Last week I was listening to a podcast with Craig Groeschel and Bobby Gruenewald, the director of Youversion. They were sharing their journey to innovation. One of the things that came out of the discussion (“by accident”) was a simplistic definition of church that I thought was very well said. “The church — said Craig — is not only the gathering but the scattering of the believers too.”
I liked it because you don’t hear very often a megachurch pastor with a seeker-sensitive approach talk about scattering.
I think both gathering (come and see) and scattering (go and tell) are very important aspects of the church like both faces of a coin. But once the balance between gathering and scattering changes, everything changes. In fact, one of the main reasons I have seen that kills a movement is when the emphasis moves primarily to gatherings. This is the story of many churches in Europe where scattering is to the minimum. To see movements, the gathering should empower the scattering and without scattering, the movement will not grow.
How internet helps with the “scattering”?
As you know the worldwide web has been evolving very fast through the last decade.
- Web 1.0 — or read-only web. The primary thing you do is read information others put online. Just like you do with the newspaper. The Guttenberg style that we covered last week.
- Web 2.0 — or read-write web. Also referred to as Social Web. Read-write web helps users to write back and network with each other and so create communities.
- Web 3.0 — is the read-write-experience era. This is where we are entering: artificial intelligence augmented realities and the metaverse. The biggest tech companies are investing billions in web3.0 and especially on metaverse. Nona Jones (from Facebook) describes metaverse like this: The metaverse is like an embodied internet where you’re not just looking at it, but you’re in the experience.
Different countries in different regions experience the internet in one or more of the above stages, but all are moving toward web 3.0 experience.
What does that mean for the church?
How can we be prepared for the changes that the world is moving into?
One of the first things is the ability for the leaders to see into the future. As an author once said “To see the future of the church you need to see the present clearly”
The mission field is at the fingertips. The evolution of the internet has shortened distances and enabled everyone to connect with anyone at any time. Because of this evolution and especially the growth of web 3.0 and metaverse, in any instance, you can find yourself in a conversation with a Muslim in Baghdad or a Hindu in Katmandu all on the same day.
Today more than in any other time in history the gathering and the scattering can happen simultaneously, and this is being done through the digital platform.
The metaverse will create fantastic opportunities to disciple someone as you can take that new believer to a virtual trip in the past to experience Jesus’ teachings, his death, and resurrection. There are churches that are already creating virtual reality follow-ups for the new believers so that they can experience faith in a fresh way. Now everyone will be able to go to Israel from the couch of his home, even though to taste the great Peter’s fish you need to be at Galilee fish house :)
The scattering either online or offline requires all the believers to become better evangelists, who are not relying on tools and events but evangelists that are ready “to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you” — 1 Peter3:15
All the pastors who have been testing the metaverse opportunities, have said something which is common to all of them: “I have had more opportunities for evangelism in the metaverse than I had during the whole year.”
How do we prepare for what’s coming? One way is how to scatter effectively. And we need to train believers, churches, and partners how to become better evangelists in the power of the Holy Spirit.
What are your training goals for the year?
