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.

1_timothy_4_12		epistle2equip		noonans
1corinthians7		eternal_ink		nz_prophets
1peter3			expositoryechoes	nzhsmarmee
1tim4_12		fah			oasischorale
abcinkynwarea		fahexhort		odb
abesermons		faithandlife		offthebeatentrek
adam_padfield_music	faithbibleefc		orphansfirst
addhomeschool		faithfamily		oslregion8news
addhope			familytouch		pamers
adevotionalgroup	farbitm			paraiba_mission
adhd-alt		fbcprayers		parkside
africa_prayer_watch	fbiay			pastormail
aheartforhome		fbneladies		pastorsforum
alcance			fellowship_hall		pattonvillebaptist
allaboutfamilies	firstplace		penderhomeed
alongthejourney		fjsboard		perrinministries
amaryheart		fmhfriends		practical
amizade			focus			pray4elders
anzac			forthright		pray_7days
aog			freedomserge		prayargonia
arabianvoice		freemanfamily		prayer_needs_ffm
ark_laurie		front_line_reports	prayeralways
bbhfarm			frugalhomemaker		prayercentral
bbinspire		futurebasic		prayerpartners
beckysupdates		gbcallchurch		prayerwarrior
beit_yshua		gentlekeepers		prayerwarriors
believershomeschool	ggwo-prayer-chain	prayerwarriors4god
bible1year		global_watch		praykiev
bible_notes		globalchristians	promise-keeping_men
biblebrief		godtoday_devotions	prophetic_word
bibleclub		grace_peace		prophezine-ldp
bibleiq			gracepointe132		prophezine-newsletter
bibletalk		graceworldview		pz-newsbites-h
bid_7dae		grahamfamilyministries	ramona_updates
bjstoops-news		greg_report		rcc
blessing_a_day		guyssupportgroup	revfiles
brazil			healing			revfilesnews
bread-of-life		heart2heart		rsafrica
brethrenvoice		hiaamct			s_t_childrens_home
brucep4muslims		highschool-adhd		sachsn
bullard			hit			sarinedcery
burningbushdevo		hnhsg			sbc_eng_alumni
burningbushhtml		homesteadheaven		scottnsarahc
c_lug			homewrite		sdw
camel_report		hope4kyiv		sea_breeze
caseycc			hope4marriages		sentinelle
ccmag			hopechest		sermonseeds
cdtltb8g_music		hopethrugrace		sgf
cecf			hortonhomeschool	shepherds_stone
cheso			hosanna			shfl
christianaddult		hsinfohanpa		shoulders
christianbooks		igreja			soundofgrace
christiandrummer	ipcministries		spc_now_osl
christianguitar		jennysjournal		sponge_divers
christianhomes		jensheartandhome	springfield
christianunity		jenspen			stepsuptoheaven
christinfo		jessica_update		stevenanddaisy
christwaymedia		jnm			stormharvest
churchbass		joyful			strawberry_lane
cloudburst		khartoum		swgcares
cog			kibcworld		tbtd
congressocristao	kirksvilleahs		team_link
countryside_c_c		kneemail		test
cristaospb		ladies_fellowship	themothershour
crossing_chris_brown	laines_letters		theprayerstarter
crossing_geyers		larrabeeprayer		thrissur_brethren_news
crossing_gokcens	lavang			tomunderhill
crossinggayle		lcc			treasures
cu			letterstomysisters	trumpetcall
cwowdevotional		lf_newsletter		uccnews
dailyinspirations	lifegroupleaders	uccprayers
dayspringprayer		lighthouse_beams	uplift
dcq			ll-family		urbanblackgospel
deepwatersnews		lnmn			verdaupdates
deserthighway		love_notes		vntb
determined		mbiay			walkwithjesus
deusconosco		mennoniteplain		webmessage
dillardsupdate		millerfamily		willardmast
doorofhope		mission			wingfold
dragonraid		missionaryvoice		womenofpassions
efcatexas		missionfields		wordofmouthdiscussions
efellowship		missionsofgrace		wrw_network_news
elem-adhd		mjcc			yffd
elsalvadornewsletter	mntpfile		ymef
emaildevotionals	moderator		zion_news_thrissur
end-times		nazarene-christians	zionnellikkunnu
end-times_news		nelsons			zipline

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