Worship
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Avatar Discipleship – Who am I engaging with the avatar or the person?
How do you disciple Christians in the metaverse? Is it possible to disciple a person represented by an avatar? Who are you discipling, the avatar or the invisible person it represents? Who are we really engaging with? These are questions often discussed in the church I work with in Virtual Reality (VR). These aren’t just questions that are relevant to VR. According to recent statistics in America[1] over 25 million attend church online. People use the description ‘in person’ for those who attend onsite church, but if we are ‘online’ are we not present ‘in person’ as well? If I attend church via Zoom or YouTube then the experience may…
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People-Centred Beliefs: Interviewing Individuals to Understand Religious Identities
Over the last few years, I have seen the difference it makes when individuals are provided opportunities to speak about their histories, traditions and practices and how it can change outsider perspectives on these aspects of humanity. During my Masters, I began studying aspects of individualized, syncretic beliefs through the vernacular religions of divination practitioners with backgrounds in Christianity, I found that my contributors had very personal connections to their practices and that they were keen to share their beliefs in the hopes that it would ease the tenuous relationship that many people perceive to be between organized religion and modern spirituality. To me, this understanding is the embodiment of…
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What Leviticus can teach the Church about Autism
Inspired by Mike Bird’s recent article, and the podcast Autism and Theology. As someone living in a family full of neurodiversity and a daughter with a beautifully spicy brain, we are in the trenches, and so I felt compelled to write a response. Michael F. Bird, Autism and the Image of God. Today I am a heartbroken Dad. Yesterday, my daughter told me she doesn’t want to come to church anymore. I stood there in her room, vainly trying to convince her that coming to church is better than the Minecraft videos she was watching on YouTube. You see, my daughter lives with Autism and ADHD. She is what professionals…
