The actual cost and effort of creating The Word is enormous, which has been primarily paid by a single individual. It is very important to make an educated decision concerning the possibility of supporting this effort.

Please, take the time to read and consider prayerfully this option. Read more.

Dear theWord User,

My name is Costas Stergiou. I am the author of theWord. I hope that theWord has proved to be a helpful tool to assist you in the study of the Word of God.

I would like to present to you a few thoughts about this software and help you make an educated decision concerning the possibility of making a monetary donation as a way to support and further promote the development of theWord. I would kindly ask you to invest a couple of minutes to read through this notice as a minimum gesture of appreciation for  this free software you are using.

theWord is free for you, but actually quite costly

theWord consists of about 200,000 lines of code and it is the result of about 10,000 hours of working time (this corresponds to about 5-6 years of labor). It is by the grace and provision of God that it has been possible to invest labor to make this program high-quality and genuinely free. 

The fact that theWord is free for you does not mean that there are no costs associated with the development and support of it. Indeed, the actual costs behind this program are very high, in terms of time and money.

Consider a monetary donation

I would like you to seriously consider the possibility of making a donation to further promote the development of theWord.  Every amount given is important and greatly appreciated.  Furthermore, a monetary donation enables theWord to be developed faster and more efficiently. It seems fair, even according to the Word of God, though not obligatory, to consider this appeal seriously. 

I understand that it is not easy to decide to make the donation, and the most common reason is not the cost but the hassle of doing so. I also understand that it is normal for people to be reluctant to give their personal data or make an online payment or donation. However, I would have you to realize that the effort of actually making a donation is very small for you, in comparison with the great time and effort that is invested in this software.

Having said all the above, I want to repeat that this appeal is not intended to coerce you in any way to make a donation, but to make you better realize that what is given to you freely actually has an enormous hidden cost, which has been ‘paid’ mostly by a single individual. I would like you to decide based upon these facts. Unfortunately, the Internet is full of ‘free’ stuff that is either not genuinely ‘free’ in the end, or of such low quality that you would never pay to use it. On the contrary, theWord is and will remain truly free! 

What will you get if you decide to donate

Although I have considered providing enhanced features in theWord to donating users, I will not do so. If I did, theWord would cease to be completely free. So, I want you to know that whether you choose to donate or not, the software will work in exactly the same way. Furthermore, if you do indeed donate you will have no extra benefit regarding the program functionality itself.

However, if you make a donation, in order to show you my appreciation for your extra trouble, I will send you by mail a CD or a flash drive with theWord (the flash drive contains theWord portable, which will run on any PC by just inserting the flash drive into a USB port; there is absolutely no installation). These are only gifts, they are optional and depend on the amount of the donation. 

Thank you for your time and consideration.