I’m all for there being more arcades out there so more people can experience how great of an experience it is, but I am at a loss as to how to go about this one. In response to decreasing numbers of attendees to denominational churches, a pastor in Sterling Heights Michigan has developed a “Megachurch” complete with not only the church but also includes a bookstore, Starbucks coffee shop, basketball court and an arcade. They say that it will be a very peaceful place and they hope that by offering certain amenities to both parents and children it should be popular.
Now I certainly don’t mean any disrespect here but you usually don’t equate “arcades” with “peace and quiet”. In fact to me churches should be one of the more reverent places on earth while arcades are among the most irreverent due to the noise factor. They also said they’ll have four “Halo stations” on hand and last time I checked that was an M rated game – you know, one of those games kids shouldn’t be playing or encouraged to play (unless all the kids are 17 and up). Perhaps they have built enough of a division to block out the sound from the services as it is a rather large building from the looks of it and the arcade is meant more as a means to draw people to church. I’d also assume the arcade wouldn’t be running during a service or at least I’d hope so. This is the first time I can say that I have seen the arcade being used in any way as an evangelical tool however. Either way I am sure that these people have good intentions – I suppose they will soon see if that brings them what they are looking for.
