By Jaclyn S. Parish –
On Twitch streams and in Discord chats, “nerd culture” ministers reach out to a demographic long misunderstood by the church.
A cloaked figure scurries across the screen, swords flashing. In a lower corner of the display, we see a shot of the gamer running the show. His audience appears as a string of text messages above his head, sporting handles like “tinysnorlax1” and “MarneusThrax.” The gamer is playing for a live audience—a typical day on the streaming platform Twitch, where an average of more than 2.24 million viewers concurrently watch streamers either chat live or play games like Path of Exile, League of Legends, or Minecraft.
But this is different. This is ministry.
The gamer is Dustin Phillips, associate and youth pastor of a small church in Tyler, Texas. Along with ministering to his in-person congregation, Philips also streams from his church office with the wholehearted support of his congregation. To folks like tinysnorlax1, he’s PastorDoostyn.
Right now, he’s playing the ninja-themed action-adventure game Sekiro and explaining how his viewers can learn more about his faith. A chat member has inquired where to get started in learning about Christianity, and PastorDoostyn has advised the person to read through the Gospel of John. “Look at me!” he chuckles over his headset as his character dodges assailants. “I’m just running around … trying not to die and telling people about Jesus.”
And he’s not the only one.
PastorDoostyn is part of a growing phenomenon we might call nerd-culture ministry. Like sports-ministry practitioners, these believers seek to offer the love of Christ on the common ground of shared interests. But instead of soccer goals, it’s The Elder Scrolls. And unlike athletes, this demographic often feels ostracized by the Christian community. “Because of the things that they enjoy,” PastorDoostyn explained, “they feel rejected by the church.”
A growing community of Christian nerds is working to change that.
For Christian streamers like PastorDoostyn, Twitch isn’t just a platform to publish content—it’s a place to build community. AkiAndFam, a family team of streamers (husband, wife, daughter, and son), have been streaming games like Destiny and Final Fantasy since 2019 with the goal to “create a home for people who don’t have one.” They’re honest and real online, both goofing off and sharing about their struggles.
The authenticity of the family’s interactions has created a vulnerable space for viewers too. During one stream, an anonymous chat member expressed recent suicidal thoughts. Aki (dad) and Momma Peach (mom) immediately stopped the game and focused their full attention on the participant, taking time to encourage the person and point the way toward appropriate mental health resources. The viewer left the stream encouraged and remains a thriving member of Aki’s “fam” today.
Nerd-culture ministry requires mental, emotional, and social endurance, not to mention a hefty dose of discernment. “Pastors know this,” explained Christian gamer JateLIVE, who works as a freelancer and streams 40-plus hours a week, “but I don’t think they know it at the level that I do, because I am playing games and talking to people all day.” Streaming requires nonstop conversation—talking with dozens, sometimes hundreds, of people at once—on topics that range from Star Wars to mental health, all while trying to simultaneously scale mountains, battle sorcerers, and survive on alien planets.
Not all nerd-culture ministers are streamers. Charles Sadnick is the director of Beneath the Tangles, an anime ministry which “bridges the divide between anime fans and the Christian church.” The ministry’s blog, video, and podcast content celebrates the Japanese style of art and animation, making connections between the gospel and works such as Attack on Titan or Fullmetal Alchemist.
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