Embedded Files
It's probably difficult today to visualise what the ALM site looked like and how different it was in the early days. As I said before, we attended meetings as best we could (given that UK timing is not convenient for this) and at the time the simplicity and honest naivety of the church fellowship was refreshing.
Sunday, 04 September 2005: First Meeting in ALM Church
Benjamin writes: "A couple of weeks ago we held our first Sunday service in the virtual world. A small handful of people came to hear a message about having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ."
"After the service, we had an open discussion in the fellowship room. There were a lot of questions, and quite a lively discussion on what God sees as acceptible sexuality."
Groundwork and Hardcore Christianity
Groundwork and Hardcore Christianity
Outside the church building was a bare lawn. Perhaps it was seen by the builders as just window-dressing to the main building, but for those of us who were regular visitors, the lawn was our meeting-place.
In those days there were no seats, nothing but bare ground, but a little knot of regulars formed up into a group on this lawn, to chat, have fun, fool around and do whatever took our fancy. Some were Christians, some were not, but that didn't matter. The idea was (at least as far as I was concerned) to relate to and accept people where they were, and work forwards from that position to try to offer a "word in season" when the opportunity came along.
(I well remember these post-service discussions. Probably a third of those attending could be persuaded to drift into the Fellowship Room beside the church, and there we sat on strange bulbous sofas. Discussion rarely hinged on the topic of the service, but ranged anywhere from the weather to satanism and back again. Often nobody spoke at all. Perhaps this was because the male visitors were all in private IM with any girl they thought likely to respond.
In time, aware of the more usual leisure activity of SL users, a "dance floor" was added inside this Fellowship Room in the hopes of attracting more people and bizarre theological discussions ran alongside people gyrating on pose balls.)
People who wouldn't be seen dead "going to church" were perfectly happy to stay for a snowball game, silly dancing, sharing out home-made hats and other tom-foolery, which eventually gave a chance to talk about their needs and work round to something more serious.
Mistaken Expectations
It irked us that some users turned up expecting (since it was a church sim) we would all be standing around in black suits with bibles under our arms, having a prayer meeting or in deeply serious conversations. We were just as serious about the gospel message as they thought, BUT, we didn't see it as the best policy to ram it down every visitor's throat without taking time to establish some kind of relationship.So it was that various Christians turned up almost every day to meet and greet the assorted flying visitors, angry gays, mocking atheists and agnostics, cross-dressers, cultists, newagers and assorted wierdos, along with men on the prowl looking for gullible Christian girls, and girls who came to flaunt their skimpy clothes thinking it would shock us rigid. That was their idea of fun.When these people found there was no knee-jerk "holier-than-thou" reaction and we wouldn't respond to their mockery and taunts, things settled down and we ended up actually having some useful conversations on occasion.
It wasn't all that simple though. This was the time I came face to face with "griefers".
Benjamin continues:
"This morning, Sunday September 4, 2005, we had our second service. The message was a response to our discussion from the first service, in which we discovered 35% of the atendees were homosexual, and 67% of them believe it's okay and God approves. Also last month, as a total "aside," we held a dance party. Thought you'd enjoy seeing a picture. Jen (Mariposa Psaltery) hosted this dance. Having fun helps to open people up to the Good News, which is what we're all about....But it takes a lot of prayer, hard work, dedication, more prayer, and financial support.Please support this outreach in any way you can.
Please consider helping to support this ministry. Your financial support enables us to continue touching lives through this powerful and untouched ministry channel."
Benjamin and Mariposa were young but eager.
What they had done was open up an opportunity to Christians on SL to meet, chat, enjoy fellowship and also engage with others who took delight in coming along to provoke us. (This always happens on Christian sims on Second Life.)We saw them not so much as "pastors" - since they undertook no pastoral duties as such - but facilitators. On that level the ALM worked. Giving respect where it was due, I treated them politely, and didn't seek in any way to undermine their authority.
Indeed, we supported them as much as we were able and recommended the church to others. Mariposa eventually asked me to join her "healing wings" counselling group, and to become an Officer there. It was not because of any objection that I did not take up her offer. Indeed, I attended a few meetings but invariably nobody would turn up, and I had other ways of spending my time, rather than sitting in an empty room.
Who are "Griefers"?
Griefers are people who come to a place in SL just to cause you grief. They can be computer hackers, but are more likely to be sad individuals or groups (rather like a gang of kids on the street) who enjoy using weapons, bombing the site with multiplying objects, running around causing trouble, being abusive, using foul language or racist taunts, flying into users and generally being annoying. (My only other experience of "griefing" was in Shivar, when somebody raised the ground level by six feet and buried our home and almost everything else on the island. A roll-back was required.)
Christian sims always attracts griefing because they are perceived as soft targets and where (it is supposed) stupid religious nutcases and holy joes hang out who are perfect fodder for abuse.
Methods for Foiling Griefers
The enjoyment of a griefer is to get a reaction from users. Therefore the best response is to ignore them and pay no attention, or act bored and uninterested. My policy was "give as good as you get" by showing them not all Christians are stupid and gullible. Some of us DO know what life is like, and genuine strength is shown in gentleness and patience. To be non-committal, unshockable and bored was the best way to shame such people.
Laughter is another powerful weapon to use against abusive people who are trying to shock. When an avatar dressed as a devil turns up saying "I am evil and I drink blood!!" it's better to say "oh yes? How's that working out for you?" and "I've always wondered how many calories there are in a pint of blood" than to act all self-righteous and wade in with scriptures, which is what they actually want (in order to mock you.)
We had regular visits from vampires, satanists and witches, muslims, gays and fornicators of every type, and those who just wanted to amuse themsevles winding us up.
We were attacked almost daily by "caging" devices or "blocking" that stopped our avatars moving or shot them into the air.
One very annoying aspect of all this was that we, the regular group of ALM visitors, very rarely if EVER saw "The Pastors" on the sim. Nor did we ever see California Condor. They SHOULD have been the ones to oversee, guard and defend the sim and they had the administrative tools to do it, BUT, it seemed like they couldn't be bothered.
I and others used to IM Ben or California to tell them the island was under attack, but they would be offline or too busy to come.
It was left to US to defend ourselves and the land on which we stood. It was left to US to eject troublemakers.Over time we bought ourselves shields, and basic ejectors to get rid of the worst troublemakers who refused to leave us alone. I once caught a couple naked in the church gardens, openly having sex. After warning them several times, I ejected them. They came right back and ranted about how "unfairly" they had been treated and how they would complain to the owner. The trouble was, California Condor knew so little about what was going on on his own land that he'd probably take their word for it and discipline US instead!!
And so it continued, day by day.
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