While the copyright law in the US provides several rights exclusively to the rights holders of a creative work, the law nonetheless allows use of works, even those covered by copyright, in specific ways. To protect the ability of artists to reference one another’s work, teachers to educate, and critics and commentators to reference artistic works, the copyright law provides a series of principles collectively known as Fair Use.
This article is intended to familiarize you with the basics of copyright as it relates to churches. Because copyright is a legal issue and the intricacies of your situation might make a significant difference in your rights and responsibilities, you should consult a lawyer who is familiar with your circumstance before following any legal guidance.
Copyright is a set of laws designed to help artists and others who produce creative works to be able to benefit from their work and to control its use.
Within any culture there’s a certain orthodox set of ideas that aren’t allowed to be challenged or compromised except at great peril. Some of those are held in common across most, if not all, cultures, such as the idea that killing without justification is wrong. Others of them are unique to a particular culture, place and time. In ancient Rome, for example, one of the guiding principles was that of polytheism. It was perfectly acceptable for someone to worship whatever god they chose to follow, as long as they didn’t make any claims to be the only god. Obviously Judaism and early Christianity ran afoul of this principle, and as a result they found themselves on the margins of Roman society pretty quickly.
In the western world today, we also have a set of guiding principles.
If you’ve attended worship at a variety of churches, you know that church announcements are a wild card. You might get a newsletter when you enter into the sanctuary. There may be screens with looping announcements prior to the service. The pastor(s), staff, lay people, or a combination of those people might give verbal announcements at the beginning, middle, or end of the service. In many of our churches, there is a lot of information we’d like both members and visitors to know about us and what’s happening in our ministries.
Improving your church announcements is an important task to consider, as it’s a component of your overall communications strategy.
I love finding tricks and "secret" ways to do things easier. When I was growing up, my brothers and I played lots of video games together. I remember always trying to look online and find out if there were any secret codes I could type into the game and get extra coins or abilities. Sure, it may have taken away from the actual game-play a little, but it made me feel pretty cool.
If no man is an island that goes double for churches. It would be downright impossible for one person to do everything. Now, the bigger a church gets the more staff and volunteers are needed to do the work of calling all to faith. And, the more staff and volunteers a church has the more imperative it is for effective organization and behind the scenes communication.
In less than a month it will be Ash Wednesday. The first thing I want to say is to my fellow church workers: breathe, it is going to be ok.
Utilizing the proper measurements — and checking and rechecking them can benefit us in so many areas of our lives.
Part one of a two part series on Church Communication Professionals.
In the world of church communications, it is important for us to learn from each other and share what works and what doesn't. With that in mind, I wanted to interview Rebecca Thomas, an amazing church communicator who serves as the director of communication for Trinity Lutheran Church in Clinton Township, Michigan, and give us all a chance to learn from her ministry.
