Anglican Communion News Service

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 Asunción, 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
Asunción, Paraguay