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		parkside
1tim4_12		fbcocoa			pastormail
39n35eupdates		fbcprayers		pastorsforum
8dedezembro		feedtheflock		pattonvillebaptist
abesermons		fellowship_hall		penderhomeed
addhomeschool		firstplace		perrinministries
addhope			fmhfriends		pittman_prayer
adelphoi_news		focus			politics24
adevotionalgroup	folkartscenter		practical
adhd-alt		forthright		pray4elders
africa_prayer_watch	freedomserge		pray_7days
ahe_teens		freemanfamily		prayargonia
aheartforhome		futurebasic		prayeralways
alcance			gentlekeepers		prayercentral
alex_and_melissa	global_watch		prayforthailand
allaboutfamilies	god_is_sovereign	preach_on_islam
amizade			godtoday_devotions	promise-keeping_men
anzac			golden_devotional	prophetic_word
aog			grace_peace		prophezine-ldp
arabianvoice		gracepointe132		prophezine-newsletter
ark_laurie		greg_report		psalm121_news
b_sharp			haggaimuscat		puthuppallybrethren
bbhfarm			hbcprayers		pz-newsbites-h
bbinspire		healing			ramona_news
beachblast		heart2heart		rapidresponse
beit_yshua		heart4home		rcc
bible1year		hgbcdeacons		refugeplace
bibleclub		hiskingdom		revelation2217
bibleiq			hit			revfiles
bibletalk		homesteadheaven		revfilesnews
bid_7dae		homewrite		revival
bid_vir_elizabeth	hop4hebrewroots		romanfoosfamily
bjstoops-news		hope4kyiv		rsafrica
blessing_a_day		hope4marriages		s_t_childrens_home
boh			hopechest		sachsn
bradandchelsea		hopethrugrace		saintfrancistnt
brazil			hosanna			sbc_eng_alumni
brethrenvoice		hsinfohanpa		sbsbinu
brucep4muslims		icd			scope
bullard			igreja			scottnsarahc
burningbushdevo		indo_serve		sdw
burningbushhtml		interchange		sea_breeze
c_a_s_t			ipray4justice		sentinelle
c_lug			itnannounce		sermonindex
camel_report		itnlatin		sgf
cbdl			itnprayer		shepherds_stone
ccfprayer		jctv			shfl
ccmag			jeffnlori		shoulders
cecf			jessica_update		sliceoflife
challenge		johanandmimi		smucks_in_mexico
change88		joyful			soundofgrace
chc_lead		jude24			sponge_divers
cheso			jwreminder		star
christianaddult		khartoum		stevenanddaisy
christianbooks		ki_ftlauderdale		strawberry_lane
christianguitar		kidsafe			student_parents
christianhomes		kiflorida		supporters
churchbass		kiftl1			supportmslm4j
cloudburst		kiftl2			suviseshakanbalasangha
cog			kigville		tbtd
countryside_c_c		kilakeland		team_link
cristaospb		kirksvilleahs		teambratcher
crossinggayle		kneemail		teamchelsey
cu			ladies_fellowship	tearoom
dayspringchurch		laines_letters		test
dayspringkidz		lavang			texas_honorbound_mm
dayspringleaders	lcc			the_brethren_news
dayspringprayer		lf_newsletter		thebiblemeditator
daystar			lifegroupleaders	thekingschapel
dcq			lightenupbrethren	thrissur_brethren_news
decasaemcasa		lightgrams		titus2hsnewsletter
deepwatersnews		lighthouse_beams	tomunderhill
deserthighway		lnmn			trinitymen
deusconosco		love_notes		trinitytx_org
dillardsupdate		ltb24_spanish		trustinggod
doorofhope		markmeganthomas		tva_ministers
dragonraid		mennoniteplain		uccnews
eagles_rising_news	millerfamily		uccprayers
eagles_rising_nuus	mineroadchurch		uniquelymade
efc_institute		mission			uplift
efc_pastorlist		missionaryvoice		vandiebrinkies
efcatexas		mntpfile		vashi_cba
elsalvadornewsletter	moderator		verdaupdates
emaildevotionals	moderator_chat		vineyardvoice
end-times		moms_group_notes	vntb
epistle2equip		mspmissionfields	volleyboll
esdras10_4		naprayer		walkwithjesus
eternal_ink		nelsons			wallbuilders4christ
everyone		news4turkey		webmessage
facilitadorasaberviver	noonans			willardmast
fah			oasischorale		wingfold
faith_family_freedoms	openairoutreach		wordofmouthdiscussions
faithandlife		orphansfirst		yffd
faithfamily		p40			ymef
famillier		pamers			ymefdallas
familyward		paraiba_mission		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