GameChurch

[christianwarrior]

GameChurch and my summer “missions” trip...

To make a long story short there are no coincidences but there have been several God incidents in my life. In 2012, I met my friend Kyle outside of a library during a sign holding event for a Ron Paul campaign event. Somehow we got into a conversation with a couple of pro-liberty people who were spiritually seeking. In fact during the Ron Paul campaign, there were several spiritual conversations I had with people. There was another Christian in the campaign, Kevin from Westgate Church who also had conversations about people about God. Kevin and I occasionally go to Values Advocacy Council meetings. http://www.vac.org/ However it through Kyle I met Zach. They apparently met at a Subway restaurant. Recently Zach went to a trip in Germany through an organization called “GameChurch”. This last December I met with more people from the Gamechurch and have decided to go on a “missions” trip with the organization. http://gamechurch.com/ My missions trip will take place on July 1-4, 2017 in Los Angeles at the Anime Expo. Here is what a gaming news website said about the Game Church: http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2015/10/12/jesu ... ian-gamers

Every year Americans spend $25 billion on video games. The average age of a gamer is 35 years old. http://www.polygon.com/2016/4/29/115391 ... tial-facts World wide the entertainment industry is a $2 trillion industry. http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/n ... rillion-in GameChurch is an organization that outreaches to the gaming/entertainment industry. “Despite the prominence of video games in our culture and everyday lives, the Church at large has done little to reach this booming industry with the love, hope, and acceptance of Jesus Christ. That’s where Gamechurch comes in. Founded in 2010, Gamechurch is a non-profit organization dedicated to bridging the gap between the Gospel and the gamer. They do this by participating in various gaming and geek conventions across the country and handing out bibles. In an average calendar year, Gamechurch attends over 10 conventions and hands out over 30,000 bibles to gamers in all walks of life.” ( GameChurch’s fundraising statement) There are several “missions trips” to Comicons, Anime Conventions, and Gaming Expos. http://gamechurch.com/ministry/missions/ At these expos the GameChurch has a booth where is a table with Gospel materials including “Jesus ,for the Win!” which is a special New English Translation of John with commentary in between each chapter using gamer lingo. http://gamechurch.com/jftw/

There should be “in-church” events like winter retreats (I received Christ at one of these), Gospel messages, conferences, VBS programs, etc. where people are invited to these events. There should also be events where the church (the body of Christ not a building) outreaches like street evangelism, God Talk in the Mall, Gaming Expos, Spiritual Surveys, etc. There is only one Gospel and that is Christ Jesus himself. http://discussions.godandscience.org/vi ... 18#p169918

However there are many methods of communicating the Gospel to people. We see in the book of Acts, the early Christians quoting Hebrew Scriptures extensively to a Jewish audience:

Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John; and he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace,for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. Acts 18:24-28

When speaking to a Greek audience and Hellenistic Jewish audience, Paul used the Socratic method and his knowledge of Greek philosophy to talk about God (to refute false philosophy you should be familiar with it to lead someone out of):
So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;
Acts 17: 22-24

“Mars Hill is the Roman name for a hill in Athens, Greece, called the Hill of Ares or the Areopagus (Acts 17:19, 22). Ares was the Greek god of war and according to Greek mythology this hill was the place where Ares stood trial before the other gods for the murder of Poseidon’s son Alirrothios. Rising some 377 feet above the land below and not far from the Acropolis and Agora (marketplace), Mars Hill served as the meeting place for the Areopagus Court, the highest court in Greece for civil, criminal, and religious matters. Even under Roman rule in the time of the New Testament, Mars Hill remained an important meeting place where philosophy, religion, and law were discussed.”
https://www.gotquestions.org/Mars-Hill.html

But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the people, he withdrew from them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. Acts 19:9-10
Reasoning daily, Paul held a two year Socratic seminar at the school of Tyrannus.
Of course Paul also used Scriptures on a Greek audience but he communicated it in a way a Greek audience would understand.
https://biblethingsinbibleways.wordpres ... hilosophy/
http://www.letusreason.org/Current56.htm

There are multiple valid methods of evangelism including during drama skits especially when outreaching to people who are in the dramatic arts industry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgXQi8d-7co
The GameChurch focuses on electronic entertainment outreach. Many of these gamers have never stepped foot in a church and would be unlikely to accept an invitation to attend a church event. So we are bringing the Gospel to them. http://discussions.godandscience.org/vi ... 02#p203602 “Players aged 13-up spend more than six hours a week playing games on all game platforms.” http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/gami ... s/9618025/ Of course for people aged 18 and up the hours are several magnitudes higher. The draw of video games is that you are not a spectator but someone in midst of the action and the adventure. Many people don’t just want to spectate but take part in the action. However many sectors of life including church life often times is just spectating. http://discussions.godandscience.org/vi ... 32#p182132 What if more people knew about the adventure God has for them and that they are in the middle of a great battlefield between forces of Satan and God? That they can be part of the action by building up the kingdom of God? http://discussions.godandscience.org/vi ... 61#p165861

[thatkidakayoungguy]

I like it but I wonder how popular it will be. Many gamers don't like this type of stuff, but I know other gamers (i'm not much of a gamer, due to circumstance mainly) who would like it.