THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION OF METHODIST GAMING

By The Rev. Dr. J. Adam Sowder and The Rev. Hannah Bryn

“I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” 

-John 17:15-18 NRSV

“At four in the afternoon, I submitted to be more vile, and proclaimed in the highways the glad tidings of salvation, speaking from a little eminence in a ground adjoining to the city, to about three thousand people.”

–The Journal of John Wesley, April 2, 1739.

“I look upon all the world as my parish; thus far I mean, that in whatever part of it I am, I judge it meet, right, and my bounden duty to declare unto all that are willing to hear, the glad tidings of salvation.” 

–The Journal of John Wesley, June 11, 1739

We hope this page will be a help to you as you think and share about digital ministry.   Whether you are interviewing with discerning bodies or doing your own reflection, we would love the opportunity to think with you more about these themes. The ideas presented here are just a starting place for our theological reflection of Methodist Gaming.  

“The World is our Stream '' is the Methodist Gaming tagline.  We are inspired by John Welsey’s words when he wasn’t allowed to preach in formal pulpits and settings.  At one point he even preached from on top of his father’s tomb on Sunday, June 6, 1742. We look at social media and the digital world as our new mission field.  “The stream” encompases our place of action and ministry of presence across social media.   

We were born out of Methodist innovation.  Like John Welsey who resolved himself to become more vile by leaving the pulpit and moving into the fields, or those early Methodist preachers who would stand at the market cross of local villages, we believe in going where people are. Social Media Platforms and Video Games may be considered just as vile by our contemporaries, but they are the market crosses of today.    

The Wesleyan movement was connexional by nature.  Throughout our online ministry of presence we are building Connexion in new ways.  We spell Connexion the British way, as a nod to the early Methodists with the “X” also connecting us to the technology and generations of today.  Members of the Methodist Gaming Connexion are from all over the world including the United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, and Australia.  Methodist Gaming has also built relationships with other Christian streamers and are part of the UK Mission and Church in Gaming Space group.  

We don’t consider ourselves a church, but we are a community and have many small group expressions.  Reminiscent of the early class meetings, we do weekly check-ins on Twitch and engage each other in “Highs and Lows” as we seek to explore the old question, “How is it with your soul?”  Like any church small group, sometimes there is an abundance of activity and sharing.  Other times, things may seem more quiet and reflective.   Either way we ensure opportunities are given for sharing and space is made for questions of life and faith. 

Just as many Christians watch movies, tv shows, and listen to the music of popular culture, we too play popular video games.  Publicly acknowledging this creates a bridge to engage with other people.  This should be a tool to connect others to theological ideas and the stories of Scripture. Charles Welsey would appreciate the favorite pub tunes of his day, but would often set them to his own new words.  In our own way, we do the same thing as we follow current trends, setting our own words and commentary over it.  For us this includes using  positive messaging across social media platforms like TikTok.