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20 Years of Theology on the Web | What to Expect in the Next Five Years | Preparing for the Future
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20 Years of Theology on the Web
I find it difficult to believe that it is now 20 years since the first of the Theology on the Web sites was launched! I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has contributed to its success in making biblical scholarship acccessible. My thanks to all of the authors, editors and publishers for willingly agreeing to make their work available to all, free of charge. I also want to thank the large number of librarians and others  around the globe who have loaned me rare material for scanning. A special thank you goes to all those who have supported the sites in prayer, financially and by interacting via email and Social Media. Finally, a thank you to my wife and our three boys who are so much a part of this work.

Below are some highlights of the development of Theology on the Web over the last 20 years.

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2021

What to Expect in the Next Five Years

While it is never easy to predict how a ministry will develop in the future, in the next five years I hope to:
  • Continue to add more free commentaries to the collections already to be found on BiblicalStudies.org.uk
  • Seek further partnerships with mission agencies and denominations to digitise journals that they would otherwise not be able to place online. Recent examples include Elim Evangel and the journal of the North Africa Mission.
  • Complete long-standing projects such as the digitisation of public domain articles from The Expositor, The Expository Times, Palestine Exploration Quarterly and the Journal of Theological Studies.
  • Seek permission from copyright holders to digitise modern works that are not in the public domain.
  • Continue to make available older theological works as they enter the public domain so that these books can continue to be used.
  • Add more material to Biblical Archaeology and the three church history sites - Early, Medieval and Reformation.

Preparing for the Future
Theology on the Web is expected to recieve around 2 million visitors this year. Together they will download 8-10 terabytes of data from the 45,000 available books and articles. With every addition to the material being offered comes an increased load on the webserver. As demand has increased over the last 20 years it has already been upgraded several times. Recently I have been getting messages from monitoring services telling me that, at times of peak demand, the current server cannot cope and that some visitors find the sites unavailable. The time has come, therefore, to think about upgrading the webserver again.
 

You Can Help for Just £1 a Month


Such an upgrade would greatly increase the speed and reliability of the websites, as well as future-proofing their development for some time to come. However, it would also double the current cost of hosting. I am therefore wanting to encourage more people to give on a monthly basis. As it has never been my intention for Theology on the Web to be a financial burden to anyone, nor to rely on just a few people making large donations, my target is add 200 supporters who would be willing to contribute just £1 each month - a very modest amount. So, if you would like to help in this way, do visit my Patreon or Buy Me a Coffee pages and chose a level of support that suits you. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to read this.
 

How Theology on the Web Can Help You
Although it maybe difficult at this time to get to the library or bookstore, Theology on the Web provides access to over 45,000 articles and books, which are all free-to-download for educational purposes. Here are some key pages to bookmark and share with Bible students:
Notifications about new material will be posted to Facebook and Twitter. Please "like" and "follow" in order to keep up to date.

Theology on the Web Sites


https://biblicalarchaeology.org.uk/
https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/
https://theologicalstudies.org.uk/
https://missiology.org.uk/
https://earlychurch.org.uk/
https://medievalchurch.org.uk/
https://reformationchurch.org.uk/
and finally...

Thank you again to everyone who has supported the sites both financially and in prayer. Thanks also to everyone who takes the time to be part of the Theology of the Web Community on Facebook  [Page | Group], Instagram and Twitter.

Please pass this News Update on to others who might be interested and encourage them to subscribe. 

If you feel able to support the work financially, please visit my donation page.

Remember that you can use the Amazon links on BiblicalStudies.org.uk and Theology on the Web will benefit without it costing you anything. 
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