The name "The Association" sounds like Mafia until one learns that it comes from the idea of Christ coming down to earth to "associate" with the lost and rescue them. This idea is probably the foundational message of Harold Bell Wright's book, "That Printer of Udell's", where a multi-church inter-denominational organization called "The Association" was formed to help people better themselves.
"The Association" and "The Reading Room" were foundational establishments of Harold Bell Wright's story, and served as models, to some degree, for early ministry ideas when the online Association was a Bulletin Board System (BBS) ministry primarily serving modem-using callers from 1991 to 1994. Those ideas (The Reading Room - a massive God-centered reference library, for example) still remain online, though now accessible in World Wide Web (html) format. In December 1995, the BBS completed a transition to 100% Internet operation to reach a larger audience.
Many people struggle to understand how a purely electronic-based ministry
can have an impact on people's lives, and how it compares to the ministry
of a local church, for example. The following list compares some
typical Church ministries with online ministries. Note that online
ministries were not designed to compete with the local church, but rather
to supplement them by providing a distinct witness where none might otherwise
be found.
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| Prayer groups meet several times a week. Attendance varies, but typically < 12. | Email Groups keep prayer groups active 24hrs/day. Participation of dozens is international in scope. |
| Major group gatherings usually on Wednesday and Sunday. Wed. is informal fellowship while Sunday is highly planned. | Groups of varying sizes meet in multi-topic Chat, News groups, Email Groups , and private e-mail throughout the week. Formal (moderated) and informal. |
| Sunday school lessons for all ages, and on various topics. | Bible studies and discussion groups held on every imagineable topic. Focus is on reading-enabled ages. |
| A small church library is usually kept. Typically, the content is books, tapes, and videos. Content not readily searched. | The Internet is quickly growing its own online library of major proportions, consisting primarily of non-copyrighted, limited distribution, or recent works. |
| "Street Ministries" operated to appeal to those who are not committed to God. The approach and title varies. | Online ministries of varying (multimedia) content used to draw the lost to Christ. Interesting computer programs, games, and casual or direct discussion are all openings for planting seeds during evangelism. |
| Local church impact within 50-mile radius, appealing to a wide range of interests and financial statuses. | Global impact appealing to primarily computer-literate people, usually in mid-to-upper income levels, but also with a wide range of interests. |
| Local church has the advantage of touch, sight, hearing, smell. These senses can both provide enhanced ministry opportunity as well as raise unfortunate barriers that inhibit ministry. | People on the Internet are still generally limited to sight and the written word. Although communication is somewhat impaired, people have developed written gestures that help them cope. Shabbyness and body odor never detract from the conversation! <grin> |
| Churches use tithes to support missionaries, but suffer from high operating costs and poor facility utilization. Several full-time people usually staff each church. | Internet ministries often piggy-back off of existing
facilities, and can have minimal operating costs. They serve as resources, communication enablers, and news distribution sites for missions activities. The use of online ministries as collecting-points for ministry support isn't done (yet?). Running an Internet ministry *can* be accomplished by one part-time person entirely within their own finances. |
Specific ministries originating from The Association touch thousands of lives each day, of which probably 50% are not committed to God. The draw for unsaved people is limited by the availability of appealing activites/functions of the system, and the data capacity of the Internet connection.
Using church terminology, The Association houses dozens of simultaneous Sunday School classes with activites carrying on around the clock, worldwide. The "class" topics or interest groups are listed below. Nearly 50,000 (ever-changing) people participate in these classes at any one time.
1peter3 eternal_ink noonans 8dedezembro facilitadorasaberviver oasischorale addhomeschool fah openairoutreach adevotionalgroup faithfamily opendoors africa_prayer_watch famillier orphansfirst aheartforhome fbcocoa p40 alcance fbcprayers paraiba_mission allaboutfamilies feedtheflock parkside anzac firstbaptistros pastormail aog firstplace pastorsforum arabianvoice fmhfriends pattonvillebaptist ark_laurie forthright perrinministries b_sharp freedomserge petersheimfamily bbhfarm freemanfamily pittman_prayer bbinspire futurebasic prattcrleaders bible1year gentlekeepers pray4elders biblebowlbrasil global_watch prayeralways bibleclub gold_devotion promise-keeping_men bibleiq grace_peace prophezine-ldp biblespeakstome gracepointe132 prophezine-newsletter bibletalk greg_report psalm121_news bid_vir_elizabeth haggaimuscat puthuppallybrethren bjstoops-news healing pz-newsbites-h bnc heart2heart reflections boh hgbcdeacons refugeplace bratchermail hiskingdom revelation2217 brethrenvoice hit revfiles brucep4muslims hochstetlerfamily revfilesnews bullard homesteadheaven romanfoosfamily burningbushdevo honorbound_mm_natl sachsn burningbushhtml hop4hebrewroots saintfrancistnt c_lug hope4kyiv salem_umc_pray camel_report hopechest savagestreetchurch catsmeow hsinfohanpa sdw cayomissionupdates igreja sentinelle cbdl ipray4justice sgf ccconnection jctv shepherds_stone ccfprayer jeffnlori shfl ccmag joel_and_hilda shoulders cecf johanandmimi springsvineyard cheso joyclass teambratcher christianbooks joyful test christianguitar jwreminder the_chapel christianhomes kemperclass thekingschapel churchbass khartoum thomasfamilyinrwanda cloudburst ki_ftlauderdale thrissur_brethren_news countryside_c_c ki_news trinitytx_org countryside_wed kirksvilleahs tva_ministers courtsfamilyreunion ladies_fellowship uccnews cristaospb lavang uccprayers cwclass lbratcher uplift dayspringleaders lcc vandiebrinkies daystar lf_newsletter verdaupdates dcq lifegatemen vineyardvoice decasaemcasa lighthouse_beams vntb deepwatersnews love_notes voluntariat deusconosco markmeganthomas wabc_committee dillardsupdate mennoniteplain walkwithjesus doorofhope millerfamily wallbuilders4christ dragonraid mineroadchurch westbrooksfamilyupdate eagles_rising_news missionaryvoice western_area eagles_rising_nuus mntpfile wingfold efc_institute moderator wyd2013lackies efc_pastorlist moms_group_notes ymef emaildevotionals nelsons zionnellikkunnu epistle2equip news4turkeyAll told, The Association currently has over 30,000 clean secular "library" entries and nearly 6000 entries focusing on God, one way or another. The secular library is typically in very high demand on the Internet.
Some of the other activities used on The Association to draw people to God are:
- A Scottish Stewart-clan home-base, representing all Stewarts and Stuarts
on the Internet, with varying Christ-oriented content.
- A Gantt charting service with pop-up photo testimonies.
- A Unit Conversions web page for most known units of measurement,
plus a Christian testimony thrown into the visit!
- A multimedia Christian role-playing game, DragonRaid, designed to
appeal to secular RPG players with Dungeons and Dragons experience.
The more varied and changing the ministries and events are on The Association, the more appeal it has to folks wandering around on the Internet. Promoting these activites is fairly easy to do, with no cost. If you would like to pioneer, implement, and manage a unique online ministry activity, please contact (by e-mail) glen_stewart@associate.com to discuss how your ideas might be implemented! Church-group ministries are very welcome too.
Finally, remember that as Fishers of Men, the best way to tell people about The Association is NOT to say it's Christian-oriented. We're not here so much to reach the saved, as we are to reach the lost.
The Association is accessed by the following Internet technologies:
World Wide Web - http://freegroups.net
Email Groups - http://freegroups.net/groups.shtml
E-mail -
webmaster@associate.com