November 24, 2004
A UMC.org Feature
By Tamie Ross

Church of Fools began as a three-month experiment: Would Internet-savvy Christians and non-Christians embrace a three-dimensional, virtual reality church?

Could a group of anonymous Internet users of varying backgrounds worship harmoniously together, via terminals and borrowed pixel bodies? Would minds meet and souls join in a simulated sanctuary without benefit of handshakes or hymns, relying instead on a highly visual and informational format?

Call it a success tinged with disappointment.

The church's co-founders, Stephen Goddard and Simon Jenkins, say the venture was positive, noting the church operated four months - a month longer than planned.

Church of Fools closed its animated doors Sept. 26, after exhausting its funds. The Methodist Church of Great Britain was the official lead sponsor. Though the virtual-church was closed, Church of Fools continues to maintain an online community.

"'Foolish' was the reaction of some stalwart Methodists to the news that we were sponsoring the pilot stage of the Church of Fools," says the Rev. Jonathan Kerry, coordinating secretary for worship and learning of the Methodist Church of Great Britain. "But many more have been delighted, intrigued and inspired by the project."

Some in the religious community think online worship is a feasible, only slightly futuristic concept. Others say simulation could never replace the emotion and interaction that happens with face-to-face connections.

Robert Webber, professor of ministry at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Lombard, Ill., says he sees value in online communities and outreach efforts that connect Christians and introduce the Gospel to the unchurched. But, he says, practical limits apply.

"A Christian faith is an embodied faith that takes place within a gathered community of people," Webber says. "It's lived out.

"I think it's essential that we as Christians meet together," he says. "We're not designed to be disembodied or individualist where our spiritual needs are concerned. The body of Christ is probably not served well online."

Regulars at the Church of Fools online community at http://forum.churchoffools.com/phpBB2/index.php disagree. They see their commitment to this body as long-term, despite - or perhaps because of - its unorthodox nature.

Convenience is secondary to worshipping alongside those of different faiths, which many say has helped them draw closer to God.

"I'm a Roman Catholic," wrote Filippo, a visitor from Italy. "I came into the church today, went down the aisle, knelt side by side with another guy (a Methodist), and we prayed together, in our two languages, to our one God."

"It was a wonderful experience" that promoted unity among different faiths, Filippo said.

Filippo and others continue to correspond, worship and participate in online Bible studies and discussions as Goddard and Jenkins raise funds for the Church of Fools' redesign and as-yet-undetermined rededication. The men say they don't want to replace brick-and-mortar churches, but rather to supplement them and fulfill a mission and need they say reaches past traditional, physical church services.

"Methodism's 18th century founder, John Wesley, said, 'The world is my parish,'" Jenkins says. "And 300 years later, that parish includes cyberspace as well."

Goddard drew upon the writing and experience of the apostle Paul when he delivered the Church of Fools' final sermon. In "I Long to See You," Goddard told the virtual congregants that he felt as Paul did when writing to the Romans, many of whom he had never seen yet felt he knew well.

"Never having met someone, not seeing them, not being physically with them, doesn't imply lack of reality, depth and care as far as Paul is concerned," Goddard typed that day for worshippers to read.

"Some observers have condescendingly patted us on the head," he wrote. "Their angle? Church of Fools is a good effort but a poor substitute for the 'real thing.' But it offers people ... a new, meditative window."

Goddard and Jenkins met at theological college in London more than 25 years ago. The two founded Ship of Fools as an alternative Christian magazine in 1977, saying they always tended to steer into uncharted water.

When the publication, dubbed "the magazine of Christian unrest," sank in 1983, the organizers retooled it for the Internet in the 1990s.

Since then, shipoffools.com has been a powerful alternative Christian voice online, recording an average of 2 million "hits" each month.

"Our supporters and contributors are very much like us, people who don't fit comfortably in the average pew," Goddard says.

Webber says he hopes the Church of Fools loyalists and others will give the church a chance to prove its love can outlast even the most charged laptop battery.

"There are people I engage with online who I've never seen or talked to, even," Webber says, "and I feel as though I actually have a relationship with them. But the church is different by design. Evangelism of any sort leads people to a community of faith."

United Methodist News Service
Tamie Ross is a freelance journalist based in Dallas.