THE BOOKS
Someone already wrote down how to do this.
Two of them, both in print, both out of this work rather than about it. If you have read the guides and want the long version, start here.
Sharing Jesus Online
Helping Everyday Believers Become Digital & Metaverse Missionaries
Dr. John Harris & Jeff Reed · foreword by Dave Ferguson
The book for the person, not the platform. It walks the B.L.E.S.S. practices — Begin with prayer, Listen, Enjoy shared experiences, Serve, Share your story — into the feeds, servers and group chats where people already are, and it assumes you are an ordinary believer rather than a communications department.
The key to digital ministry is relationship, which is why the digital missionary holds so much potential.
Trust is just as important in digital and metaverse spaces as in physical relationships—sometimes even more important because of the depth of what people are willing to share online.
In the original B.L.E.S.S. practice, the E was “Eating together.” So my first question was obviously, “Dave, how in the world are we going to eat together digitally?!”
Digital missionary, the world needs your voice, your imagination, and your relationships to point people to Jesus.
VR & The Metaverse Church
How God Is Moving in This Virtual, Yet Quite Real, Reality
Jeff Reed
The book for the leader working out whether any of this is really church. It takes the objection seriously rather than arguing past it, and spends its time on the harder questions underneath: whether discipleship travels, what a congregation without an address actually owes its people, and what is already happening in headsets while the debate goes on.
Most people may not agree with the ecclesiology of a church in virtual reality, but they recognize the opportunity of the metaverse mission field.
There is validity to physical relationships, but Church leaders need to recognize that relationships, even at the disciple-making level, can happen in digital and metaverse spaces.
Can a virtual reality church disciple people to impact their physical circle of influence?
Questions people actually ask
Which of the two books should I start with?
Start with Sharing Jesus Online if you want to do this yourself — it is a practice book, and it assumes you are an ordinary believer rather than a communications department. Start with VR & The Metaverse Church if you are a leader still working out whether a church that meets in virtual reality is really a church; it takes that objection seriously instead of arguing past it.
Who is Sharing Jesus Online for?
In the book's own words, it is “for every believer who wants to establish relationships with people to reach them with the gospel of Jesus.” That covers people you already know and people you have not met yet. No ministry title and no technical background is assumed.
What does B.L.E.S.S. stand for?
Begin with prayer · Listen · Enjoy shared experiences · Serve · Share your story. The E is the one that changed: in the original practice it was “Eating together,” and the book tells the story of asking Dave Ferguson how you eat together digitally — which is how it became shared experiences.
Is VR & The Metaverse Church only about virtual reality?
No. Virtual reality is the sharpest case, but the book's scope is the wider metaverse — in its own terms, “any efforts churches make to reach, engage, disciple, and empower people using metaverse tools of the Web 3.0 variety.” You do not need to own a headset to follow the argument.
Are the books available as free PDFs?
Not yet. Free digital editions are the intention — a pastor in Lagos should not need a card to read them — but the files are not posted and the publishing agreement has not been settled. Until then both are in print, and the guides carry much of the same material free.
Is there a course or a community that goes with them?
The guides are the free written version and cover the same ground in shorter form. The Fam — on Discord and WhatsApp — is where people doing this actually talk to each other. A guided companion is in build.
Who wrote the foreword to Sharing Jesus Online?
Dave Ferguson, who also originated the B.L.E.S.S. practices the book is built around.
Where can I buy them?
Both are on Amazon in print. Sharing Jesus Online is also at sharingjesusonline.com, which goes to the same listing and keeps working if the listing ever moves.
You do not have to read them first.
The guides carry the same material for free, in shorter form, and the Fam is the room where people are already doing it.