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A web site for every church by AD 2000
by Todd M. Johnson
The "Houses of Worship" project began in early 1996 with the goal of providing every church in the world (their estimate: 2 million congregations) with its own Web site on the Internet. The project is housed in a basement near the University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania, USA) and has a staff of about 20.
This project is built around the idea that an electronic backbone can support four Web pages per church for pastoral messages, church and youth activities, and services church needs. The project is currently planning to reach 330,000 churches in North America, and then proceed to circle the globe by the year 2000.
HOW is supported by a $5 million grant from the American Bible Society. The ABS sees this project as a way to accomplish their goal of getting Scriptures into the hands of people. The web pages are free. All that is required is an ISP (Internet Service Provider) and someone to edit the pages. HOW can be reached on the Internet at http://www.housesofworship.net (AP News, October 1997).
An important question to ask is, "In what way does this global presence on the Internet assist the global evangelization movement?" In an increasingly connected world, web pages will play a key role in people's awareness of Christ, Christianity, and the Gospel. However, much of World A is not "wired" and Internet strategies will have a limited reach. A comprehensive approach to the evangelization of World A will include, but not be dependent on, the Internet.