In conjunction with its 1st year anniversary, Digital Wesley partnered with a like-minded visionary in the digital realm. The team hosted Christians in Web3 (CW3), a nonprofit organisation with a mission to unite Christians across virtual space, for their first Global Conference: All Generations on 2 March 2024.
For the uninitiated, Web1 refers to the days when websites were static and predominantly informational. Web2 marked a transition to more virtual interactions on centralised platforms such as social media. Web3 is envisioned to be a decentralised digital world dominated by blockchain, metaverse and A.I. With believers and pre-believers alike spending increasingly more time in this digital sphere, the founders of CW3 see a need to spread God’s word and expand His kingdom’s work in this space. The team aims to spark conversations, ignite imaginations, and inspire action that will shape the future of digital ministry for years to come. After all, if John Wesley saw the entire physical world as his parish, in this digital age, our modern parish must include the boundless virtual world as well. In the morning of the conference, various speakers from CW3 took to the stage and updated both on and offline participants the groundwork being done in their Web3 community. CW3 Executive Director John Knox spoke about the growing digital divide between age groups and described the situation as degeneration. There was a need to bridge the generations and he likened younger users of Web3 to digital hippies who needed support and directions. John shared his goal to reverse the process of degeneration, coining the term regeneration to encapsulate his vision.
Global Lead of CW3, Jasmine Ng, touched on the brokenness in both our physical and virtual lives, using her familiar domain of banking system as an example. She, too, emphasised the need for regeneration and renewal. Jasmine further reiterated that using innovations to do His kingdom’s work is not new and history can provide us with many examples, from Gutenberg’s press bible in 1455 which revolutionised the democratisation of God’s word, to the invention of telegraph where the very first transmitted message was Numbers 23:23 “What hath God wrought”, to a modern-day application that is built on the work of William Wilberforce in the 19th century to end slavery. CW3’s mission is to therefore continue using the latest innovations for divine purposes that befit our time. As 1 Chronicles 12:32 says, “And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do”.
There are many actual use cases of how God’s kingdom can be established in Web3. Russ Martin, co-founder and Managing Director of Indigitous, gave examples of churches in the virtual world of popular game Minecraft, using A.I. to translate the bible, prayer feeds and many others. Web3 technology has also been used for social good as well. A case in point is how blockchain is being adopted in Israel to create ladies’ wearables that will send alerts if they are being attacked. As this conference ended, there is a palpable excitement that the journey is just beginning. A journey into the heart of digital frontier, where faith and technology intersect. Charis Lim, Chairperson of Digital Wesley, promised more of such groundbreaking events for us to look forward to. This includes another hackathon being planned for the later part of this year.
Note: This report covered the morning sessions of the conference only. There were also afternoon discussions and breakout workshops. If you are keen to join in the limitless possibilities of faith in the digital age, there are many ways you can get involved. You can explore joining as a participant, fund raiser or even as an investor on the many project ideas. For more details, check out CW3 webpage at https://www.cw3.global or speak to our Digital Wesley team.
Photos by Richmond Tan
Read also: Faith & AI: Friends or Foes? ; #HACK2023: Love in Discipleship
