Project: GodSquad Church
Leader: Matt Souza
Website: www.godsquadchurch.com
Project: GodSquad Church
Leader: Matt Souza
Website: www.godsquadchurch.com
GodSquad Church exists to connect gamers to God by meeting them where they are.
Our approach to our online church is reaching people by meeting them where they are. We minister on a website called Twitch.tv where millions of gamers who don’t know Christ log on every day to watch other people play video games. So an important part of our outreach is going onto twitch.tv/souzylive and playing video games where people come to watch but while they are watching we engage them in conversations about Christ while playing the game. Every week we have about 5,000-7,000 views on my live stream where I get to share the Gospel with people from all walks of life and then get them connected into our online church where they can begin a process of discipleship and growing in their relationship with Christ.
To God be the glory, we have seen over a thousand people give their lives to follow Christ. We have seen atheists who never would have heard the Gospel otherwise encounter Christ through our ministry and either getting plugged into our online church or getting plugged into a church in their area. Whether they stay in our church or go to a local church we consider that a win for the Kingdom of God. Our heart is to connect with gamers who are far from Christ who would never step foot into a church. With over 3 billion gamers world wide, we have a lot of work left to do and we will continue to do so for the glory of God.
We are targeting and reaching mostly adults in their 20s and 30s. The average age of a hardcore gamer is 33 years old. The majority of our community is around the ages of 18-35. We have many people outside of that age group both older and younger but this is the majority.
Hopefully be able to help equip every church who is willing to better understand the gamers that are in their church so they can know how to better minister to them. Gamers have their own culture, own language, and way of life and sometimes feel ostracized and looked down on by others making it hard for them to fit it. Our goal is not just to reach gamers but also to help equip other churches in this initiative and network to minister to the gamers in their church because this community is only growing and will continue to do so.
Connect with other ministries and be able to brainstorm on how together we can shape the vision of the future of the body of Christ using technology and the online world. With our 5 years of being an exclusively online church, we would love to be a part of these conversations and help encourage others.
Hopefully get the word out there about what our church is doing so we can be a resource to every church who has a gamer who won’t attend their physical church but would be open to joining online with us.
I would love to build a network of other healthy churches that I know so I can refer some of the online people we meet to go to their healthy churches. I believe online church is a valid expression of the body of Christ but I also believe not everyone thrives in an online church. I would love to have churches I can send people to who might not want to be in an online church.
I would love to be a source of encouragement to many other innovative leaders. When we started online church 5 years ago everyone thought we were crazy and it was a very isolating journey. After COVID I feel many people are finally open to what we have been doing all along and I want to be able to encourage others to keep pushing and to know they aren’t alone. Sometimes if you feel lost, you might just be a pioneer.
Over 1,000 salvations
People who attended our yearly convention we host called SquadCon. Online community members fly in from around the world (as far as Australia) for a 3 day convention full of gaming in person, services, water baptisms, small groups, gaming tournaments and fellowship.
2017 (1st year) – 47 people
2018 – 74 people
2019 – 98 people
2020 – This convention ended up being cancelled due to COVID-19. We plan to pick up again in 2020.
We ministered to gamers in 72 countries impacted in 2020 alone.
Almost 3,888 people in our Discord server (an online community gathering service application where people fellowship via text chat, voice chat, video chat, get prayer, host small groups, play video games etc.)
Church volunteers – 60 people around the world serving every single week in various different ministries
Community members in weekly small groups – 150
Outreach Magazine Article
Exponential's Future Church Podcast
