About Free Christian Ministry
Free Christian Ministry is mostly the on-line efforts of Bible student R. Scott Stewart. It started as a way to "newsletter" the home fellowship sharings that Scott & Lisa Stewart ran in Springfield, Illinois, from 1983 to 1995, reaching people mostly in Illinois but in other states as well.
The monthly newsletter, begun circa 1986 and mailed via U.S Post, was first called Heart Lines. When they discovered there was a Catholic publication that predated theirs with the same name, they changed the called "Kardia Epistote," which also means "Heart Lines."
Mr. & Mrs. Stewart began their involvement in Christian ministry in the early eighties, and met through a program of The Way International in the early eighties. They decided to run fellowships independent of the Way in the mid-eighties.
In 1996 to 1998, Mr. Stewart combined his secular writing and his ministry efforts in Staten Island online as a project called StoodWok Magazine. Kardia Epistote was put on hold while studies in Scriptural Integrity inspired by transcribing the Gospels and Act as in Greek were offered under a page called StoodWok's Religious Page. This was found at http://members.aol.com/gridrid/index2.html. Around the beginning of 1998, this page had come to be called Free Christian Ministry.
The idea of Free Christian Ministry encompassed several aspects. First, to glorify God and to preach Christ without the Stewarts or the many who have helped them in their ministry being the emphasis of the ministry. After all, as believers we all strive to do well, but too many believers have kept association with their predecessor's ministries as their guide, thus not developing their own.
Also, there is a tendency among the faithful to elevate the ministry they choose to associate with above the greater concept called The Body of Christ.
The Stewarts hope their work will be worth refering to now and in the future, but have no desire for the ministries of those who come after to be based on their own. After all, what makes a real ministry is a real relationship with the Lord Jesus and with God. What makes a real ministry is being sent by Jesus Christ to do his work.
The current page with the beliefs this ministry has functioned under can be found at: http://www.freechristianministry.com/FCMbeliefs.html. This is pretty much the same as when first posted online in 1997 or 1998.
Free Christian Ministry began to add links to its teachings to the main page, and inspired by a desire to give believers a working foundation of Bible knowledge, Mr. Stewart began teaching the class Scripture Integrity in 1998, completing the first version in 2001, and updating it in 2002, 2005, and 2008.
This class has been used by fellowships around the United States as a way to grow in the Word, as a way to teach new believers foundational truths regarding their fellowship with Jesus and with God, as a way to understand how the Bible has been written in such a way that it will indeed interpret itself.
The class itself has been, with permission, used in part as a segment of the teachings of seminaries and Bible colleges.
In 1995, Free Christian Ministry moved its main site from the AOL server to its own home at www.freechristianministry.com. Scripture Integrity was moved from a personal web page to http://www.freechristianministry.com/integrity.html.
The ministry is now active at these sites, as well as at www.myspace.com/freechristianministry and with a Zazzle storefront at www.zazzle.com/fcmwheeling.
October 31, 2008, AOL ceased web hosting and the original site was closed down for good. FCM used this as an opportunity to improve the outlay of the main site, improve the accuracy of the teachings, and to add features. Oct. 20, all links on the www.freechristianministry.com Free Christian Ministry Home Page were updated and all associated pages were moved from AOL to the FCM domain.
Free Christian Ministry looks forward to continuing to serve you in the future.
Free Christian Ministry does NOT accept donations of any kind. FCM limits support to sales on its Zazzle site. Free Christian Ministry is NOT incorporated, and is NOT 501 C, thus while purchase of items through Zazzle is not tax deductible, Free Christian Ministry is not beholden to government regulations in its efforts in any way, shape, or form.
Thank you and God bless you in Jesus' name.
Scott, Lisa and Stefani at Free Chrisian Ministry.
Comments or questions can be addressed to rsstewart@freechristianministry.com