Darrell Bock - Virtual Reality Church: Pitfalls and Possibilities (Or How to Think Biblically about Church in Your Pajamas, VR Baptisms, Jesus Avatars, and Whatever Else is Coming Next)

In a world connected globally by the internet and increasingly affected by virtual reality, Bock and Armstrong help uswhether we receive the help eagerly or with apprehensionto understand the brave new world in which we find ourselves. The authors observe accurately the place of innovation in the history of evangelicalism, as evangelicals seized new technologies for the sake of the gospel. They provide a useful history of the rise of technology from newspapers in the day of Whitefield, to radio, to controversial televangelists, to D.J. Sotos recent VR Church. Their assessment of both helpful and harmful aspects of the new technologies available to the church will help every church leader think through the ramifications of technology. This is a topic every Christian leader post-2020 needs to understand, and Virtual Reality Church boldly goes to where few in the church have gone before.

ED STETZER

Dean of the School of Mission, Ministry, and Leadership, Wheaton College, and Executive Director of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center

Scholars and practitioners Bock and Armstrong offer their knowledgeable insights on Christianitys current and future engagement with virtual reality. Grounded in their academic backgrounds of New Testament and church history, they provide a foundational overview of virtual reality, a biblical analysis of how the technology could be incorporated by Christians and the church, and a glimpse of a hopeful future. To me as a university leader and member of a church, their vision of how the gospel could go forth through virtual reality is compelling. Chapter 4 alone provides a practical starting point for organizational leaders. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the intersection of virtual reality and the church.

WENDY LIDDELL

President of Great Northern University

What a great contribution to missions! Bock and Armstrong provide the right balance of history, tradition, Bible, theology, innovative thinking, and questions that all churches need to consider in the inevitable expansion of technology in evangelism.

WALKER TZENG

Executive Director, World Evangelical Theological Institute Association

The church today rarely discusses with substance its greatest available missions tool. Read Virtual Reality Church and catch a vision for what God can do. The VR harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few!

DOUGLAS ESTES

Author of SimChurch and Braving the Future

Informed by history and shaped by solid biblical commitments, Virtual Reality Church raises the important questions about the application of virtual and augmented reality for ministry, Christian living, worship, and the formation of Christian community. Exploring the theological meaning of church, including the practice of baptism and the Lords Supper, Jonathan Armstrong and Darrell Bock reach across the denominational spectrum to offer thoughtful and pastoral guidance on these pressing issues, always with the goal of advancing the gospel message in our rapidly changing world. While readers will likely yearn for more answers and additional guidance to these perplexing challenges, Virtual Reality Church is the best introduction available on this subject. Moreover, this volume will become an essential prerequisite for those wishing to engage these issues in the days to come. Highly recommended!

DAVID S. DOCKERY

President of International Alliance for Christian Education

The most robust book on understanding virtual reality for the church. You get a great historical overview of all the ways the church has creatively embraced the newest tech along with a solid theological framework for embracing VR and whatever else comes online down the road.

JAY KRANDA

Online Campus Pastor at Saddleback Church

Technology is evolving at a rapid pace and many church leaders find themselves unprepared. How are new digital realities affecting our ecclesiology? What does it mean to be the church in the internet age? Are online and digital connections real connections? These questions are complex, nuanced, and require critical engagement on multiple levels. In this book, Darrell Bock and Jonathan Armstrong offer us several tremendous and timely giftsdeep and thoughtful reflections, thorough surveys of the current and potential future landscape, and maybe most importantly, a confident reassurance in knowing that the one who created the universe will supply His church with sufficient creativity and guidance to navigate this and any forthcoming technological changes we may encounter. This book is a must-read for any and all who are serving and leading the local church in the digital age.

JAY Y. KIM

Pastor and author of Analog Church

Bock and Armstrong describe in this well-researched volume the fascinating and at times mind-boggling possibilities of virtual reality technology. They explore through a biblical lens the opportunities and challenges it holds for the church. Be informed and be prepared for the future by reading Virtual Reality Church.

CRAIG OTT

Professor of Mission and Intercultural Studies, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Two of the main reasons Jesus sent the disciples out two by two (Mark 6:7) was to create a trustworthy account of the spreading of the Word, and garner a great reward that could be shared and validated throughout history. It is clear that Jesus did the same in the inspirational writing of Virtual Reality Church. He sent Darrell Bock and Jonathan Armstrong to share the credible and trustworthy witness that God is not offended by advanced technologies but will use them prudently and wisely to reach, teach, and preach to a global society in a pandemic world. If you invest the time and hear the voice of these two witnesses, you will be part of the great rewardas God spreads the knowledge of His glory around the world (Hab. 2:14). It is completely plausible God is using Bock and Armstrong to fulfill Habakkuk 2:4 and digitally run like heralds with His vision that is awaiting the appointed time. The outcome of this book will affect billions of people as it inspires every educator and minister to move forward with every means possible to carry out their mission, and the Great Commission, in unique and exciting methods.

MICHAEL L. MATHEWS

Vice President of Technology and Innovation, Oral Roberts University

Just over twenty years ago, I cofounded the Internet Telephony Consortium with one of the fathers of the internet at MIT, and people scoffed at the idea that most of our voice and video communication would be over the internet. History has proved them wrong, and in a pandemic for many churches, Zoom is their main way to stay connected. Today many people scoff at the idea that virtual reality will ever go mainstream, but in a few decades the world will likely spend more time in VR than it does in church. Armstrong and Bock show the importance of how, in the future, being sent out to where the people are is likely to mean being sent out into VR worlds as future missions fields. The effectiveness of the church in VR will depend on God and our cultural fluency in VR.

ANDREW SEARS

President of City Vision University

A foundational book! Virtual Reality Church addresses head-on the identity issues for the body of Christ in our increasingly digital and virtual world. The historical survey, the analysis of the medium, and the theological response will help you see where we are and where we might go as the people of God.