Copyright Information and Terms of Use page for www.exploringgodsword.co
— This page last updated December 20, 2018 and may be updated anytime without any other warning or announcement —

     The on-line version of Exploring God's Word is a publication of David G. Churchill and is made available to you by members of churches of Christ; perhaps a congregation meets in your area.  As editor, I hope you will join us in our goals of studying the Bible objectively for the facts and lessons it provides about God's religion and then using those facts and lessons to improve our own lives.
     If you have suggestions for articles or for improving readability, we want to hear them.  Feel free to write to us or to the congregations, especially about any biblical questions you might have.  EGW is for you, our readers, and we want to meet your Bible study needs as best we can.
     Contact Exploring God's Word editor  or send in your Bible-related question.  

      Copyright information and terms of use: — effective December 20, 2018 —
      Any viewing of the online version of Exploring God's Word or submission of content implies knowledge, understanding, and agreement with the following facts and conditions.  If you do not agree to these facts and conditions, then you do not have legal permission to use Exploring God's Word.
      Exploring God's Word is the design and product of David G. Churchill, 309 - 3rd Avenue NE, Watertown, SD, 57201, USA.  Its overall purposes are (1) to encourage people to become Christians according the pattern revealed in the New Testament; (2) to strengthen and edify Christians in their knowledge and application of the Bible; (3) to provide local churches of Christ economical opportunities to promote themselves on the internet with local information and a shared library of teaching materials.

      All Scripture quotations remain subject to the permitted-usage guidelines provided by the publishers of the various translations involved.  Authors and other material providers are responsible for referencing and crediting the Scripture quotations and translations they use.
      All articles and materials presented with identified authorship are the properties of their providing authors and/or agencies and used here by expressed or pending permission.  Exceptions that may be presented without attempt to gain the author’s permission are:  (1) articles and materials believed to be in the public domain;  (2) commonsensical observations and obvious conclusions based upon generally available information;  (3) materials containing expressed or implied permission for reproduction; and  (4) quotations and references of reasonable length.  Content provided by a subscribing congregation, but without identified authorship, is presented as the property of that congregation until or unless the editor is informed differently.  The presentations of all other articles and materials are the properties of David G. Churchill.  Authors are responsible for their articles being properly accredited and referenced.
      The content of other websites linking to or from any portion of Exploring God's Word is solely the responsibility of those websites’ owners and neither of Exploring God's Word, its editor or staff, nor David G. Churchill.  (This also includes the site search engine powered by www.freefind.com and any advertising presented by FreeFind in the search results.)
      The content presented by any subscribing congregation through its Exploring God's Word website is solely the responsibility of that congregation.  Providing such content to the editor constitutes both (1) permission to the editor to publish as is, to reasonably edit, and/or to refuse publishing in the congregation’s EGW pages, and (2) opportunity to the editor to request at his discretion inclusion in the general library of material shared by all subscribing congregations without further financial compensation.

      Exploring God's Word seldom publishes or remunerates unsolicited articles for inclusion in the EGW shared library.  The main reasons for this practice have to do partly with economics, partly with time constraints, and partly with the high expectation of accountable biblical accuracy.  Having said that, the editor at his discretion may review for publishing in the shared library any submitted article that presents solid facts from the Scriptures, exercises clear and valid reasoning of those facts, and demonstrates a measure of patient gentleness — i.e. what's described in Titus 2:1-9 and Colossians 4:2-6.  Likewise, if you find any genuine inaccuracy in any article available in the shared library, even if just a typo, please let the editor know about it in the same manner.  If you submit by postal mail an unsolicited article for publication, please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for convenience either to return refused articles or else to contact about accepted articles.

      Neither site, articles, materials, nor non-Scripture portion(s) of such presentations may be reproduced in any digitized or non-digitized format without express permission from David G. Churchill or the providing author/agency — limited permission is given here for Internet users to print a copy of each article for their personal non-commercial use (yes, if you misplace or give away your copy, you may print another copy).  Whether or not articles or materials specifically express copyright protection, U.S. copyright laws do apply.  For more information about applicable copyright laws, go to the U.S. Copyright Office’s home page at "http://www.copyright.gov".  If you need multiple copies for group Bible-study or classroom use, please contact the author / congregation directly or else contact the editor for permission / arrangements.  Please note: The authors and congregations GREATLY appreciate knowing who is using their materials and they typically will give you permission to make unlimited copies of their articles for non-commercial use in group studies or the classroom.  Some items promoted via EGW are the commercial products of their authors & publishers and may involve a purchase price, a limited supply, or both.
      Likewise, for similar reasons, if you want to use non-Scripture quotations and references of more than a reasonably brief length in your own materials, please contact the author / congregation directly or else contact the EGW editor for permission / arrangements.  In most cases permission is typically available, but conditional upon full attribution (website address, article title, author, date obtained, etc.) and upon approvable representation of the quoted author’s intent and contextual usage.  Each author / congregation may require satisfaction of additional or fewer conditions before granting and/or maintaining permission.
     If, as an individual, you want to provide a link to the Exploring God's Word library, please link to http://www.exploringgodsword.co or else to a specific subscribing-congregation’s homepage.  You may not frame an exploringgodsword.co link on your Web site without the EGW editor’s express permission.  The point of this is to preserve the Exploring God's Word website and its subscribing-congregations’ homepages as the main route of entry into the library.  If, as a congregation or business or individual, you want to provide a link to the library, please consider contacting the editor for information about subscribing and then offering a link to your own EGW entry page to the library.  A lot of time, effort, and expense goes into researching, preparing, and publishing these valuable online materials — by helping to recover those costs of providing the existing materials, your subscription fee also helps in producing additional materials for our readers.

      ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
     Special note: Recognition of congregational autonomy
      In the New Testament, churches of Christ are presented both as congregations independently answering to Jesus as their head and as groups of individuals seeking unity subject to salvation and instructions offered by the written word of God (Rom. 1:16-17; 2 Tim. 3:16 - 4:5) as recorded through the inspired writers of New Testament. This fact of autonomy is especially made clear by Jesus’ letters to seven churches in Asia (as recorded by the apostle John in chapters two & three of Revelation) — Jesus evaluates, judges, and rewards each congregation based on its own demonstrated obedience or disobedience. This fact of unity appears to be the motivation in the many examples of congregations sharing financial resources in times of need and sharing experienced teachers to encourage & edify.
     Respecting the biblical tradition of congregational autonomy, seeking unity based upon the Scriptures, and understanding that every business relationship has some guidelines and expectations, the Exploring God’s Word website is neither a superior institution overseeing the subscribing churches nor an authoritative governor dictating their efforts nor a license agency certifying biblical compliance
     EGW homepages with their access to EGW ’s shared library are simply tools provided via subscription at the discretion of the local congregations’ leaders and/or private individuals.  A congregation’s subscription to a homepage should not be misconstrued as a blanket endorsement by that congregation of the other listed congregations, by them of it, or by the EGW editor.
     With those facts in mind, the EGW editor reserves the right to refuse any requested subscription or renewal if he believes doing so is in the best interests of the website or of our readers.
     ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

… Editor’s note: I do not solicit or beg our readers for financial support.  I do not authorize soliciting or begging our readers for financial support.  I do contact congregations and ask them to become subscribing sponsors.  I do reserve the option to make purchasable items available to our readers and subscribed congregations, the sale of which replaces my costs to provide such items and helps support Exploring God's Word.  I do accept donations from individuals willing to help support Exploring God's Word.  I do reserve the right to refuse any requested subscription or requested renewal or offered donation if I believe doing so is in the best interests of the publication or of our readers.  This is as close as I come to soliciting our readers — if you want to donate funds for EGW, I recommend you do so by sponsoring subscriptions for churches of Christ familar to you.  All reader correspondence and subscription inquiries should be sent to the address at the top of this page.