wfn.org | ACNS - "Sowing Faith on the Internet"

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

ACNS 3150 - SOUTH AMERICA - 1 October 2002

"Sowing Faith on the Internet"

This September and October the pioneer Spanish portal website
www.anglicanos.net sees two celebrations with the weekly seedthought number
100 'sown' and the imminent fourth anniversary of its launch in 1998.

Anglicanos.net "together in the Net" has grown steadily over the years and
its weekly mailing list risen to over 250, including Agnostics, Anglicans,
Baptists, Catholics, Evangelicals, Pentecostals amongst others, from all
over the Hispanic world. The pioneer website has received approval and
support from Trinity Wall Street and the Southern Cone Provincial Executive
Council as well as other websites, bishops and laity.

"It is exciting to see how this small initiative mushroomed" reports Revd
Tony Somervell from Paraguay. "Concerned for local parishioners who find it
difficult to meet midweek due to work and family commitments, I started to
email a weekly seedthought to arrive in their office or home for Thursday
morning. From the first list of about a dozen in 2000, it has grown to over
250 with people receiving this "seed of faith" in Spain, Mexico, Argentina,
USA, and Chile, amongst over a dozen other countries. This gets re-sent,
copied and included in church noticeboards and magazines, so it gets
multiplied on the way!"

The website itself started as a hobby, but has become a passion as content
has increased. There are over 200 pages available (only in Spanish) with a
variety of materials from the classic 39 Articles to the modern 'Essentials
of Anglicanism' with pages about Sects (which proliferate in South America)
plus an international Directory of diocesan offices and local congregations.
The site figures on the major Search Engines and receives an average of 100
visits per day, peaking each week on Thursday and Friday after the weekly
seedthought is received.

"Our greatest joy however," concludes Tony Somervell, " is to have 2 people
who have integrated into our own congregation here in Asuncisn, Paraguay, as
a result of visits to the website. There are several others in other
countries who have done the same. This could be termed "fishing" on the
(Inter)net! "

Revd Tony Somervell
webmaster www.anglicanos.net
Paraguayan Anglican Church
Asuncisn, Paraguay

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