About Faithnet

Welcome to Faithnet, a collaboration of Christian communities interacting live on-line, through real audio and video conferencing! With pioneer spirits and Christian vision, we are working diligently to gather a network of individuals, churches, and ministries that can create and support a live, interactive ministry and worship on-line.

Faithnet is a unique creation and whether you are here with individual concerns or are part of an established church seeking new members and place on-line to gather, we invite you to come grow with us in a quality ministry and worship on the Internet. We are dedicated to local church development and mission everywhereby freely sharing information, fellowship, study, and devotions.

Are you looking for fellowship, counseling, or just the right Christian community in your area? Are you a local church member or leader within your denomination looking to improve member discipleship and mission development?

Greetings! I'm Mark Jones, Program Coordinator for Faithnet. My desire is for Faithnet to be an integral part of your spiritual journey--a place you can visit during the breaks in your day, or anytime you want to have some contact with other sojourners seeking a deeper sense of God's presence in their lives.

Faithnet is an ongoing creative venture, and I invite you to join in that creativity. Share your ideas, needs, beliefs, and hopes. As a community that transcends geography and many other barriers, Faithnet will develop in unique ways because you are a part. It won't be the same without you.

I'll be here to support and encourage, to listen and integrate, and to insure that Faithnet is a safe, wholesome place for all. Not a venue for pressure tactics or commercialism, Faithnet embodies a spirit of sharing and hope. I'll see you online!

Hi. I'm Rick Lane, founder of Faithnet. In 1994 God came to me in prayer and told me to go and build. To build a place that will help someone who is not in church find one. A place that will help someone in church become more active. A place that will inspire them on to higher study and mission, including ministry on the net. A place that can help people in transition or those who find it difficult to get to church, join in group prayer, study, or fellowship. Faithnet is the result.

Mission Statement

A Parish to the World--Faithnet is a non-profit, interdenominational Christian community which uses internet communications systems to bring people together in fellowship, love, and learning. It connects people seeking to discover the riches of a viable Christian faith with Christian individuals and organizations interested in growing in faith and service by sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ on-line.
In a partnership of churches, other religious organizations and individuals, the mission of Faithnet is to remove communications barriers that separate the family of the faithful from those searching to discover the riches of a viable Christian faith. Our goal is to develop creative ways persons can relate to others within the structure of their local congregations and with persons around the world on the Internet and become a Christian Parish to the World

A 5013C non-profit organization, Faithnet is supported by tax-deductible donations. Our mailing address is:

Faithnet, Inc.,
c/o Bernard B. Lane, Jr
268 Geneseo
San Antonio, TX 78209

History

On November 3, 1993, following a passionate bedtime prayer for direction and purpose in life, 35-year old Rick Lane was called in a dream to open the way for a networked partnership of Christian organizations and ministries to extend the invitation of Christian faith, fellowship, nurture, worship, discipleship, evangelism, and mission to people everywhere through ubiquitous, global, online communications. Over time Rick became aware that the success of such a mission would be dependent on integration of partner efforts and focusing services to those who are seeking the riches of a more vibrant Christian faith, and want to remove obstacles to increased involvement in their local churches. Rick felt led to take the technical knowledge he and others would develop to utilize the communications possibilities of the Internet and dedicate time and resources to apply them to Faithnet.

Two years later, Trevor Turner, a United Methodist Clergyman was in his 15th year as president of a college preparatory school, affiliated with the United Methodist Church, met Rick one morning on a fund-raising tour. By the afternoon, Trevor was moved to express an interest in developing Faithnet following his retirement in 1997.

On January 1, 1998, Trevor became Faithnet's first Executive Director. He immediately began seeking additional organizations to partner in the development of Faithnet as an avenue for extending their missions further to the online world. By March 1998, Faithnet was incorporated in the State of Virginia with Articles of Incorporation and by-laws which provides for a Board of Trustees to have fiduciary responsibilities and general oversight. In December 1998 the Internal Revenue Service recognized Faithnet provisionally as a legitimate church related organization, for tax reporting and donation treatment purposes. Faithnet is beleived to be the first such organization based solely on the Internet receiving such status.

By 1999 the first live regular meetings and events were being held at the Faithnet Internet site, and the Board approved pursuit of an independent ministry under a full time program director. A grant was obtained to begin this ministry and, following a nationwide search resulting in dozens of inquiries and applications, Mark Sibley Jones was selected as the first full-time director in July 2000. This year the Board of Trustees was also expanded and now includes two clergy, an Internet ministry pioneer, a world hunger missionary executive, and two of the original lay founders of Faithnet. Partners and volunteers are joining each week. Each day, progress is being made to fulfill our mission to be a Christian parish to the world, in support of individual spiritual growth and greater involvement by members in their own local churches and missions everywhere.

Trevor Turner passed into eternal life on February 24, 2010. He always said, "Do not say of me after my death that I will be resting. I will be busy in heaven!"  The volunteers of Faithnet feel his encouragement, and continue the ministry as a valuable web information resource.

Affirmations

With Christians of many communions, Faithnet proclaims belief in the triune God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This confession embraces the biblical witness to God's activity in creation, encompasses God's involvement in history from the beginning of time, and anticipates the consummation of God's reign.

The created order is designed for the well-being of all creatures and as the place of human dwelling in covenant with God. As imperfect beings, however, we have broken that covenant, become estranged from God, wounded ourselves and one another, and have misused the precious resources of the natural order. We stand in need of redemption.

We hold common with all Christians a faith in the work of salvation in and through Jesus Christ. At the heart of the gospel of salvation is God's incarnation in Jesus of Nazareth. Scripture witnesses to the redeeming love of God in Jesus' life and teachings, His atoning death, His resurrection, His sovereign presence in history, His triumph over the powers of evil and death, and His promised return. Because God truly loves us in spite of our willful sin, God judges us, summons us to repentance, pardons us, receives us by that grace given to us in Jesus Christ, and gives us hope of life eternal.

We share the Christian belief that God's redemptive love is realized in human life by the activity of the Holy Spirit, both in personal experience and in the community of believers. This community is the church, which the Spirit has brought into existence for the healing of both individuals and nations. The mission of the church is to lead persons to accept Jesus Christ as the Lord of their lives and from that faith receive forgiveness, become reconciled to God and be transformed as people of the new covenant.

"Life in the Spirit" involves diligent use of the means of grace such as praying, fasting, receiving communion, and growing in spiritual maturity. It also encompasses the communal life of the church in worship, mission, evangelism, service and social witness.

As new persons in Christ, we become a part of Christ's universal church. We are initiated and incorporated into this community of faith by baptism, receiving the promise of the Spirit that recreates and transforms us. Through the celebration of Holy Communion and in fellowship with others in the community of faith, we participate in the risen presence of Jesus Christ and are thereby nourished for faithful discipleship.

With other Christians we recognize that the reign of God is both a present and future reality. Wherever human beings are being made new persons altogether in Christ, wherever the insights and resources of the gospel are brought to bear on the life of the world, God's reign is already in its healing and renewing power.

We share with other Christians a recognition of the authority of the Holy Scripture as given by the early church as the Word of God. As we are enlightened in matters of faith and spiritual development and growth, the Holy Scriptures are an essential light on the pathway of life.

With other Christians, we declare the essential oneness of the church in Christ Jesus. This rich heritage of shared Christian belief finds expression in our hymnody and liturgies. Our unity is affirmed in the historic creeds as we confess one holy, catholic, and apostolic church. It is also experienced in joint ventures of ministry in various forms of ecumenical cooperation.