While this has been possible in the A/V area, being a school creates some unique challenges not faced by churches and other para-church organizations. For example, we can’t make all of our online ed classes free because of accrediting issues, though we are working to get more videos online (we just have sample right now: http://www.dts.edu/onlineed). Also, since we have many professors with different publishing contracts, we can’t put books online for free – just as only John Piper’s books are free on desiringgod.org, not the other writers.

I hope DTS and other schools will be able to put more online in the future…

Call me naive but how many churches are really charging for online content? I can’t recall ever experiencing anything remotely close to what is being described as barred or content with barriers. I think there is plenty of content lacking that churches choose to not put online but not a large enough section that is costly to the user.

@Aaron. I am in total agreement that a church is not a business and has a model of its own. However I think it is a huge misunderstanding, not one that I am claiming you have made, to think that ‘The Church’ should not be led like one. The most underlying issue in modern churches is the lack of strong leadership. The ones that can lead can’t teach so they shouldn’t be pastors? I think its dangerous to run a church with a business model in mind but equally as dangerous to not use business wisdom in operations.

I think Joshua hit the nail on the head, this is about effectiveness, and so is business. In business it is no effective to give away your product/service/TIME but as a Body of Christ it is.

Do I think that there is a place to charge people for books, audio sermons, video sermons, etc.? Absolutely. But there also should be something for those who would rather not spend money.

However, it does not negate the fact that my family and many others have been affected by sermons that we would NOT have had access to, had they not been free.

I have looked for other “good” preachers online and they are few and far between.
One site in particular had so many hoops to jump through that I had to stop due to interruptions. I haven’t been back.

The accessibility and usability of DGs site is outstanding and has impacted us….. BECAUSE it’s free. Where else could I download 500 hours of MEAT?
I have tried Podcasts but it’s like fishing, you are never sure what you are going to get. Many times I end up deleting the messages 10 minutes in.

Again………sorry
Blessings
Nicole

??? The two are intertwined.

I have listened to hundreds of hours and have been blessed by every single second! The messages have given me hope, insight, clarity, courage, confirmation and a growing vocabulary!! :-)

We are always sharing what God has shown us through your messages!
For example………..in the last two days I have shared the story of Tyndale four times with friends to encourage them! If Tyndale can survive and persevere through such INCREDIBLE persecution by the church so can we! Being called names is NOTHING compared to what the people of Tyndale’s time went through. It’s not about being popular, it’s about standing up for what’s right, even if you are the lone voice.

I suffer from constant aches and pains and I find comfort and strength through men like Brainard and others. If he can ride two miles everyday in his agonizing pain to share the Gospel, I know I can do whatever God ordains. The biographies alone have carried me through the toughest and blackest of days.

My church has struggled through many hardships and, due to the nature of God’s calling on my life; I believe that it would have been quite easy for me and others to have been consumed by the great burden on our hearts had it not been for the LIFE GIVING messages we have been able to hear!
We have been able to search the site and find messages specific to what we are going through and we have been encouraged and empowered through all we have heard!!

This world is flooded with pabulum and fast food……….your site is MEAT and nourishment to the weary and starving soul.

I understand wanting to cover cost. I understand being wise stewards.
But if you have the money……………………..why WOULD you charge for sharing God’s Word??
Aren’t we supposed to share?? Aren’t we supposed to pool are resources and make sure that NO ONE is in need??
Aren’t we supposed to sacrifice??

In my house, money is tight and I can guarantee that we would NOT have been able to receive your messages had it not been for the fact that they are free.
I have looked for other sermons, other pastors and so far, this is the only place………………

I just thought I would let you know that this practice has blessed me, my family and many many families here in Texas!
We are stronger BECAUSE God is working through this ministry!
We will not be defeated because God has matured us through this ministry!
How awesome is that??

This is a world that says you have to pay for growth, enrichment, enlightenment, heaalings etc……….but that’s so very very wrong and so very very sad.
Jesus gave away every resource He had for free! And I believe He still would today………trusting that the Father would provide for His every need.

Are we in this for profit or blessings??

Thanks so much for blessing our families!
Nicole

Would Jesus charge for books? Would he charge for online sermons? If Christians are to replicate Christ, how then, should we act?

My initial thoughts are to say that no, Jesus would not charge any money because that would show favoritism to those who had money and would therefore give special access to some people and not others.

Jesus continually, over and over and over, treated all people equally. I see charging as a way to divide the haves and the have-nots.

I echo Aaron’s comments that a church should never be run like a business.

(Please note that all “you” references are generalities.)

Easy response:

If you call yourself a Christian, your first priority should be on the call to evangelism and not the reputation of value in your specific field.

Real response, full of glaring in consistancies and hipocrisy:

I understand that it is difficult for a creative to see something that they are making/creating/doing given away. I’m a designer, I’ve worked extensively for churches and non-profits, worked on staff as a designer for a church, and in the secular industry doing deisng for just every-day, normal products and projects.

I love that I only have ever seen this discussion by those in the creative field (creative meaning those who’s products of delivery are children of their imagination and internal thoughts and mind). I’ve never heard a plummer complaining about doing a job for free for a church.

The church is not a “business” and should not be run that way. Period. Can you say the church is in the “business of helping people” or in the “business of spreading the Word,” yes you can. But, there is a semantical debate on the specific usage of the term “business” in each of those scenarios. The 5 purposes of the church are clearly defined as ministry, fellowship, worship, evangelism, and discipleship. Any means of more effectivly increasing our ability to accomplish those things, without any sort of Biblical errancy, should be whole-heartidly embraced.

We, as a church, should be as adaptive to the times as is possible without any sacrificing of our core docrtine and beliefs. This is one reason why I fought, although ultimately lost, a battle to update my church’s website and image with something that is at a higher level of quality. Will a website with streaming audio of services cost more? Yes. but so does a nice, new building with stained glass windows. Why is the building more widely accept? I think it comes down to tangibility. How do you make something tangible without it being a real object? You charge more for it. I think that at the root of this argument, I see a percentage of the reasoning as a field of professionals trying their hardest to seal up any leak in the perceived value of their profession.

Having a means of spreading a message, regardless of it’s real cost to the church, made more attainable to the masses is an amazingly good and wonderful thing. Why are there no book printers screaming at Bibles being printed (and paid for) and then given away to people both here in the USA and abroad? The cost of producing and maintaining the ministry is covered initially — just like hosting and recording and designing and broadcasting — by a body of believers. There is no difference.

If you are working for a church, stop complaining about your work being given away. No one is saying that a church has to spend it’s money hosting and distributing online content. But, if a church can, why not do it? It will be nothing but a positive impact on a group of people who fall in that target and demographic.

By His Grace and for His Glory

Filipe Niel