Thou Shalt Not Kill, Except in a Popular Video Game at Church
Did you read this article in the New York Times? Amazing. The church is indeed changing.
First the percussive sounds of sniper fire and the thrill of the kill. Then the gospel of peace.
Across the country, hundreds of ministers and pastors desperate to reach young congregants have drawn concern and criticism through their use of an unusual recruiting tool: the immersive and violent video game Halo.
The latest iteration of the immensely popular space epic, Halo 3, was released nearly two weeks ago by Microsoft and has already passed $300 million in sales.
Those buying it must be 17 years old, given it is rated M for mature audiences, but that has not prevented leaders at churches and youth centers across Protestant denominations, including evangelical churches that have cautioned against violent entertainment, from holding heavily attended Halo nights and stocking their centers with multiple game consoles so dozens of teenagers can flock around big-screen televisions and shoot it out.
The alliance of popular culture and evangelism is challenging churches much as bingo games did in the 1960s. And the question fits into a rich debate about how far churches should go to reach young people. -New York Times
My take on this is that church groups using Halo and other shoot-em up video game should be careful to keep the emphasis on relationship building and not on membership building. People should always matter more than numbers. The article goes on:
David Drexler, youth director at the 200-member nondenominational Country Bible Church in Ashby, Minn., said using Halo to recruit was “the most effective thing we’ve done.” -New York Times
Again, connecting and forming positive relationships with others is what the church should be about. If video games can be used to do this, great! But, if games are merely a recruiting and membership tool, then it is not so great. It is not always easy to keep the emphasis where it should be. In fact, forget video games, forget church, it is always true that people are more than things. The same would be true for a basket weaving group.
What makes Jesus revolutionary is that he was about people (his priority: “Love God Love Others”). He used stories, fishing, and sand writing (audio visual culture) only to help with that goal. In my mind video games are amoral, people are primary, just keep the priority in the right place.
Read The Full Story in the New York Times
October 8th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
Good Good stuff David, right on the money!
October 11th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
David-
Yeah…as a youth director I really think your comments here are important.
I personally limit the games we have at the church (yes, we have a game room with a now-outdated Nintendo GameCube) to the “T” rating and below.
I have one game where people shoot eachother and it seems the kids ALWAYS pick this game…even though it isn’t quite as bloody as Halo, I still wonder sometimes if the right message is coming across.
My hope IS that kids are growing in their Christian relationships by playing games together at the church.