Those buying it must be 17 years old, given it is rated M for mature audiences. But that has not prevented leaders at churches and youth centers across Protestant denominations, including evangelical churches that have cautioned against violent entertainment, from holding heavily attended Halo nights and stocking their centers with multiple game consoles so dozens of teenagers can flock around big-screen televisions and shoot it out.The alliance of popular culture and evangelism is challenging churches much as bingo games did in the 1960s. And the question fits into a rich debate about how far churches should go to reach young people.
Here’s a short essay by Lane Palmer—quoted in the NYT article above—using Halo 3 as an illustration of Biblical principles. I imagine that some youth pastors try to use games as a springboard for spiritual discussion (which, let’s be honest, is a bit of a stretch), while others see them as just a social activity that gets kids to come to youth group meetings.
I’m not at all surprised—console games are pretty much ubiquitous in the US these days, and multiplayer gaming is a major pretext for social gatherings. The idea of using them in youth ministry is not a new phenomenon—I know of a few youth workers who were using multiplayer LAN parties as a way of connecting to kids even in the days before the XBox and Playstation 2. But of course, Halo and its ilk are a lot more graphically violent than the games of my youth.
What do you think about the use of Halo or similar games in youth ministry? Does your church use gaming get-togethers as a way of connecting to its young people? Does it bother you that violent games are being used in this manner, or does it not seem much different than church paintball games? Share your opinion in the poll at the top of this post, or in the comment section below!
(And whatever you think of Halo in church, remember that it could always be worse!)
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October 9, 2007 at 19:15
I’ve been doing this for years. Some people have had complaints through the years, but they were all glad that their teens were having fun in church. I have had many teens begin their faith journey playing halo or other video games.
October 9, 2007 at 20:38
I’m not so keen on the “M” rated game as the platform for doing this, but I’ve successfully run a Christian gaming clan in Guild Wars, World of Warcraft, and Battlefield 2 for the last 18 months. It’s been very successful. And that’s just online without any one on one interaction. Sure there is a lot of game time, but when you game with someone that long and build up that comradery you start talking and boy have I had some pretty deep discussions with some of the younger guys. And I’d have never had the opportunity without these games. So I’m all for it. Just think that some careful discretion needs to be used when selecting the games we use. We don’t want to misrepresent ourselves…then again I guess games such as GW and WoW could have the same effect. So its a toss up there. I’m not rock solid either way.
October 9, 2007 at 22:02
Love “Alter Egos” I can think of some people in churches across our country that could really use that.
Should we bring Halo into the church? Is it outreach? Well… I guess you could say it is. Then you look at the “M” rating and the fact that the teenagers in your group range from 12-17. “M” means they have to be 17 (or should be) to buy it. Not a big part of the age spectrum is it? Sure their parents are buying it for them; that’s life. We are called to obey the law of man when it does not conflict with the law of God. Same thing for underage drinking/smoking/driving etc… As a church we are breaking the law by allowing underage students to play the games on our campuses just because it’s cool & we call it outreach. What’s the message we are sending?
Before someone jumps on me let me add that I am a gamer. I play or have played CoD, UT2004, WoW, & many others. I have been a member of various guilds and clans including TeamG5 & Eternity (WoW). I am also a Student Pastor in SC.
I can’t tell my students not to play it, I can’t tell their parents not to buy it, heck I would play it, but again I come back to the age law and I don’t own an XBox360. I think we as a church and dare I say parents can and should use games as an outreach, but lets stick to those with ratings that are age appropriate (sadly they are few and far between especially when it comes to the FPS genre). Give me a bunch of 17+ year olds’ and I’ll be more then glad to play some Halo!
When it boils down to it, it’s what works for you in your demographic. If you are actually leading teens to Jesus in our day and time, when many are walking away through Halo, Frag on!
I do think it’s different then paintball. Paintball can hurt.
October 10, 2007 at 04:50
Wow, great posts. I agree with most of these things, but I would say not to get too hung up on the ratings. As with Television and movies, the ratings on games are suspect at best. That being said, anyone who has played Halo knows the language can get a little rough in it. That actually gives me more of a problem than alien guts splattering across the screen.
As a parent of four boys, and a software developer/geek, I try to work through these things with a consistent perspective. I’ve always made a point of helping my children understand fantasy from reality. They understand what is in the little or big screens is not reality, even if it does call itself reality T.V. or somenamehere simulater. As long as the youth ministries are stressing that the games are just that games, and that Jesus is reality, then good on ‘em. That being said, they do need to play/screen the games ahead of time before deciding to use them for outreach.
October 10, 2007 at 08:20
Remember to love those who you bring to Christ Jesus, then think is this what it takes to bring someone to Christ? Well if it is then use it, but with care, because there are a lot of adults (Parents, Grandparents) who don’t know these games and think that just telling children about the gospel will convince them to come to Christ. We as lovers of the Most Holy want everyone to see Him as we do, but at last not all do, so use what you can, but make it a part of a loving and caring program for all young people.
October 10, 2007 at 10:19
“Does it bother you that violent games are being used in this manner, or does it not seem much different than church paintball games?”
I don’t particularly like violence but it is a part of life and a part of the Bible. What are we supposed to do at Armageddon? hold protest signs? boycott? I found a lot to think about in Lane’s perspective, though I think too much battlefield mentatlity sometimes leads to an aggressive attitude toward those who need Christ rather than a defensive posture toward the Enemy of our souls.
October 10, 2007 at 12:02
+1 Dan Browne
It’s almost like the gamer community could really use a less-violent (or perhaps just less-gory), less-profane version of a good FPS. Something to get into the hands of those 12-17 year olds that wouldn’t cause their parents to blanch. Being the parent of a 13-year-old, I certainly know I would love something like that.
October 10, 2007 at 14:47
The issue there pcg, is that it won’t sell. I remember the days of Mortal Combat & Street Fighter where you had to have codes to turn on the blood. What happened in the later versions? They went with more gore because it is what sells. We have to remember that no matter the rating it’s marketed to the teen and tween crowd. Take Grand Theft Auto, there is a crack for one version that shows an X rated video.
John makes a good point about parents/grandparents not seeing or understanding it the way you or I as a youth worker do. I think that before you schedule such an event at the church let the staff/leaders know about it and about why your doing it. Don’t be afraid to step out.Having ground rules for sportsman like conduct is something to think about as well.
Remember, we need to meet students where they are and it’s a give and take on both sides of the fence.
October 10, 2007 at 16:40
I’m on the fence about this one. Last year I organized and led several video game nights for the guys in our youth group, and since then I’m constantly being asked when the next one will be. The church owns an Xbox 360 (and a couple of older systems) with some non-violent games like Tony Hawk and Madden Football, but invariably, the kids would bring their own copies of Halo to play. I allowed it, and joined them in playing the game (after all, battling seven of your friends on two wall-sized screens is quite fun), but I’m not sure whether I should have or not.
I don’t think there’s any chance of them mistaking the game for reality, and it’s not as though they aren’t playing the game anyway (since it’s their own copies they play), but surely there are better activities we can be fostering than sharp-shooting. But if it gets kids in the door who would not come to church otherwise (and invariably it does), it may just be worth the danger. Like I said, I’m not sure what I think, which is one reason I haven’t planned any of them yet this year.
October 10, 2007 at 20:15
Took an informal poll on this subject with some of my friends & church family:
Youth pastor: No; it’s illegal, besides there are other games that are not violent that they enjoy.
Jay, youth intern: Are you kidding? No. That rating is there for a reason.
Cee, 19, into electronics big-time, male: No way; it’s way too gory for a youth group setting.
Kay, 23, college & career type, female: No. Usually these games have to be really bad to make an M rating.
Jami, 23, homemaker, female: No, you would have to get all the parents to sign waivers okaying the game, then some of the parents wouldn’t want their kids involved and their kids would be put in the middle for something that’s illegal for them in the first place! The logistics would end up being too weird.
Yours truly: I think post number 3 (Dan Browne’s) is great!
October 10, 2007 at 22:31
Christiane Li, Are you referring to why I said and feel it is illegal or another reason such as a copyright infringement issue?
Paintball was mentioned a bit, how does everyone feel about laser tag?
October 10, 2007 at 23:07
Wow…touchy subject but here are my thoughts. We as adults have no problem telling the difference between fantasy and reality. Those of us who are in there 20’s and older probably grew up without a computer or video game console and internet. We had to learn it and accept games as fantasy. Not so the teenagers of today! Teenagers today have been immersed in the cyber-world. With Postmodernism, Humanism, and the New Age on the rise…teens have no sense of reality any more. They find their truth in anything but the truth and when us Youth Ministers allow worldly video games and activities in our church…We have done the very thing we are warned not to do by loving the world. To Paul (and all ministers)...Fun? is that what youth ministry is all about? I want to walk away from an event knowing that teens were growing more Christlike, that life-changing decisions were made and that meaningful relationships are made. Church is fun, youth ministry is fun, promoting violence and Satanic Worship in church (oh yes I said it…anything not honoring God is Satan Worship)is something I will not do. Am I saying all video games are evil, no! It’s not just video games it T.V. movies, music, etc. If you have to question and debate on the acceptingness of an event than it shouldn’t be done…Would Jesus play Halo at your party? Plan all events to Honor God with the actions going to take place!
October 11, 2007 at 03:51
“I imagine that some youth pastors try to use games as a springboard for spiritual discussion (which, let’s be honest, is a bit of a stretch)”
Why is this a stretch? Modern games like Halo exhibit movie-quality voice acting and highly complex and developed plots. I see it as no different from using something like The Matrix as a metaphor for spiritual reality and the person of Christ, which is, in my mind, no stretch at all. Any story that is relevant to our audience and conveys the message of Christ is a good one (within reason, of course). I’ve already finished Halo 3 multiple times and see little opportunity for clear parallels with the bible, but in general I think modern games are just as suitable for spiritual discussion as films.
October 11, 2007 at 07:51
Matt: thanks for sharing your experience—you’ve actually played Halo 3 and I have not, so I’ll gladly defer to you on this one. On reflection, I think you’re right about games being as fertile a ground for spiritual discussion as films. I do like Lane Palmer’s use of Halo as an illustration of spiritual warfare.
My concern (based on my own years playing FPS’s and other games) is that there’s not a lot of depth to most games, and I think that makes it hard to get more than a simple lesson out of them. I could see a youth pastor drawing a lesson or two about spiritual warfare or teamwork from a game, but beyond those basic analogies it’d get tougher. But I have read that the plots and storylines of Halo and its ilk are a lot more developed than the Quake games I used to play, so perhaps I’m wrong.
I’m not averse to using Halo as a springboard for spiritual discussion, but I think at most it’d be good for one or two solid discussions about spiritual elements—after that it’d probably work best as just a fun activity (like paintball) that’s separate from the Bible lesson/study. If I were pitching a regular “Halo night” to my church, I would probably emphasize that it’s a fun activity that will get kids to come to church, rather than dwell on its spiritual benefits. Thoughts?
October 11, 2007 at 07:58
Dan, I think your reasoning all the way around was solid, especially regarding the illegality of the game. We teach kids to obey authority if it doesn’t clash with God’s commands; this is a clear issue where we should obey the law.
As for me, I am against it in a youth setting simply for the goriness of it. (My 16 year old grandson has the game so I have seen it first hand…his parents & I had a looonngg talk about whether it’s really the kind of thing he should be playing). Runescape is another big favorite with my teenaged grandsons.
And, Dan it’s funny you mentioned paintball, because about the only thing Cody & Jacob want to do outside of videogaming is go paintballing…must be a guy thing! I’ll have to ask them if they have played laser tag.)
October 11, 2007 at 08:02
I don’t quite understand the one person who posted previously that said “there are a lot of adults (Parents, Grandparents) who don’t know these games and think that just telling children about the gospel will convince them to come to Christ.” Paul was convinced that the gospel was the power of God for salvation (Romans 1) and that what was most needed was a preacher to preach (Romans 10) That is what he thought was absolutely necessary for someone to come to faith. It seems that many have lost confidence in the proclamation of the gospel and think that there are better ways of “bringing people to Christ Jesus”
I am not against people having fun or video games, but haven’t they become the idol of way too many people? Would you rather spend time reading God’s Word or playing a video game? I don’t see the good in encouraging their idolatry anymore.
Teens will certainly like to come to church when their our video games, but will they like to come to hear what God has done to save sinners and how they need to live to please Him? Will this encourage them to live holy lives or not? Numbers are irrelevant when the church is completely jammed packed full of worldly idolaters.
It is obvious from the article that is given at the head of this page that the author thinks it is dubious to be using Halo in church functions. Apparently they think that the church should be different in some way from the world. We aren’t though. We are called to be holy ones, which means set apart ones, called out ones, but we insist on letting the world set the agenda and priorities and means for the church instead of God. Ichabod is written on most of the church in the United States and it is just sad.
October 11, 2007 at 10:33
Bill, Jason, thank you for your wonderful, encouraging posts…you know, Youth Pastors can delve into the spiritual aspects of Halo with out actually playing the game at church or in any other setting with the kids, just as they can share wisdom about pornography without having the kids actually indulge in it.
October 11, 2007 at 18:23
Andy, I totally agree. Another issue is that most of the more profound games (in terms of moral or other content worth discussing) to come out of late seem to be bordering on horror-level violence, which makes them completely inappropriate for church/youth discussion – a big shame.
A game like Bioshock has the player making some very interesting and often moving moral choices, and offers some very interesting plot developments, but is far too visually disturbing for any such illustrations to be drawn in a church setting. I’ve played through it (and honestly loved it), but I’d never even admit that to a youth under my leadership.
Games like Bioshock seem to be getting the most attention from both developers and audience in general (Halo 3 being the obvious exception, having only mild violence), which makes it difficult to find great games with great content that will be both relevant and appropriate. As the threshold for ‘appropriate violence’ increases (see the success of Gears of War and Bioshock for this), it’ll only get harder.
October 11, 2007 at 18:32
Jason: “Paul was convinced that the gospel was the power of God for salvation (Romans 1) and that what was most needed was a preacher to preach (Romans 10) That is what he thought was absolutely necessary for someone to come to faith”
Although I 100% agree that the Gospel has absolute power to save, I’d argue that even Christ didn’t preach the gospel of salvation without using pictures and metaphors. A DIRECT salvation message, without the assistance of a parable or simple metaphor, was very much the exception rather than the rule in Christ’s teachings. Jesus always used stories that were relevant to his audience’s lifestyles, and we must do the same.
Like it or loathe it, the lifestyle of the average teenager involves school, followed by Xbox, followed by sleep. If we want to be relevant, we must meet them there. Master Chief is bringing up more kids than the church these days, and to be honest he’s doing a better job of displaying the Godly character of a strong man than a lot of church leaders I’ve seen. It’s not a stretch to use him in Christian messages at all.
October 11, 2007 at 19:43
Jesus used parables, metaphors, etc to preach the gospel of the kingdom. He didn’t use them to be relevant. The message that they conveyed was relevant all by itself, because they were sinners who needed salvation. The gospel is relevant, because it is God’s solution to what God thinks is the biggest problem that man has. If someone thinks that the church needs to act like the world and use violent video games to be relevant, that tells me he doesn’t think that the gospel alone is relevant. Paul said, I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed which is by faith from first to last. Paul wasn’t ashamed “to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
Of course if you can use a video game character to make a point then make the point. That is way different then condoning, encouraging, and participating in video game nights and calling it ministry or saying that this will help bring people to Christ.
October 11, 2007 at 21:06
Jason – I agree that videogame nights shouldn’t be considered ‘ministry’ – the very concept of sitting people down to play Halo and thinking you’ve done them a spiritual service is clearly ludicrous – but I also don’t see a problem with these nights as entertainment nights to bring young people together as friends in a church setting (provided they are over the age of rating, of course). We may be speaking about separate issues here. Such activities should be clear and separate from ‘ministry time’ of course, I have no issue with that.
However, I definitely feel that sometimes we need to get together and hang out doing something completely frivolous, as it enhances relationship, and relationship is unfortunately what keeps most young people in church. I don’t like that fact (I wish it were peoples’ independent relationships with God that kept them in church), but it’s true.
The way a lot of young people bond these days is to shoot each other. I am one of these people. Me and one of my absolute closest friends in the world are (in part) so close because we log regular hours on Xbox Live trying to take over the world on Halo 3, and while we’re at it we get into great conversations. This is the world we live in.
In my view playing Halo is no different from reading a book with violence or watching a film about war, which we would never blatantly discourage from the pulpit. I think we should run with it for social events.
I’ll continue in a new post…
October 11, 2007 at 21:34
...I also agree that the message of Christ is relevant all by itself, but surely you can see that Christ DID use relevant metaphors and stories to unpack the message for his audience in a way that they could understand in their current ‘un-enlightened’ state – you need to have revelation to truly understand gospel principles, but revelations by nature must be REVEALED, often requiring relevant pictures before being received or understood. This is basic preaching technique taken from Christ himself…
Within reason, I really can’t see any problem with using videogame analogies, so long as they are truly relevant to the message they are leading to, as kids will understand them. That’s the purpose of any story we use while preaching.. to facilitate understanding. Not only will they understand it, they’ll also remember it, and whatever concept you conveyed through its use. They can’t be the crux of our message, they need to LEAD to a clear and separate gospel message, but surely they can be used as a tool.
October 12, 2007 at 06:09
Matt-I agree with you for the most part. I wonder though if we have been desensitized somewhat? Why is it that some worldly group has put a mature label on a game-obviously meaning that it contains some pretty strong stuff, and yet we feel like it is completely legitimate to play the game. Is this good for us? Is this good for us spiritually. No doubt violence happens in the real world. Wars happen. Men shoot men, but I don’t necessarily want to go to war everyday. The thing is like it or not…seeing those things, acting out those things(even virtually) does something to our souls. Does this really help us spiritually? Does this help us love? Does this grow the fruit of the Spirit?
And you say well this is how people bond nowadays. Obviously that is what happens, but in the early church, people bonded at the temple of the gods and practiced sexual immorality at the temple, and men and women went to the gladiator shows. Not all culturally acceptable practiced activities are good. It is easy to say but that is obviously wrong to do, but we are naturally most blind to the faults of our own day. I guess I just wonder if really all this violent gaming is just compromise with the world.
Good times, yes. Fun, frivolous times, certainly. Good relationships, yes, but we still most seek to please God in the best way that we can. I doubt sitting around playing a violent video game is God’s best way. Maybe our hearts just aren’t loving the right kind of things?
October 12, 2007 at 09:46
Preaching the gospel is about building relationships. If we want to reach the youth population, we need to build relationships with them. I personally don’t see anything wrong with hosting a Halo (or any other game) event at a church (as long as we follow the procedures of game ratings). We build relationships that way. Then you can start introducing the gospel to them and let them know that Christians are not people with imaginary wings, but that get “dirty” just like everyone else. Afterall Christ was always “hanging out” with sinners and he was highly criticized.
I will be hosting a Nintendo Wii event soon for the youth in my church. I want to build strong bonds with them, not just hi and bye at church.
October 13, 2007 at 19:38
Not in defense of M-rated games or necessarily those allowing kids to use them. But, it is not illegal to let a kid play an M-rated game. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t even think its illegal to sell an M-rated game to a teen. That may not be so true…
But this isn’t a thing like alcohol or drugs. The government can’t tell parents their children can’t play these games. Church leaders aren’t going to get arrested. Maybe possibly sued in some weird extreme situations. But the rating is just an advisory. It is not technically “illegal” to let teens play it.
With that said, I’ve played a few FPS that are pretty decent that don’t have excessive blood and gore. Battlefield series aren’t bad. UT 2004 played with the taunts and blood turned off. Nexuiz is a free open source FPS that’s pretty good for a freebie.
There are many, many alternative games which are all quite popular. The idea that they have to concentrate on halo which has some mixed messages, violence, and questionable language seems like a very poor option for churches that are trying to teach godly living. It seems borderline hypocritical. Not that I necessarily believe it is…but these kids aren’t stupid. They are going to go to church one day and see the pastor talk about how its wrong to swear or how they get scolded for swearing by the youth leader…only to sit right next down to both and play this game with swearing in it. That’s how some of them are going to see it.
It’d be like having a movie night at church and letting them show R-rated movies. I know that wouldn’t fly very well…
October 13, 2007 at 22:26
It all boils down to what works in your demographic as I said. Right now I am in a small town in SC. It’s nothing for the youth in my church to go and sit in a deer stand all day, and I don’t mean just the guys.
Instead of playing at church, why don’t we play it with them where they’re playing it, on neutral ground. That’s ministry, being among students where they are, on their level. WARNING! You might hear a few f-bombs but your there, your with those friends that won’t attend church no matter how many LAN parties you host. Then those students see your real, a human being just like them, not lifted on any reverent pedestal. Befriend them, invest in them, take time to just sit with them and see what happens.