Visitors of all types are welcome, and read-only access to most content is available to all website visitors, regardless of agreement to this Content Contribution Policy or registration status. In order to foster a positive, cooperative Christian community, we ask that all contributors agree to the Content Contribution Policy contained within this page.
What Constitutes “Content Contribution”
A “content contribution” is, in general, any content submitted through or posted on this website, its servers, its social networking website pages, its group pages, or any other websites, servers, social networking websites, or technologies associated with the name of this website, with the exception of prayer request submissions. This includes events and event information added/edited on the Events Calendar, website page edits, Community Directory page edits, and blog posts (even if aggregated from a personal website). This may also include other forms of information that are deemed contributions at any time by individuals serving as editors/moderators/administrators on this website. This excludes prayer request submissions, as we currently welcome prayer requests from anyone and prayer request submitters do not have to agree to this Contribution Policy.
A “contributor” is any individual that makes any form of “content contribution” as defined above, whether registered or unregistered through this website, with the exception of submitting a prayer request as an unregistered and never-before-registered visitor.
Contributor’s Statement of Faith
All contributors agree that they self-profess that they are Christian followers of the teachings of Christ Jesus. Furthermore, contributors agree to the core doctrine shared among all members of the Christian faith. In particular, contributors agree that their personal statement of faith minimally includes (but might not be limited to) at least one of the following statements of faith:
Drafted in 1975, this document was agreed upon by 2,300 people from 150 nations and has been called “one of the miracles of contemporary church history.” It is much more than a ‘statement of faith’ (read “A Case Study in Cooperation” in the Wheaton archives, or listen to Billy Graham’s 67 minute talk “Why Lausanne” or John Stott’s 25 minute talk “Comments on the Final Draft“).
In 1951, believers from 21 countries formed WEA. Today it is a network of churches in 128 nations and over 100 international organizations… (read more).
It is through our agreement to the core doctrine of Christianity that we are spiritually united under a common faith as as one Body of believers. For the purposes of equal understanding, we define “agreement to the core doctrine of Christianity” as agreement to at least one of the above statements of faith. This is not to say that what is contained in the above statements of faith is necessarily comprehensive of all important beliefs and practices of the Christian faith; rather, we feel that individuals, organizations, and institutions that are unable to agree with all of the beliefs as presented in at least one of the above statements of faith do not fall under “agreement to the core doctrine of Christianity” as we have defined such for the purposes of equal understanding. If you have any questions or concerns about this, please contact us (at the Editor e-mail address) and let us know so that we can discuss and resolve any possible mistakes, misunderstandings, or misdirections.
Cooperative Environment
We aim to provide a positive service to the Christian churches of our region and the Body of believers. Although we do not aim to create artificial partnerships or artificial unity (see Who We Are and What We Offer), there is a certain level of non-competition and (non-endorsing) cooperation that we expect of all contributors and the nature of their contributed content to help us continue to provide inter- and intra-organization services. First and foremost, contributors also agree to our Acceptable Use Policy contained at the following link:
Contributors agree to refrain from over-promoting a specific institution or organization over another through this website, as we do not want institutions or organizations to feel threatened. Contributors may list churches, organizations, businesses, and other entities on the appropriate pages in the Community Directory. Generally speaking, contributors may freely post just about any content in blog posts. Contributors may link to entity websites to help website visitors and users find and contact such entities, may list entity contact and location information, and may create a brief informational sub-page describing a church, ministry, or organization entity and its contact information and link to the sub-page from the entity’s listing on the appropriate Community Directory page if and only if that entity does not have a website of its own to link to. We are happy to aid individuals not attending church services in finding area churches, and to aid area churches and organizations in finding out how to contact other area churches and organizations for their mutual benefit, but we do not want to create a competitive environment where churches feel threatened.
Contributors agree to refrain from contributing content on or through pages, groups, discussion lists, events, blog posts, or any other website resources that could be taken as being controversial and threaten the vision of this website. The purposes of this website’s resources does not include providing a forum for such discussions. If there are any concerns or doubts, contributors should contact us beforehand and not after-the-fact, and we would be happy to help decide what is and is not appropriate. We reserve the right to moderate and edit any and all contributions on or through this website’s resources with or without reason or notification and through any possible means, including modifying content, making groups member-only and require the administrator to approve requests to join, making groups hidden so that they do not appear visible to visitors and users of this website that are not members of those groups, removing content and groups, and through other means. In general, we will try to work out what we deem as a reasonable compromise between offering services to users and contributors as protecting this website’s vision.
Copyright, Intellectual Property, and Privacy
Legal problems are just what they sound like–problems. Contributors agree to use good judgement on what constitutes Fair Use of the information or works of others. Contributors agree to, agree to abide by, and agree to try to protect our Copyright and Intellectual Property policy, as well as our Privacy Policy, as contained at the following links:
The remainder of this paragraph will sound scary, but it is not really all that scary (you agree to similar policies when using websites like Facebook, for instance) and it is very important for underscoring this website’s honest commitment toward protecting the copyrighted works and intellectual property of others if anyone is ever offended. Contributors agree to cite sources of information within reason (to avoid claims of plagiarism, which is a dishonest act and can even constitute legal force), and agree to link to information off-site rather than referencing and citing it wherever possible (which is considered a preferred on-line procedure over referencing and citing information, and also simplifies the process of Fair Use). Contributors agree that they grant us (and that they are legally able to grant us) a perpetual license to use, store, share, and display however we see fit the content they contribute actively or passively (such as through automatic aggregation). Although we will gladly try to comply with any requests to remove such contributions at a later time if asked by the contributor or copyright holder or intellectual property owner, we cannot guarantee that there will not be remnants of the content or the content in its entirety remaining off-line or on-line on this website’s pages or servers, in feeds, in e-mail messages and e-mail accounts, in databases, in backups, in search engine results, or in or on other website pages, servers, or personal computers (it can be very difficult, if not impossible, to eliminate all copies of information that has been released public), and, as such, contributors agree to not expect or rely upon a willingness or ability to comply with such requests.
Please exercise appropriate discretion when disclosing personal details on-line in any fashion anywhere, whether through any website, social networking service, or by e-mail, as it should always be assumed that such content could become and remain very public for a very long time. Contributors agree to not disclose information in their contributions that they do not have a right to disclose, and agree that they understand and accept all risks associated with disclosing the information that they do disclose. Again, this is not meant to sound scary, and if there is ever any concerns or doubt, please contact us (at the Editor e-mail address) and ask us beforehand, not after the fact.