Column by Garrett Manthei

Back to Table of Contents | Back to Main Index Previous Columns | Send mail to The Voice Video Games Are Opportunity When you think of the word "video game," what comes to mind? Regardless of whether you like video games, you probably had some sort of a negative conception of them. You most likely did not think "ministry" or "mission field." Shame on you; you should have. If the church would have gotten involved in Hollywood back when it was relatively innocent, instead of calling it the devil, the United States and maybe the world would be a very different place. Now Hollywood is rancid, and the church truly got its claimed devil. The church is about to repeat the same mistake with something that has the possibility of far greater influence in the world. Video games bring in more money than Hollywood, and the industry is growing astonishingly fast. Hollywood is set in its ways, but the future of video games is still up in the air. The church must get involved before the opportunity falls out of reach. If the church got involved in the video game industry, we could influence not only the United States, but also the whole world in a dramatic way for Christ. Think of Japan, a culture that no one can seem to crack with the gospel using conventional methods. If the church were to supply fun, intuitive and engaging video games with the message of our Savior, we would hit the floundering younger generation of Japanese. This will most certainly not happen if the church once again condemns and ignores a golden opportunity and claims that video games are a waste of time that rot children's minds. If the church were to achieve video games as a ministry, it would need a complete overhaul in its mindset. Christians must strive for excellence in what they produce. We should paint the best art, write the best stories, compose the best music and shoot the best movies. We should do what we do to the glory of God and thereby produce the greatest excellence. Yet the opposite is true. Christians do an awful job imitating something popular in the secular community and then slap a Christian label on it. That is not effective ministry. The church constantly talks about how its members should get out of their comfort zones. Something like street evangelism may be outside an individual's comfort zone, yet it is well inside the church's established framework. Let us constantly look for new fields to advance the kingdom of God, whether in the jungles of Nigeria or in the offices of Nintendo. Back to Table of Contents | Back to Main Index Previous Columns | Top Of Page Send mail to The Voice| Journalism department website © 2004 The Voice. No part of this publication may be reproduced in written or electronic form without prior written consent from the journalism adviser of Multnomah Bible College. All rights reserved.