Prayer Experiment - Minecraft Church

We can pray to God anywhere, but sometimes people find going to a special place like a church helps. A place set aside for praying in can be somewhere you feel at peace, or closer to God, or just somewhere that is different from everyday life.

Like a church, virtual world computer games like Minecraft are somewhere outside your day to day life. They are places where people go to get away from their usual lives for a bit, places where you might meet friends, imagine yourself differently, and try new things.

They are also very creative places, where you are free to express yourself in building and where you can build almost anything you can imagine. So it is a good place to experiment and try things out.

This experiment involves creating a prayer space in Minecraft - or in any other virtual world building game that you enjoy and are familiar with – then imagining yourself prayer in it.

In these games, one thing to watch out for is the combat element in some versions. It doesn't create a very prayerful atmosphere if you are having to keep fighting off zombies or giant spiders. So we would suggest that you do this in Creative rather than Survival mode, or on Peaceful settings, to avoid monsters disturbing you!

As you plan what to build, think about what your ideal place for prayer could be like.

Where would it be?

What views should it have?

What will it be made of?

What will it look like?

How big or small should it be?

What could it have inside it?

What will you do there?

The Experiment

Using Minecraft or another similar game, create your own personal prayer space. Once you have made it, try going into the space in your character in the game, and praying in there. Will you pray for the same things as you would pray for in this world, or different things?

You will need: Minecraft or another virtual world-building game.

1. Plan what you would like your ideal personal prayer space to look like. Ask yourself the questions listed above and think about every detail.

2. Now go online and have a go at making your dream prayer space. It might be a virtual church, chapel or cathedral, or it could look completely different. Some people who have tried this have made very traditional looking churches, while others have made anything from floating platforms in glass boxes to tiny houses.

Once you’ve built it, try going into it, as your virtual character, and spend some time praying there. Is it any different from being in a chapel, church, or prayer space in the real world? If so, how? Did you act differently in the space that you made yourself than you would in a real church? What did you pray for? We have found that people often take on the role of a vicar or to take charge of leading the prayers in their Minecraft churches, because it feels like their space! Do you imagine yourself alone in the space or will you bring other people or characters in?