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.

1corinthians7		faithandlife		paraiba_mission
1peter3			faithbibleefc		parkside
1tim4_12		faithfamily		pastormail
8dedezembro		famillier		pastorsforum
abesermons		familyward		pattonvillebaptist
addhomeschool		fax_to_wash_dc		penderhomeed
addhope			fbcocoa			perrinministries
adevotionalgroup	fbcprayers		pittman_prayer
adhd-alt		feedtheflock		politics24
africa_prayer_watch	fellowship_hall		practical
ahe_teens		firstplace		pray4elders
aheartforhome		fmhfriends		pray_7days
alcance			focus			prayargonia
allaboutfamilies	folkartscenter		prayer_needs_ffm
amizade			forthright		prayeralways
anzac			freedomserge		prayercentral
aog			freemanfamily		prayerwarriors
arabianvoice		frugalhomemaker		prayforthailand
ark_laurie		futurebasic		preach_on_islam
bbhfarm			gentlekeepers		promise-keeping_men
bbinspire		gerry_breshears		prophetic_word
beachblast		global_watch		prophezine-ldp
beit_yshua		god_is_sovereign	prophezine-newsletter
bible1year		godtoday_devotions	puthuppallybrethren
bibleclub		golden_devotionals	pz-newsbites-h
bibleiq			grace_peace		ramona_news
bibletalk		gracepointe132		rapidresponse
bid_7dae		greg_report		rcc
bid_vir_elizabeth	hbcprayers		refugeplace
bipolarhope		healing			revelation2217
bjstoops-news		heart2heart		revfiles
blessing_a_day		hiskingdom		revfilesnews
boh			hit			romanfoosfamily
brazil			hnhsg			rsafrica
brethrenvoice		homesteadheaven		s_t_childrens_home
brucep4muslims		homewrite		sachsn
bullard			hop4hebrewroots		saintfrancistnt
burningbushdevo		hope4kyiv		sarinedcery
burningbushhtml		hope4marriages		sbc_eng_alumni
c_a_s_t			hopechest		scope
c_lug			hopethrugrace		scottnsarahc
camel_report		hosanna			sdw
cbdl			hsinfohanpa		sea_breeze
ccfprayer		icd			sentinelle
ccmag			igreja			sermonindex
cecf			interchange		sermonseeds
cftd			jctv			sgf
challenge		jennysjournal		shepherds_stone
change88		jensheartandhome	shfl
chc_lead		jessica_update		shoulders
cheso			johanandmimi		sliceoflife
christianaddult		joyful			soundofgrace
christianbooks		jude24			sponge_divers
christianguitar		jwreminder		stevenanddaisy
christianhomes		khartoum		strawberry_lane
churchbass		ki_ftlauderdale		student_parents
cicsen			kidsafe			supporters
cicses			kiftl1			supportmslm4j
cloudburst		kiftl2			tbtd
cog			kigville		team_link
countryside_c_c		kirksvilleahs		teamchelsey
crhm			kneemail		tearoom
cristaospb		ladies_fellowship	test
crossinggayle		laines_letters		texas_honorbound_mm
cu			lavang			the_brethren_news
dailyinspirations	lcc			thebraswells
dayspringchurch		letterstomysisters	thrissur_brethren_news
dayspringkidz		lf_newsletter		tipsbymarv
dayspringleaders	lifegroupleaders	titus2hsnewsletter
dayspringprayer		lightenupbrethren	tomunderhill
daystar			lightgrams		trinitytx_org
dcq			lighthouse_beams	trustinggodalltheway
decasaemcasa		lnmn			uccnews
deepwatersnews		lorilynroberts		uccprayers
deserthighway		love_notes		uniquelymade
deusconosco		ltb24_spanish		uplift
dillardsupdate		markmeganthomas		urbanblackgospel
doorofhope		mennoniteplain		vandiebrinkies
dragonraid		millerfamily		verdaupdates
eagles_rising_news	mineroadchurch		verpadu
eagles_rising_nuus	mission			vineyardvoice
eca			missionaryvoice		vntb
efcatexas		mntpfile		volleyboll
elsalvadornewsletter	moderator		walkwithjesus
emaildevotionals	moderator_chat		wallbuilders4christ
end-times		moms_group_notes	webmessage
epistle2equip		naprayer		willardmast
esdras10_4		nelsons			wingfold
eternal_ink		noonans			wordofmouthdiscussions
everyone		oasischorale		yffd
expositoryechoes	orphansfirst		ymef
fah			pamers			ymefdallas
faith_family_freedoms	paraguayherald		zionnellikkunnu

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