Internet Resources

Over the past decade a tremendous amount of resources for every field of study have been placed on the internet. A number of sites feature placed books online, which can become a great boon to pastors and church leaders in Majority World countries, where books and similar resources are scarce. But trying to find what you are looking for on the internet can become both time consuming and expensive as most Africans are paying for internet access by the hour. Below are some sites I have come across and found helpful in my searches for relevant Christian resources. Please note that I have not examined everything on these sites (that would be MORE than a full-time job!) and I do not necessarily approve of everything on them. Most sites are put together by an individual or a group that has a particular doctrinal perspective and you may or may not end up agreeing with the resources they have chosen.

The sites are grouped into the following broad categories:

    1. Book Collections - General

    2. Book Collections - Christian

    3. Bible Study

    4. The Church, Leadership, and Ministry

    5. Evangelism - Missions - Africa

    6. The Pentecostal - Charismatic Movement

 1. Book Collections - General

University of Pennsylvania Online Books

This is a listing of books that are available online organized by the Library of Congress system. You can also search by author, title, and subject. It encompasses all books, not just religious ones. The website address given will take you to religious books.

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/subjectstart?BL-BX

Project Gutenburg

the site has over 20,000 books online, free to download. A great place to find text-only copies of older works.

http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/

Open Library

This site seeks to the first place to stop if you are looking for a book online. It lists more than 23,000,000 books and tells you where they can be found. Over 1,000,000 books are available as downloadable pdf files, which in most cases are either at archive.org or google.books.

http://openlibrary.org

Google Books

Google is seeking to become the place you can turn to and find every book. You will find the full text of many older, public domain works. Some newer books will have a large percentage of the book online, available for you to read.

 http://books.google.com/

2. Book Collections - Christian

Anglican Library

"The aim of the Anglican Library is to publish new HTML editions of Christian literature from the Anglican tradition and other works that have traditionally been of interest to Anglicans." It contains some religious books by the following authors: G.W.O. Addleshaw, John Donne, John Keble, Hugh Latimer, William Law, C.S. Lewis, H.C.G. Moule, O.C. Quick, Dorothy Sayers, J.C. Ryle, Goerge Whitefield.

http://www.anglicanlibrary.org/index.htm

Baptist Bible Believers

A collection of books and writings from a Fundamentalist perspective.

http://www.baptistbiblebelievers.com/AuthorsAL/tabid/56/Default.aspx

Bible.org

A huge website with many different kinds of resources, from suggested funeral and weddings to help with counseling issues.

http://www.bible.org

Catholic Encyclopedia

The Catholic Encyclopedia online.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/

Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics.

Books and resources from a Reformed perspective.

http://reformed.org/index.html

Christian Book Summaries

This site has summaries of various recent Christian books which can be downloaded and printed in their entirety for not-for-profit use.

http://www.christianbooksummaries.com/

Christian Classics Ethereal Library

A large collection of over 300 classic and public domain Christian works.

http://www.ccel.org

Christian Corps Books

This site contains the text of more than 50 public domain books by people like Andrew Murray, Smith Wigglesworth, Watchman Nee, E. M. Bounds, F. F. Bruce, and A. W. Tozer.

http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/bookcat.htm

Christian Digital Library Foundation

Large collection of public domain books.

http://www.cdlf.org/ftp/index.htm

Columbia International University. Online Resources

A large list of where to find various kinds of resources on the internet.

http://www.ciu.edu/library/resource_all.php

Dabar.org

A collection of resources for pastors and Christian teachers by Daniel J. Dyke.

Dabar - http://www.dabar.org/

Desiring God

Includes a number of books and resources by John Piper.

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/

Elmer Towns

Elmer Towns, a well-known Christian writer, has put all of his older books online as pdf files.

http://www.elmertowns.com/

Glorify His Name

Full-text books by a number of Christian authors.

http://glorifyhisname.com/sys-tmpl/door/

Grace Gems

Collection of writings by various authors (Baxter, Pink, Ryle, Tiptaft, Winslow, others).

http://www.gracegems.org/

Grace Online Library

A large collection of passages on many subjects, contemporary and classic sources. It does not contain complete books.

http://graceonlinelibrary.org/

ICLNet Institute for Christian Leadership

This site seeks to provide a starting point for online research on a number of Christian topics. It contains the text of many books and gives sites where other books can be located.

ftp://iclnet93.iclnet.org/pub/resources/christian-books.html

MacDonald - Johannesen Printing & Publishing

The site contains the collected works of George MacDonald, an English fiction writer who greatly influenced C. S. Lewis and other twentieth century Christian writers.

http://www.johannesen.com/index.html

Maranatha Media Online

A collection of several dozen books.

http://www.maranathamedia.com.au/Download/Books/Online_Library_Latest.htm

Rapture Ready

Classic books dealing with End Time themes.

http://raptureready.com/

Ray Stedman Collection

Ray Stedman was a well-known expository preacher. This site has a large colletion of his sermons and several of his books.

http://www.pbc.org/dp/stedman/guide1.htm

Religion Online

A collection of over 5,000 articles and 200 books on various religious themes. Most of the articles are from Christian Century. The majority of the resources are from a more liberal perspective, but there are works by H. J. Clinebell and K. S. Latourette.

http://www.religion-online.org/

Restoration Movement

This site has resources concerning Barton W. Stone and Thomas and Alexander Campbell and those who followed them. This movement spawned several distinct religious groups: the Churches of Christ, the Christian Churches, and the Disciples of Christ.

http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/

Shiloh Online

A collection of books by 16 nineteenth century authors, such as D.G. Barnhouse.

http://www.shilohonline.org/

Soli Deo Gloria

The site contains a collection of public domain works, many by John Calvin.

http://www.solideogloria.ws/libraryviewer.aspx?listtype=category

Study Light

A site with many resources, including Bible, commentaries, etc.

http://www.studylight.org/

The Bible Revival

Contains over 80 books of famous Christian authors.

http://thebiblerevival.com/books.htm

Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary on-line essays

Over 2,000 essays representing papers and lectures delivered by Luteran theologians on a variety of themes. Essays are organized by author, subject, and Bible reference.

http://www.wls.wels.net/library/Essays/essayindex.htm

 3. Bible Study

Bandstra

An online course in Old Testament survey by Barry L. Bandstra entitled: Reading the Old Testament - An Introduction to the Hebrew Old Testament

http://www.hope.edu/academic/religion/bandstra/RTOT/RTOT.HTM

Bible Basics

The site seeks to collect information of use to new Christians.

http://www.netministries.org/bbasics/bbasics.html

Bible Door  

This site contains a list of jumps to other Bible-related sites.

http://www.bibledoor.tk/

Bible Foundation

A collection of electronic Bibles (KJV, BBE, Darby, Greek NT, Strongs, Vulgate, and others--plus Bible helps--all public domain.

http://www.bf.org/bfetexts.htm

Bible History Online

The site seeks to help Christians understand the people and cultures of Bible times, thereby leading to a better undertsanding of the Bible. The site contains a lot of jumps to other websites.

http://www.bible-history.com/

Bible Places

The site has low res pictures of many places mentioned in the Bible, with a reasonable prices for cds of higher res pics.

http://www.bibleplaces.com/index.html

Bible Researcher

Created by Michael Marlowe, this site is focused on issues related to the Biblical text and has a wonderful set of articles on issues such as canonicity, Hebrew and Greek textual variants, Biblical interpretation, and English versions of the Bible. Marlowe has extensive annotated bibliographies and a comprehensive list of websites of interest to those involved in Biblical studies.

http://www.bible-researcher.com/

Bible Revival

A collection of mostly public domain works on the Bible.

http://thebiblerevival.com/books.htm

Bible Teacher

A site operated by Didaskalos Ministries, it seeks to provide materials of use to pastors, teachers, and evangelists.

http://www.bibleteacher.org/

Biblical Greek

The site offers courses and materials for the study of Greek.

http://www.biblicalgreek.org

Biblical Hebrew

Site with numerous resouces for learning biblical Hebrew.

http://www.biblicalhebrew.com/

Coffman's Commentaries

James Coffman, a Biblical studies professor, has put his series of Bible commentaries online.

http://www.searchgodsword.org/com/bcc/

Ecole Initiative

A site for the study of Early Church history, with short articles on topics and individuals, as well as a chronology.

http://ecole.evansville.edu/

E-Sword

Rick Meyers has put an amazing collection of free Bible study resources online.

http://www.e-sword.net/

Early Christian Writings

Peter Kirby has made this one of the best places to go to find resources for the study of Christian writings of the first two centuries.

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/

Electronic Tools and Ancient Near Eastern Texts

The site has numerous 19th century texts and articles on Near Eastern sources.

http://www.cwru.edu/UL/preserve/Etana/

Greek Bible

A site for the text of the Bible in Greek, both Old and New Testaments, hosted by the Greek Orthodox Church.

http://www.myriobiblos.gr/bible/

Greek New Testament

Westcott-Hort text from 1881, combined with the NA26/27 variants

http://www-user.uni-bremen.de/~wie/GNT/index.html

Hebrew-English OT  

A Hebrew - English Bible According to the Masoretic Text and the JPS 1917 Edition

http://www.mechon-mamre.org/

Holy Land Photos

Free hi-res photos of the Holy Land.

http://www.holylandphotos.org/

Internet Ancient History Sourcebook

A good place to go to find online resources for the study of ancient Near Eastern cultures.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/asbook.html

NT Gateway

A central place for online resources for all issues regarding the study of the New Testament

http://www.ntgateway.com/

Reading the Old Testament - An Introduction to the Hebrew Old Testament

An online OT course written by Barry L. Bandstra.

http://www.hope.edu/academic/religion/bandstra/RTOT/RTOT.HTM

Search God's Word

The site has numerous Bibles and tools for personal Bible study

http://www.searchgodsword.org/

Wycliffe EasyEnglish

EasyEnglish is a form of simple English developed by Wycliffe Associates (UK). This site contains Bible commentaries and other materials written in EasyEnglish that are free for you to download and use. Great for those who speak English as a second language!

http://www.easyenglish.info

4. The Church, Leadership, and Ministry

Africa's Hope

The A/G site dedicated to training leaders for the Assemblies of God churches in Africa.

http://www.africashope.org/us/index.htm

EQ Course

John Edmiston has a put a course online called "Managing And Mastering Your Emotions." The course is FREE and is offered through the Asian Internet Bible Institute.

http://www.aibi.ph/beq/

Enrichment Journal

The online version of the Assemblies of God periodical with helps for A/G ministers. Great articles on all kinds of subjects!

http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/

House Church Central

Resources for those interested in the House Church movement.

http://www.hccentral.com/

Leadership Network

resources for church leaders.

http://www.leadnet_org/default.html

Shaking and Shining

A Century 21 Disciple of Jesus Web based resources for ministry.

http://shakinandshinin.org/

We Build People

An Assemblies of God site dedicated to a values-driven philosophy (not a program) designed to help the pastor, his leadership team and the local congregation to respond to Christ's call to "make disciples." The site containes and overview and a number of articles on this approach, which is similar to Rick Warren's Purpose Driven church.

http://webuildpeople.ag.org/

5. Evangelism - Missions - Africa

Adherents

Adherents.com is a growing collection of over 43,870 adherent statistics and religious geography citations: references to published membership/adherent statistics and congregation statistics for over 4,200 religions.

http://www.adherents.com/

Africa Missions Resource Center

Resources for Christian missions and churches in Africa.

http://africamissions.org/

African Proverbs, Sayings and Stories

Collections of stories and proverbs from across the continent.

http://www.afriprov.org/

African Religion

Books and Papers on African Religion by Fred Welbourn, Steve Hayes, Irving Hexham, and others.  Contains text of Atoms and Ancestors by F.B. Welbourn.

http://www.ucalgary.ca/~nurelweb/africa.html

AICs

Contains resources and links to research being carried out on African Initiated Churches.

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/8409/aic.htm

Ankerberg Theological Research Institute

A large collection of shows and articles on various cults, etc. A great apologetics resource.

http://www.johnankerberg.com/

Answering Islam

Resources to help Christians understand Islam and how to deal with Muslims.

http://www.answering-islam.org/index.html

Christian Aplogetics & Research Ministry

A site devoted to apologetics with information on cults and sects of all kinds.

http://www.carm.org/

Communicating Christ Among Folk Religionists

An excellent book on Christianity and Folk Religion (primarily African) by Dr. Gailyn Van Rheenen.

http://www.missiology.org/

Dictionary of African Christian Biography

The site has short biographies of lots of African church leaders, both recent and ancient.

http://www.dacb.org/

Ethnologue

A listing of all the languages of the world, as categorized by Wycliffe and SIL. A great place to get a handle on the languages in any given country!

http://www.ethnologue.com/

GlobalReach

Global University has put all the older Evangelism, Christian Life, and Christian Service courses online.

http://www.globalreach.org

Global Mapping International

The site seeks to produce research that will stimulate emerging missions movements and leaders.

http://www.gmi.org/index.html

Great Commission

A number of recent books, mostly dealing with apologetics subjects.

http://www.greatcom.org/resources/

LeaderU

Large collection of articles from Campus Crusade. Excellent resources in understanding and dealing with youth and new trends at university campuses.

http://www.leaderu.com/menus/index.html

Let Us Reason

A number of articles on apologetics and other contemporary issues by Mike Oppenheimer

http://www.letusreason.org/

Network for Strategic Missions

Strategic planning regarding fulfillment of the Great Commission.

http://www.strategicnetwork.org/index.php

Origins

A site which features scholarly and popular resources concerning intelligent design and philosophical theism.

http://www.origins.org

SIL International

Formerly Summer Institute of Linguistics, SIL serves as a resource for Bible translators and others involved in similar work.

http://www.sil.org/

6. The Pentecostal - Charismatic Movement

Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center

Includes various resources related to the history of the Assemblies of God.

http://agheritage.org/

Pentecostal-Charismatic Theological Inquiry International

The site has an extensive collection of scholarly articles and resources on the Pentecostal-Charismatic Movement.

http://www.pctii.org/

Pneuma

Numerous scholarly articles on Pentecostal themes.

http://www.pneumafoundation.com