Let’s talk about the video game “Cyberpunk 2077“.
This videogame was announced in 2012, and trailers began to be released in 2013. In 2019 it was announced that the game would feature a digitized Keanu Reeves, and excitement for this game exploded.
It was originally slated for release on April 16th, 2020, but was then delayed to September 17th, delayed again till November 19th, and then finally released on December 10th. You would have thought that with 8 years of development and marketing, along with 8 months of delays from the originally planned release date, that this game would have over delivered what it had promised.
However, upon its release, the game was riddled with bugs and glitches and there was massive backlash. In fact, it was so poorly received that the game developer’s stock dropped 9.4% after reviews started coming in. On top of that, investors believed that the game developers had misrepresented the game, and started a class action lawsuit.
Since its initial release, the game developers have worked tirelessly to address as many of the bugs and glitches as possible. A little over a year after its release, many are starting to say that Cyberpunk 2077 is finally worth buying and beginning to live up to its hype.
So how does this story of poor game development relate to Community of Christ’s recent website “OurMinistryTools.org”? Before we dive in, I should mention that this article is really kind of a follow up to this article.
Like Cyberpunk 2077, Our Ministry Tools was hyped up prior to development; people were ecstatic for it. It was going to be so cool to have a single place for all these administrative things. However, like Cyberpunk 2077, Our Ministry Tools failed to live up to expectations when it was released to the public.
The Communications team of Community of Christ read my article where I expressed my disappointment. They heard the pain it caused. A little over 24 hours from the time that I posted my article in the Latter Day Seekers group, the communications team took action to bring reconciliation by uploading many of the interim policies (British Isles, USA, Australia, Canada, Western Europe). On top of that, I had someone from the communications team personally reach out to me and apologize for the pain that they had inadvertently caused.
Back in September I wrote an article entitled “Queer Advocacy Works in Community of Christ“. If any lesson is worth learning, its worth learning twice. I learned, again, that queer advocacy works in Community of Christ.
As with Cyberpunk 2077, I would have preferred if Our Ministry Tools’s launch date was held back until it would have lived up to its hype. However, I stand astounded that my cries of queer pain were not only heard, but the root cause of the pain was addressed by those who inadvertently caused it and I received an apology for the pain my church caused me from my church. There is still more work to do, but I am far more confident now that the promises have sincerity and substance to them.
To the Communications team: thank you for hearing me. Thank you for embodying the peace, justice, acceptance, and inclusion that we strive for as a church.