Christian Telecommunications Toolkit: Discussion Paper #1 Introduction: One of the most important things which churches deal with is information: whether it be internal information tracking members, visitors, activities, etc., or information exchanged between the church and its denomination, mission board, seminary, or other support organisations. The sheer volume of mail, newsletters, faxes, etc. going into and out of the average church is immense. Aside from the usual problems with filing, finding, and using all of this information, there is an increasing concern with the impact of use of resources like paper and pen in an increasingly stressed environmental situation. Industry has long sought a way of taming the volume of paper. The term "paperless office" represents an ideal where all the information coming into and out of an office is in electronic, rather than paper, form. In this way, many letters can be filed on a computer disk, which takes up as much space as one letter, and they can be sorted, copied, retrieved, re-edited for other uses, all with existing computer software. Unfortunately, some organisations have found that computers, rather than reducing the paper load, actually increase it. Since computers make it easier to create documents, more documents are created. The computer printer spits out, if anything, even more paper than the mailbox. Networking computers: Such does not need to be the case. It is perfectly possible to exchange information between computers without paper. After all, it is not the paper itself we want the recipient to receive, but the information printed on it. Within one office, it is just as easy to send an electronic message over a LAN (Local Area Network) mail system as it is to write up a note on a piece of paper and direct it to the recipient. The electronic message won't get lost under a pile of paper. Between sites, say between a church and the denominational office, it is possible to use modems and computers to exchange information by means of electronic mail. This linking together of computers within a building, and linking together of computers in different buildings, even in different cities, is called "networking". As more and more nodes are connected together by means of electronic communication, a map showing the electronic links ends up having so many lines on it that it begins to resemble the mesh of a fishnet (See figure 1). A---B---C---D---E---F Figure 1: A stylised representation of | | | | | | a computer network. The G---H---I---J---K---L letters A-X represent nodes | | | | | | (either computers within a M---N---O---P---Q---R Local Area Network or sites | | | | | | within a Wide Area Network) S---T---U---V---W---X and the lines represent the links between nodes. Note Figure 1 the resemblance to a fishnet. In fact, some people take advantage of this terminology to indulge in the love of puns which seems to be common among computer users. One of the denominational computer networks in the United States is called "FishNet", playing up on the network terminology and Jesus' promise to the Disciples that they would be called "Fishers of men." (Mk. 1:17) This document will discuss several of the current attempts to create Christian Electronic Communication networks. In addition, it will suggest ways in which a Christian Communications Toolkit can aid the effectiveness of current networking efforts by enabling Christians to work together. The purpose of this discussion paper is to gather opinions on the need for and possible format of such a toolkit, and to gather information to be included in it. Types of Networking: For clarification, here is a brief rundown on the different kinds of computer networks. - LAN: Local Area Network. In a LAN, several computers within the same building are linked together, either through existing telephone circuits, running special network wiring, fibre optic cable, or assorted "wireless" network systems using radio waves or infrared light. Typically, LANs are used to enable several computers to share high cost peripherals, such as printers, scanners, disk storage, and sometimes modems or faxes. Some LANs have other services added, such as electronic mail between computers, client-server applications, or "workgroup" applications, in which several users can work collaboratively on a project. - WAN: Wide Area Network. In a WAN, computers or LANs at different sites, and even different cities, are linked by high speed leased data lines or satellite links, which can make it appear to the user that another computer or user is right next door rather than across town or across the country. Typically, WANs are run by large corporations, as the means of linking sites can be quite expensive. - Information Services: In this system, a single computer is set up to accept calls via modem. Users call in to the system to send and pick up messages, or exchange files. - BBS Networks: In this system, each BBS in the network is set up to call another system at a set time to exchange mail. For example, a BBS in Vancouver might call another BBS in Calgary every night at 1:00 am, and send all of the new messages it has received during the previous day. In return, the other BBS sends its new messages. That other BBS might be connected to another, and so on. In all, there may be anywhere from a couple of dozen BBSs in one of the smaller networks, to 14,000 in Fidonet, the largest network. The message areas are called "echoes" because any message entered on one BBS is automatically relayed to ("echoed" on) all of the others carrying that echo. - Internet: Internet started as a link between universities and government agencies in the United States. It has grown to include corporations and BBSs offering public access to Internet, and is now the largest network in the world in terms of the number of users, and nobody actually knows how big it is, because new hosts (computers or LANs) are added all the time. Estimates are that there are at least 4,000 hosts in the Internet, with anywhere from one to several thousand users at each host. Internet carries over a thousand public message bases (called "news groups") and provides for private mail, file transfers, and even logging on to other computers through the network. Barriers to Networking: There are several reasons why networking has not progressed as far as it might have in churches: - Lone Ranger Syndrome: Baptists especially have a tendency towards what I call "the Lone Ranger Syndrome", where we seem to have the attitude that anything which happens outside our own congregation has nothing to do with us. (Although my Anglican priest friend assures me that this syndrome is alive and well in the Anglican Church too.) Christians don't seem to be very good at talking to one another, and this leads to a lot of duplicated efforts, where people try to "reinvent the wheel", rather than taking the trouble to find out what others are doing in the field, and then joining in with an existing effort and therefore making it that much stronger. What we have now are a number of efforts at networking which are incompatible with each other, and frequently are unaware of each other's existence. (As many of these networks as possible are listed later in this document.) - Holy Wars: Of course, not all efforts are totally oblivious of each other. Some networks are aware of each other, but have theological differences. "I'm not going to have anything to do with those heretics!" While sometimes there are substantive differences between churches which would make it difficult for them to work together closely, and there are some groups which most churches would have difficulty recognising as "Christian" in any real sense. Surely there is a place for those denominations with similar doctrine and polity to work together on a communications network. Common efforts like the Canadian Foodgrains Bank give me hope that churches may eventually work together in some areas. Perhaps electronic communications will be one of them. - Cost: Many people take one look at the cost of a modem, or usage on an online system, and say "that's an expensive frill we can't afford!" While it's true that spending hours in "chat mode" or browsing for files on a pay-by-the-hour system can a costly item, responsible use of the modem for electronic mail or file transfer can frequently be cheaper than traditional alternative methods, as well as faster. For example, it costs 42 cents to send a 30 gram first class letter within Canada. It is possible to squeeze up to 5 sheets of paper into the 30 gram weight limit before having to move up to the next level of postage. After 11:00 pm, it costs 27 cents to place a two minute long distance call between Vancouver and anywhere in BC or Alberta. (BC Tel has a 27 cent minimum charge per call.) In those two minutes, a fax machine can send up to 12 pages of text under ideal circumstances. A modem could send 200 pages of text, or a combination of text, graphics, and even database or spreadsheet or graphics files. For less money, it is possible to send more information electronically and that information will arrive at the destination much faster than by mail. - Technopeasantry: One of the new terms of this decade is the label "technopeasant". It refers to someone who is unaware of, or even afraid of, high technology. The reason some people do not get into electronic communications is simply that they find the technology involved too bewildering or threatening. This discussion paper is designed to be the first step in making the technology easier to deal with. - Sloppy computer habits: Moving to a paperless office is only effective if people can find the files they need on their computer. I have found that many people, when naming a file in order to store it, give their file a name which is too short to be of any use in saying what is contained in the file. For example, a letter to Don Anderson might appear on a disk as simply "DON", or possibly "DON.LTR". But when was it written and what was it about? Getting people to use meaningful filenames like "DON-JOT.APR" would be a big improvement in letting them keep track of information on disk instead of paper. In the same way, most people do not make full use of the hierarchical nature of hard disk systems in storing files. All modern operating systems allow users to create directories or folders on hard disks, and to nest related directories or folders within one another. Nevertheless, users quite frequently keep all their word processing files in the same directory as the program, or possibly have a "files" directory with all their word processing files in one place. There is value in developing an understanding of "file maintenance" and how to create different directories for committee minutes, church correspondence, Bible Study notes, sermon preparation, or whatever other categories are necessary. Files stored on computers are subject to being lost for a variety of reasons. It is therefore important to make what are called "backups". This is a simple procedure whereby the files from a computer are stored on a second and subsequent media. (These media could include other hard disks in a LAN, so that different computers can backup each other, or floppy disks, or removable hard disks, or tapes.) Without a proper backup procedure, done regularly, a disk crash can turn a "paperless office" into a "useless office". Using Faxes: One step many churches and other Christian organisations have taken into the field of electronic communications is the use of a fax machine. Later in this document, there is a recommendation for making use of this technology to tie churches a little closer together than they are now. Advantages of faxes over modems: There are several reasons people prefer faxes over modems: - Familiarity: When people receive a fax, even if it was generated from a computer with a fax card and has never been committed to paper before, they usually end up with a piece of paper which they can hold in their hands, pin to a bulletin board, photocopy, mark up, and generally treat in a manner they have been used to doing. On the other hand, when people receive electronic mail via computer, they are not used to dealing with it on screen in a computer format. They may be able to write documents on a computer, but they may not be used to reading them on a computer. Thus, many people choose to print out electronic mail and read it from the paper, simply because it is a process more familiar to them. (Thus, they negate the "paperless" benefits of electronic mail.) - Ease of use: Since most fax machines are easy to use, they appeal to technopeasants who can slap a sheet of paper into the feed bin, press a button just like they do on a photocopier, and walk away, knowing that the message will "magically" appear someplace else. (Of course, someone has to program in those numbers, but once they are programmed, the fax is very easy to use.) - Popularity: Many more organisations have fax machines than modems. (When's the last time you heard someone say, "Send me E-mail" instead of "Send me a fax"?) Because "everyone else has one", people tend to assume that faxes are the best way to go. - Signatures: Faxed documents are accepted as legal copies, including signed documents, such as contracts. Except in certain circumstances (such as EDI) files transmitted by modem are not legally binding. (Although some organisations prefer that "hard copy" or paper documents be sent by mail or courier to follow up on and confirm the faxed version.) Advantages of modems over faxes: But faxes, while popular, and appealing to people who are uncomfortable with technology, are not necessarily the only choice for churches. There are several advantages to modems over faxes: - Cost: Since a fax sends a message as a bit map (a stream of instructions to make each dot on the page black or white), a fax of a page takes up to 50 times as much space as an ASCII file (used by computers in transferring data by modem) of the same page. (Most faxes work at 200 dpi. A standard character is 1/10" wide and 1/8" high. It takes a modem 10 bits to define an ASCII character. [8 bits for the data, one for parity, and a "stop bit" to ensure the modems keep in synch with each other.] But it takes a fax 500 bits [200/10x200/8] to define the same character.) Group III fax machines use a process called file compression to compress the data before sending it, but many computer networks also use data compression to save time. In actual practice, the speed (and therefore cost) advantage of using a modem rather than a fax to transfer data varies from 20 to 40 times, depending on what is being sent. - Usefulness at the other end: If a fax is being used simply to pass notes, it doesn't really matter too much how the fax looks at the other end, as long as it's readable. But if the fax contains something to be contained in a report or other document, then whoever receives the fax has to have it retyped to use the information again. With a file sent by modem, the information can simply be "pasted" into another file and stored in the computer without retyping. In fact, database files, spreadsheet files, graphic files, and even programs can be sent by modem. Faxes can only send text or pictures. (And most fax pictures are grainier than photocopies, so they are not usually used for publications.) Then too, the thermal images some faxes produce are quite delicate. Folding, heat, and even bright sunlight can produce black marks, and the image fades over the course of time. - Two way transfers: Any modem system allows the user to both send and receive files in the same call, or to send and receive several different kinds of files (mail, data, programs) in the same call. Faxes can only send or receive (if they have a "poll" option) in one call. Thus, modems can save both time and money by allowing a more efficient flow of information. Fortunately, it is not really necessary to choose between the technologies. Most new high speed modems have send and receive fax capabilities as well, and many online services offer the ability to send a fax message from a modem. People can have both, and choose whichever method their intended recipient is capable of dealing with. Existing Networks: As far as this researcher has been able to gather, the following computer networks are in operation now: - LANs: Depending on the size of the individual church or organisation, there may be local area networks in place in many organisations. (Either that, or a host computer running multiple terminals, which while technically different in the way it is set up, can be functionally similar in the services available to the user.) Most of the time, such LANs are used strictly for resource sharing (printers, disk space and software.) Only rarely have Christian organisations made use of LAN E-mail, in my experience. - WANs: To the best I have been able to discover, no Christian organisation is using a wide area network yet. - Information Services: There are several information services which may have Christian sections available, or may be used by individuals or organisations to exchange E-mail. All of them have either monthly charges or hourly charges or both: - America Online: America Online is only accessible with special graphical access software, which is available for free to Macintosh users or MS-DOS users with EGA or better monitors. The access software is bundled free with PC/Geoworks. Other MS-DOS users can have access to a similar service from the same company called PC-Link. - BIX: Byte Information eXchange. Run by Byte magazine in New York, this is a favourite with writers for many technical magazines whose headquarters are in New York, but the cost of access make it unreasonable for use by all but the most dedicated infophiles in other parts of the world. - Canada Remote Systems: With a large files section and many discussion areas, CRS is probably the biggest system in Canada, but again, it is based in Toronto, and the cost to connect from elsewhere is prohibitive. There is Internet mail, however, as well as links through NANET, but I have not been able to determine if there is any Christian presence. - Compuserve: Compuserve's "Religion" Forum (GO RELIGION) has several shareware church management packages in the data (files) library, as well as some discussion areas which might be of interest. Compuserve is extremely large and complex, and is rather difficult to figure out without a "navigation" program such as Compuserve Information Manager (CIM) which is available for MS-DOS and Macintosh computers. Compuserve also allows users to exchange mail with Internet users. - Cyberstore: Based in New Westminster, BC, this has a graphical access program and a complete Christian files section, but like BIX, the cost of access from other areas limits its usefulness in linking churches outside the Vancouver area. - Ecunet: There is a system based in Louisville, KY called Ecunet, which is run on behalf of about a dozen mainline Protestant denominations in the United States. It can be accessed either with normal communications software, or a special access program called Bizlink. There is no separate files section as such, but files can be attached to messages. - GEnie: GEnie has a section called "Religious Roundtable." Like Compuserve, GEnie has a "navigation" program called Aladdin for MS-DOS and Atari ST computers. - iNet/Envoy: Telecom Canada operates two kinds of information services. Envoy 100 is an E-mail service. iNet 2000 is a more complete service, but includes envoy-compatible mail services. Either service also enables users to send E-mail messages to fax machines, or to any address via Canada Post's special delivery EnvoyPost service. The Baptist Union of Western Canada used to run a bulletin board service on iNet called Ministry.Net, but the difficulty in using the system has caused many users to drop out. Those who are left mostly exchange private E-mail. There is a graphical access program available for $180.00. - MCI Mail: This is an E-mail service offered by MCI, a telephone company in the United States. - Mindlink: Based in Surrey, BC, this has an active religion discussion area, but like BIX, the cost of access from other areas limits its usefulness in linking churches outside the Vancouver area. Unlike BIX, Mindlink is tied into Internet, so users have the ability to exchange mail with any Internet site around the world. - TELOS: The EcumenicaL Online System. Based in Stirling, ON, this is another exclusively Christian system, with its own access software, but netmail ties to Fidonet. - BBS Networks: There are several BBS networks which are not exclusively Christian, but have Christian sections or subgroups in them. These include: - Fidonet: The largest network, reaching some 14,000 BBSs around the world. Fidonet is divided into six "Zones", one per continent, and each Zone is further subdivided into regions and networks. (For example, Fidonet network 1:153 is the lower mainland of British Columbia.) In North America, there is a small group of BBSs forming a network within a network called "Ecunet". In Australia and New Zealand, there is a similar group called the United Christian Communications Network. Fidonet as a whole does not recognise such special interest groups, so finding them to join them can be complicated. There are some religious echoes on the Fidonet backbone (required to be carried in all Fidonet networks), and more which are carried only between the interested BBSs. - FamilyNet: A Fidonet technology network which uses the Fidonet protocols, but is not part of Fidonet itself. FamilyNet consists of Zone 8, and includes most of North America, Hong Kong, parts of Australia and New Zealand, and Great Britain. Unlike Fidonet, FamilyNet does recognise special interest groups in the nodelist, and has a "G-rated" rule banning profanity in echoes and pornographic files, so it has attracted a large number of Christian BBSs and sub-networks, including the Christian Distribution Network (CDN), Christian Fellowship Network (CFN), Computers for Christ (CFC), and the Messianic Jewish Computer Network (MJCN). - GTNet: Uses protocols exclusive to a BBS program called GT PowerComm. It is possible to gate between Fidonet protocols and GT protocols, but they are not entirely compatible. - IMEX: International Mail EXchange is also a Fidonet technology network. IMEX consists of Zones 7 and 89, both largely limited to North America. There is a group of Christian Sysops in Ontario, and one "Religion" echo. - NANET: North America NETwork. Based at Canada Remote Systems, NANET uses a mail protocol which is not compatible with Fidonet. - RelayNet: Popular with users of certain BBS programs (notably PC-Board), RelayNet uses yet another incompatible mail standard, but is larger than NANET. In addition, there are several "Christian" BBS networks. Most use Fidonet protocols: - AgapeNet: Agape Christian Network. Exists largely within the United States, and has many nodes in common with FamilyNet. Dissension has greatly blunted the impact of what should have been a good network, and many people have pulled out. Uses Zone 70. - CIN: Catholic Information Network. Exists within the United States, and uses GTNet protocols. May be defunct, as I haven't heard from them in a while. - CMC: Computer Missions for Christ. Exists in the United States. Zone unknown. - GMN: Global Mission Network. A semi-private network devoted to discussing Christian mission work. Consists of Zone 12, and reaches around the world. Some nodes are in countries "closed" to traditional mission work, so there is more concern with security than in most networks. - ICCN: International Christian Communications Network. Exists mostly within the United States, and uses Zones 70-77. - ICDM: International Christian Discipleship Network. Consists of Zone 77, and is largely contained in North America. - NewLifeNet: New Life Network. Uses RelayNet protocols, and exists mostly within the United States. - NWNet: New Westminster Net. Diocesan network for the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster in BC. Due to demand from outside the diocese, it is likely to expand into "AngliNet" to cover any diocese which is interested. Uses Zone 33. - OCNet: Orthodox Christian Network. Exists mostly within the United States, and uses GTNet protocols. - Internet: Aside from having the largest group of E-mail addresses, Internet has several news groups (public message areas) which are of specific interest to Christians: rec.music.christian Christian Music soc.religion.christian Christianity alt.messianic Messianic Judaism bit.listserv.christia Christianity bit.listserv.notabene Nota Bene Support (Greek/Hebrew/English Word Processor) talk.abortion Abortion talk.origins Creation/Evolution talk.religion.misc Religion In addition, there are several mailing lists, or news groups which are only available to selected users through E-mail, on specific topics. For example, snet.misc is a discussion of Christian mission work. Steps to increasing networking: 1. Fax Directory Since many Churches and other Christian organisations already use fax machines, one important aspect of the Christian Telecommunications Toolkit (CTT) could be to have a single fax directory of all such organisations, and possibly vendors with services to offer to such organisations now. There are already fax directories available, but they can be expensive, and they are intended for a business user rather than a church user. Part of the buildup to releasing any CTT could be to compile a fax directory, and keep it updated at least annually. Steps to increasing networking: 2. Email Directory In the same manner, many Churches and other Christian organisations may already be using E-mail, either through one of the methods outlined above or others yet to be discovered. Another possible part of the CTT could be an E-mail directory, possibly combined with the fax directory. Steps to increasing networking: 3. BBS Directory There are many existing Christian BBSs, both stand alone, and as part of BBS networks. One of the parts of the CTT should be to track existing Christian and Messianic Jewish Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs), so that people can easily find out if there is one in their area. To be included in the database, BBS sysops need to send me the following information: BBS name, BBS telephone number, sysop's name, call forwarding line (if the BBS has call forwarding across calling zones), city, province/state/county (or whatever) and country. And, of course, I am always interested in any comments of interest or import. In addition, for my own use I track the following information: sysop's voice line, address, postal/zip code, baud rates (low and high), operating system (eg. MS-DOS or workalikes, Mac, Atari ST, Commodore 64/128, Apple II, Unix, CP/M, etc.), BBS software, mailing software, networks and addresses for each (eg. if you're in both Fido and The NETwork, I'd like your address in each.), CFC # (where applicable), and which Christ-related echoes or relay conferences are carried. If you do not want any of the information in this paragraph released, let me know, and it will not be included in the database file. Steps to increasing networking: 4. Email Gateways A very important step to improving telecommunications between Christians would be to encourage existing networks to provide mail gateways between networks. Some of these are already in place. For instance, there are mail gateways between Internet and Fidonet, Internet and Compuserve, and Internet and Canada Remote Systems. A link between any network and Internet would make it much easier to route mail between systems, since Internet seems to be the single greatest link other nets have in common. At the very least, networks which use Fidonet protocols should have netmail gateways between them. Steps to increasing networking: 5. Interchurch Network Many of the smaller BBS networks are supported by a single denomination. But few churches are big enough to be able to put a complete network into place. BBS networks have an advantage over centralised information systems, since most of the cost of using the big systems is the communication cost in people reaching the system in the first place. With a BBS network, users in Vancouver don't have to call New York or Toronto, since a BBS can be placed within their local calling area, and files, echomail, and netmail traffic can be passed along as needed. But even so, most BBSs are run by hobbyists, and soon the cost of the hardware and software, as well as regular long distance calls, can be so overwhelming as to put the sysop out of the network. Capital costs for hardware and software to run a BBS are about $2000.00. Monthly costs for the telephone line and long distance calls to exchange mail can vary from $40.00 to $200.00, depending on the distance and the amount of traffic. No individual can carry those costs for long, nor could most churches. But if several churches worked together, the cost of running a BBS network could conceivably be less per church than the present cost of postage. If a church sends ten letters a month to other organisations within the local calling area, and another ten to organisations which would entail long distance calls, then the cost of postage alone (not counting paper and envelopes) comes to $8.60, plus GST. If all of that mail could be sent electronically, the relative costs would be as follows: Mail: 20 letters a month at $0.43 per letter 8.60 7% GST on postage 0.60 --------------------------------------------------- Subtotal 9.20 Times 12 months 110.40 E-mail: 10 local messages per month 0.00 10 netmail messages per month at $0.25 2.50 per message (standard rate within North America for Fidonet mail.) --------------------------------------------------- Subtotal 2.50 Times 12 months 30.00 Of course, the greater the amount of mail being replaced with E-mail, the greater the savings would be. Churches which have very large volumes of mail would save much more. Church which send very little mail might not save much at all. Also to be included in such calculations are the cost of a modem (if the church does not already own one) and the cost of good communications software. The total start up cost should not exceed $150.00. (Good 2400 bps modems are available for less than $100.00, and Telix, one of the better communications programs for MS-DOS, costs $45.00.) If a church has a multi-line telephone system, it would be difficult (but possible) to connect a modem through the existing system, so a separate line might be wiser. Some churches already have separate fax lines which could be used, others would have to have one installed. The monthly cost of a business line in the Vancouver area is about $25.00 a month, which greatly changes the tables above, but churches large enough to have multi-line phones are also likely to have larger mail volumes as well. In fact, as the following table shows, at a level of 100 messages per month, evenly divided between local mail and netmail ("LD Messages"), E-mail costs less than mail, even when the cost of a separate phone line is included. Under the "Remote E-Mail" heading, it shows that even the long distance costs of calling within B.C. to connect to a BBS (assuming one call per week) at 100 messages per month is still less than mail. Mail Local Messages LD MessagesGST Subtotal Number 50 50 Cost Per Message .43 .43 Subtotal 21.50 21.50 3.01 46.01 Annual Total 552.12 E-Mail Local Messages LD MessagesPhone Line Subtotal Number 50 50 Cost Per Message .00 .25 Subtotal .00 12.50 25.00 37.50 Annual Total 450.00 Remote E-Mail Local Messages LD MessagesPhone Line Subtotal Number 50 50 Cost Per Message .05 .30 Subtotal 2.50 15.00 25.00 42.50 Annual Total 510.00 The annual savings in postage could therefore range from $70-80 for small churches with light message traffic, to $60-100 for large churches with heavy message traffic. (Actually, for large churches with already existing fax lines, or for other reasons do not need to install a separate modem line, the potential savings are substantially greater, as the $25.00 monthly cost of the phone line need not be factored in.) Other organisations sending mail to churches could reap similar savings, depending again on their message volume. If it were feasible to expect church members to be available by electronic mail, the potential postal savings would be even greater, as churches could use E-mail to distribute church newsletters, etc. However, since E-mail users tend to be computer hobbyists, or people who use computer networks at work, the potential use there is quite small at the present time. Therefore, if several churches in the same denomination in an area got together, or if several denominations worked together, it is possible that a BBS network could link together churches across the country, and even around the world, at a reasonable cost. In fact, if the network is used effectively, the result should be a net savings over mail, with vastly increased speed of communications. If each church in an area gave $24.00 per year to support the cost of a BBS, it would take 100 churches to pay the costs of a "worst case" (highest long distance cost) BBS, calling from Vancouver to Chicago every night, and carrying enough echomail traffic to incur long distance charges of $200.00 per month. (Such was the monthly cost of a Christian BBS in the Vancouver area which was the echomail "hub" for B.C. in FamilyNet. More realistically, with nightly calls to Calgary, and carrying only the dozen or so most important Christian echoes the actual cost of running such a BBS would be closer to $80.00 a month, and accounting for the netmail fees charged to netmail users, eighteen to twenty churches, sending 10 long distance netmail messages each per month, could quite easily support such a BBS, and still save money over the cost of postage, since $24.00 is less than half the amount they could expect to save at 20 local and 20 netmail messages a month. The Baptist Union of Western Canada has 20 churches, plus a regional office, within local calling distance of Vancouver. Thus, it is possible to support a BUWC-only BBS in the Vancouver area if all of the churches took part. However, there are only seven BUWC churches in the Victoria area, and only two in the Kelowna area. Clearly, there would not be enough traffic to warrant BUWC-only BBSs in those areas. However, there are other Baptist churches (FEBC, NAB, BGC, CBC) in those cities, plus Bible Schools, and an NAB area office. There are also churches of other denominations. While it is possible for a church with very high traffic to make long distance calls once a week to Vancouver or Calgary to exchange E-mail and still save money, it is more realistic to expect several smaller churches in a community to band together and support a single BBS they can all afford to use. Therefore, one of the auxiliary goals of this discussion paper, aside from the above mentioned goal of creating a Christian Telecommunications Toolkit, is to encourage denominations and other Christian organisations to consider working together to build in interchurch BBS network to increase communications and save money. Feedback: If you would be interested in helping with or buying the Christian Communications Toolkit, or want an entry in the fax and/or E-mail directory, or know of Christian networking efforts not covered here, or have any other comments to make on this discussion paper, please contact me at: Greg Slade #1[6-1675 Augusta Avenue, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 4S8 Compuserve: 72730,2476 Cyberstore: g.slade FamilyNet: 8:7555/100 Fidonet: 1:153/508 iNet 2000/Envoy 100: G.Slade Internet: gslade@cyberstore.ca