Tonight was very special in Second Life, we had a real church minister conducting a service within Virtual London.  Avatar Pam Padroclum is a real lady Pastor from the Diocese of Oxford in England and she held a Christmas service at St Mary Abbots virtual church in SL Kensington.  The church itself is a wonderful building, built by TD Reinard, it is perfect for such in-world services with its spacious pews and high ceilings with glorious stained glass windows, looking every inch like the real life church.

Pam conducted the service both in voice and in text and Carols were streamed into the church as well.  Pam asked the congregation if they would like to mention anyone who they wanted to remember this Christmas and people joined in their blessings to remember homeless people, the troops and people of Afghanistan, the people who have lost relatives or friends and people who are sick or have someone who is sick.    Kwame Oh said “For all to have unity in mind, body and spirit.”

Pam is probably making history with her first church service in SL, she also has an i-church web page at http://www.i-church.co.uk/

A virtual church is such a good idea, Pam is providing a comfort for people who cannot leave their homes to go to church, showing that they can still interact with real people at a real church service live in SL.  I am going to interview Pam in a few days and look forward to her story of how she became a Pastor both in real life and SL.