The Anglican Cathedral of Second Life

Fellow group member Caoilin Galthie would like to invite you to join a new group, Second Life Pilgrims, that was formed after a recent Saturday discussion group. This group will explore the many ways people of faith have expressed their faith by building religious themed sims in SL!

To find the group, search for Second Life Pilgrims under Groups. You can also contact Caoilin at caoilingalthie@gmail.com or visit the group blog at http://slpilgrims.blogspot.com/

The hugely influential and popular blog Out of Ur part of the Christianity Today website, has just posted a piece entitled, The First Church of Second Life: What is the role of real Christians in a virtual world? Check it out by clicking here.

It is also running the following poll: How do you feel about church in Second Life? The present results:

To take the poll click here.

Whew, it’s done! Earlier today, a group of bishops attending the 2008 Lambeth Conference were introduced to the Anglican Cathedral in SL! A team of presenters, headed up by MikeCamel Albert (the Rev. Mike Bursell) delivered a presentation on “Web 2.0 and the Church,” featuring an introduction to our community. The event was sponsored by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Thomas Brown (Wellington, NZ) and the Rt. Rev. Christopher Hill (Guildford, UK). Bishop Hill was the host of the Guildford meeting a few months back, at which members of our community met with other Web 2.0 church pioneers to explore this new digital landscape, and discuss how to involve the church in this new frontier now and into the 21st century. Bishop Hill also wrote a wonderful article for the 25 July issue of the Church Times about our Second Life Anglican ministry.
(more…)

Greetings all!

As I’m sure most of you are aware, there will be a presentation on “Web 2.0 and the Church” (featuring an introduction to the SL Anglican ministry) at the Lambeth Conference this Saturday, July 26. MikeCamel Albert (The Rev. Mike Bursell), a member of the Leadership Team, assisted by community members Gareth Janus, Helene Milena and Moz Barthelmess, will introduce the bishops in attendance to the various manifestations of church on the web, with a focus on the Anglican Cathedral in Second Life.

(more…)

In his message this week Rev Mark looks at how we can be on fire for God, how we can shine like stars. He passionately shares the importance of coming under God’s will and explains how this can be achieved. (Press play below) Check out a video of the actual service by clicking here.
.
.
.

.

.
.

Recently I conducted a survey about the worship experience at the Cathedral which has provided a heap of very interesting results!

A majority of people recorded that they preferred to attend church in the evening, particularly the 8 till 10pm time slot.

So in the next couple of weeks, four new evening services will be starting and the present weekend services will continue. More details to follow!

People were asked what parts of the service they would like included, which produced the following results:

So an interest in preaching and prayer and not so much singing and confession. So I can assure you we will stay away from singing an Absolution!

And then the question was asked, What style of service do you prefer?

Which is quite affirming to the style we are presently offering.

A number of respondents recorded that they preferred more people involved in the service which could see a reading roster developed in the not too distant future!

And I asked, What media do you prefer is used in the service? 20% recorded text chat only, while 5% recorded voice only and 75% stated they wanted both! So fairly clear direction offered.

And an overwhelming number of respondents stated they wanted social interaction after the service, ranging from coffee together to visiting different parts of SL on tours.

So thankyou to those who responded, it has been a huge help in refining our offering.

Rev Mark Brown

(Deacon-in-Charge)

If you were at Lambeth, you’d be seeing these around…

(click on the poster to enlarge it)

Lambeth SL poster 2008

Recently a friend of mine and member of the Anglican Community had this as her Facebook status:

Karin thinks the idea of attending a church service online when you’re sniffling, sneezing and coughing under the covers is a very, very good idea.

And I thought, how cool is this! Not that she is sick but that she was able to attend church. So I invited her to write a piece for this blog on that experience. And it is very entertaining! Rev Mark

She writes…

“You’re going to church in a GAME?” my sister/ roommate asked me before I banished her from my bedroom. “You know, you can join me. If you’re not going to come with me to my real life church, then maybe you can check out the Second Life one. We’ve got a mermaid!” Melanie wasn’t buying what I was selling. “Centaurs wearing lots of L.A. Bling, then? “ No takers.

Being at home, sick, in bed, gave me a rare opportunity to check out the Anglican Cathedral in Second Life’s service. I woke up just before 3 in the afternoon and made a last minute decision to not even try the ninety-minute New York City Subway ride to my own Episcopal parish in Manhattan. Instead, I curled up under the covers with my MacBook and logged on to Second Life as my avatar, the petite, flame-haired Edwardian Kay Paderborn. . After I made a pit stop at my home location in Caledon to change out of my Steampunk clothing and wig into something a little more 2008. I teleported over to Epiphany Island and the Anglican Cathedral.

If you haven’t had the chance to visit yet Epiphany Island yet, the cathedral building is an exquisitely rendered structure rising high over the rest the island. The island itself is a garden fantasy, a wonderful place to escape to pray, meditate and meet and chat with online friends. Go widescreen and enjoy a very lovely work of moving art. The community itself is very diverse. While some members of come from Anglican and Episcopal Church backgrounds (and across all the different theological and worship-style perspectives), many of the people I‘ve met are members of other churches, or members of no church at all. Many of the people I’ve met on Epiphany are exploring the Christian Faith, and some people were church-goers at one point in their lives and for many reasons, stopped going.

I lingered in the area off to the side of the Cathedral checking my settings for a few moments, and Arkin Ariantho (Rev. Mark Brown’s Second Life Avatar) glided out to meet me(on Second Life Wheelies?) and the other folks who were quickly popping onto the scene. I went into the cathedral, found a seat in the back and looked around for some of the other people that I knew. A cigar-chomping centaur acquaintance sidled up beside me, his gold chains sparkling in the digital sunlight filtered in through stained glass. Another person sitting next to me had his right arm permanently raised in the air. Was he was waving to everyone, trying to get Second Life’s “take” feature to work, or just in permanent praise-and-worship mode? I have no idea. Good for him! I saw a face here and there that I knew, a lovely hat over there… we had a fairly large group gathered. Instant messages flew back and forth, local chatting was going on around me. (more…)

As most of you are probably aware, the 2008 Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Communion is quickly approaching. Please keep all of the conference participants in your prayers as they meet to talk, and listen to, one another and work to build bridges across our global community.

All those attending Lambeth will be provided with a copy of a pamphlet that was prepared during the recent “Web 2.0 and the Church” meeting in the Diocese of Guildford, UK, which was attended by several members of the Anglicans in Second Life community. We also understand that a breakout workshop on this theme is being planned for the conference participants (details to come as they become available*). Exciting stuff! If you are so inclined, we encourage you to share your experiences of our virtual community with your local bishops, and urge them to take advantage of the opportunity to learn more about it, either through this blog, or in person at Lambeth. It is our hope that as the word spreads about our ministry in Second Life, we will have more opportunities in the future to expand this work and glorify God in Second Life.

* UPDATE!
There will be a breakout session (called a “Fringe Session”) on “Web 2.0 and the Church.”  It will be held on Saturday, 26 July, from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. at Keynes LT 6, University of Kent, Canterbury.