1. Time is always a premium. Especially for lay-preachers and teachers, most of whom have their own career responsibilities and family commitments to take care of. ALBERITH is designed so that, in any given span of time, a lay-preacher will locate, understand and assimilate more material than it is possible surfing the Internet in any other way. This is accomplished by carefully designing our resources so that what the lay-preacher needs from, e.g., an exegetical commentary, expositions, atlas, histories (both ecclesiatical or secular), Bible-dictionaries, source and secondary resouces, are seamlessly integrated and available at the click of the mouse. No more clicking on links after links in Google Search only to find—after reading for fifteen precious minutes on each link—that it is totally unrelated to what he needs. Unlike most other websites which frowns on linking users to other websites, ALBERITH is shameless in taking users there if they have good things on offer (we see these other sites not as competitors but as co-custodians of God's gift of learning for the Church). We do not believe in re-inventing every wheel.
2. ALBERITH takes the psychology of learning seriously. That is the first reason for coming up with the "synoptic" design and method of presenting the contents on the site. Some of us learn quickly and are able to remember every detail of a subject only after a single exposure to the subject. Others (like the founder) cannot even recall the key words after half a dozen readings. The use of a parallel panels enables users to retrieve a summary of the subject quickly without losing sight of what you are presently reading is a feature unique to ALBERITH.
3. ALBERITH takes the world, and God's concern for it, seriously. Unlike many Christian publications, web-sites and Bible softwares that seem to think that the West is all the world that God cares about (and, particularly, the North Americans who often give the impression that the USA is the kingdom of God), ALBERITH is dedicated to being culturally sensitive to all peoples and how the Word of God applies to them, and that they too have much we can learn from. Now, the non-Western world, and their churches in particular, would not have gotten to where they are today without the hard work, support and encouragement, and friendship of the Western churches. There is an aweful lot we can learn from Christians in the West (even a casual stroll through ALBERITH will show how much we are dependent on the West) but they are not the only people among whom God has worked and have useful things to offer. This conviction is reflected in ALBERITH's goal to eventually have a truely international and trans-cultural panel of contributors and leaders.
4. ALBERITH is also unique in aiming to be a multicultural multi-lingual Christian website in which resources and materials from different languages are integrated into one another. We believe that this approach to the study of Scriptures and the Christian faith in all its many and wonderful dimensions is a reflection of what the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ was always meant to be. We praise God for the technologies that is beginning to make this possible.
5. ALBERITH is unique in that we are not interested in getting as many visitors as possible. We have only one focus: lay-preachers and teachers who want to learn and prepare well for their God-appointed ministry of preaching and teaching the Word, who seek after excellence and faithfulness to Scriptures. If other Christians find ALBERITH congenial to their growth and understanding, we will be glad, of course, but that is only a bonus; they are not our target audience.
©Alberith, 2021