About "The Association"

"The Association" is a Christian-run Internet ministry designed to draw people in to a Christ-honoring online environment where they can gradually be exposed to other Christians and varied information presenting the challenge and benefits of living a life committed to pleasing God.  On the Internet, The Association can be found at http://freegroups.net and it's operator, Glen Stewart can be reached by e-mail at glen_stewart@associate.com.

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.
 
A Comparison of Electronic and In-Person Ministries
Church
The Association and other Internet Ministries
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			fax_to_wash_dc		pastorsforum
1tim4_12		fbcocoa			pattonvillebaptist
39n35eupdates		fbcprayers		penderhomeed
8dedezembro		feedtheflock		perrinministries
abesermons		fellowship_hall		pittman_prayer
addhomeschool		firstplace		politics24
addhope			fmhfriends		practical
adelphoi_news		focus			pray4elders
adevotionalgroup	folkartscenter		pray_7days
adhd-alt		forthright		prayargonia
africa_prayer_watch	freedomserge		prayeralways
ahe_teens		freemanfamily		prayercentral
aheartforhome		futurebasic		prayforthailand
alcance			gentlekeepers		preach_on_islam
alex_and_melissa	global_watch		promise-keeping_men
allaboutfamilies	god_is_sovereign	prophezine-ldp
amizade			godtoday_devotions	prophezine-newsletter
anzac			golden_devotional	psalm121_news
aog			goodlifeministries	puthuppallybrethren
arabianvoice		grace_peace		pz-newsbites-h
ark_laurie		gracepointe132		ramona_news
b_sharp			greg_report		rapidresponse
bbhfarm			haggaimuscat		rcc
bbinspire		healing			refugeplace
beit_yshua		heart2heart		revelation2217
bible1year		hgbcdeacons		revfiles
bibleclub		hiskingdom		revfilesnews
bibleiq			hit			revival
bibletalk		homesteadheaven		romanfoosfamily
bid_7dae		homewrite		rsafrica
bid_vir_elizabeth	hop4hebrewroots		s_t_childrens_home
bjstoops-news		hope4kyiv		sachsn
boh			hope4marriages		saintfrancistnt
bradandchelsea		hopechest		sbc_eng_alumni
brazil			hopethrugrace		sbsbinu
brethrenvoice		hosanna			scope
brucep4muslims		hsinfohanpa		scottnsarahc
bullard			icd			sdw
burningbushdevo		igreja			sea_breeze
burningbushhtml		indo_serve		sentinelle
c_a_s_t			interchange		sermonindex
c_lug			ipray4justice		sgf
camel_report		itnannounce		shepherds_stone
cbdl			itnlatin		shfl
ccfprayer		itnprayer		shoulders
ccmag			jctv			sliceoflife
cecf			jeffnlori		smucks_in_mexico
challenge		jessica_update		soundofgrace
change88		johanandmimi		sponge_divers
chc_lead		joyful			stevenanddaisy
cheso			jude24			strawberry_lane
christianaddult		jwreminder		student_parents
christianbooks		khartoum		supporters
christianguitar		ki_ftlauderdale		supportmslm4j
christianhomes		kidsafe			suviseshakanbalasangha
churchbass		kiflorida		tbtd
cloudburst		kiftl1			team_link
cog			kiftl2			teambratcher
countryside_c_c		kigville		teamchelsey
cristaospb		kilakeland		tearoom
crossinggayle		kirksvilleahs		test
cu			kneemail		texas_honorbound_mm
dayspringchurch		ladies_fellowship	the_brethren_news
dayspringkidz		laines_letters		thebiblemeditator
dayspringleaders	lavang			thekingschapel
dayspringprayer		lcc			thrissur_brethren_news
daystar			lf_newsletter		titus2hsnewsletter
dcq			lifegroupleaders	tomunderhill
decasaemcasa		lightenupbrethren	trinitymen
deepwatersnews		lightgrams		trinitytx_org
deserthighway		love_notes		trustinggod
deusconosco		ltb24_spanish		tva_ministers
dillardsupdate		markmeganthomas		uccnews
doorofhope		mennoniteplain		uccprayers
dragonraid		millerfamily		uniquelymade
eagles_rising_news	mineroadchurch		uplift
eagles_rising_nuus	mission			vandiebrinkies
efc_institute		missionaryvoice		vashi_cba
efc_pastorlist		mntpfile		verdaupdates
efcatexas		moderator		vineyardvoice
elsalvadornewsletter	moderator_chat		vntb
emaildevotionals	moms_group_notes	volleyboll
end-times		mspmissionfields	walkwithjesus
epistle2equip		naprayer		wallbuilders4christ
esdras10_4		nelsons			webmessage
eternal_ink		news4turkey		willardmast
everyone		noonans			wingfold
facilitadorasaberviver	oasischorale		wordofmouthdiscussions
fah			openairoutreach		yffd
faith_family_freedoms	orphansfirst		ymef
faithandlife		p40			ymefdallas
faithfamily		paraiba_mission		zionnellikkunnu
famillier		parkside
familyward		pastormail

All 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