about “Hot Topics”
* Using messages that grab the attention of large numbers of people

What do you think about hooking into reality TV and other tabloid headlines in order to get people’s attention for the church?

Right now, there’s approximately 40 online churches across the world wide web.

None of them have gotten it fully right yet.  Most online pastors will tell you they agree with that assessment too.

But all of them are also forging ahead without looking back.  It’s all about wrestling with technology, content and how to make the connections made in church online constitute authentic Christian community.

Check out this vid from Pastor Dave Adamson from LiquidChurch.com about the immediate future.

This is a glimpse of what’s ahead immediately in front of us.

It’s inevitable that church online will embraced by thousands of more people going forward.

Only time will tell about the real distant future — about what church online will look like then.  A bunch of stuff needs to happen with the church online model as it becomes fully acknowledged as another way of “doing church.”

What are your thoughts?