By Nicole Melzer
Although I am not very religious, I still love to visit old churches and experience the history as I walk around the buildings. There are a variety of nice buildings in Munich, including the Church of St. Peter or the Cathedral Church of Our Lady - which is well known for its ‘onion’ domes.
The Gothic cathedral and city parish church is better known as “Frauenkirche” where the legendary devil’s footprint appears on the floor in the church entrance. According to the legend, the architect Jörg von Halsbach made a pact with the devil in order to finance the construction of the church. He had agreed with the devil not to include windows.
Seeing that the church had in fact been built with stained-glass windows, the devil felt entitled to von Halsbach’s soul. But, when he got inside, von Halsbach led him to a spot where no windows could be seen and, in anger, the devil stamped his hoof so hard that he left an imprint in the floor of the cathedral.
I love to hear about these creepy old stories. But in times of modern technology, even demon fighting is becoming digital. The latest craze is to exorcise demons by using Skype Voice over-IP connection. The idea came from a Scottsdale reverend Pastor Bob Larson.
Finding out that such a service exists shows me that the church is speeding up its acceptance of modern technology. Gathering believers via the Internet is not, however, a new phenomena, but it seems to be a growing one. Today, a rising number of individuals are experiencing church online. There are various platforms such as Church Online Platform to help launch an online ministry. The largest one is LifeChurch.tv, an American evangelical multi-site church started in 1996 with campuses including one that meets entirely online. In 2008 they also developed a Bible application for mobile phones.
I wonder how the church will continue to implement technology to reach its communities in the future?
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