- While interest in using the metaverse for ministry was high during the pandemic, the belief that churches have a future in that space dropped significantly in 2023.
The 2024 State of Church Tech report found that, as of October 2023, only 5% of the 2,200 churches that purchased metaverse tech are actively pursuing ministry in the emerging space. Furthermore, the number of churches that plan to work within the metaverse in the next 12 months fell by 32% last year.
“While metaverse and VR technology have existed for years, Facebook’s rebrand to ‘Meta’ and their new metaverse were heavily promoted in late 2021 and continued to make headlines through 2022. Today, the publicity and general public’s enthusiasm for those phenomena has dropped off considerably,” the report said.
“Tangentially, the metaverse inherently has significant barriers to entry. Most VR headsets are expensive investments for individuals, and they require users to learn an entirely new technology platform,” the report continued. “Combined with the fall in press coverage, metaverse and VR failed to reach a critical mass adoption in the church community, and as such have lost much of their former luster.”
Beyond the church space, a major problem with the metaverse and VR in general is companies have yet to find a way to monetize the space, leaving little current incentive to join the platform.
“For all the hype surrounding the concept of the metaverse, no one is doing this out of the benevolence of their heart,” explained Emory Craig, a consultant specializing in VR. “The billions Meta is losing is part of their long-term gameplay to shift their reliance away from social media. But so far, no one has come up with a way to monetize social virtual reality experiences and make them profitable.”
“That’s in sharp contrast to our social media platforms which have become goldmines of revenue (at the expense of our privacy). You can sell ads in virtual environments, but that’s been a technical challenge, and it has drawn resistance from users,” Craig added.
While the question of monetization is not fully applicable to churches, it does matter for user uptake. Without a reason for consumers to join the metaverse, there is no metaverse for churches to minister to.
Culture seems to have moved on from VR, and even with Meta continuing to pump billions into its technology and Apple’s new VR headset, it seems unlikely a major shift toward virtual reality will come anytime soon.
BMCFerrell and Oral Roberts University recently teamed up to bring the Gospel to a seemingly untapped mission field, the Metaverse.
BMCFerrell, a Christian media agency, and Oral Roberts University hosted a webinar on July 12, to discuss how the Church can “glorify God in the metaverse?”
Ben Ferrell, founder of BMCFerrell, kicked off the first-ever Christian Metaverse Webinar with prayer, and expressed his desire to glorify God.
“This virtual universe is given to us to communicate the gospel, the Word of God, and glorify God,” Ferrell said. “The psalmist said, ‘Ask for the nations and I will give you them.’ When over 120 million are gathering in metaverse—that’s a nation.”
Quadri Olaitan is a journalist and contributor to Freelanews.com, covering news, public affairs, and human-interest stories.
