This year I restructured my life and business endeavors, so that I can start Open Church, an independent nonprofit focused on equipping global Church leaders with free ministry resources to download and ideas from all cultures.

Bits of Open Church’s vision have been stirring in my heart for years, connecting, and building upon each other. The Open Church website is anticipated to launch in early 3rd quarter 2011. I want to see more churches collaborate.

Free Ministry Resources

If the churches of one city pooled together their different resources - financial and human, they would have more literal and figurative money than they know what to do with.
- Dallas Willard

I find great truth in Willard’s words, but I dream about what it would be like to have thousands of churches globally aggressively sharing their resources with each other. Think of the time saved from not trying to reinvent the wheel. Think of the money saved. With that volume of collaboration, you can still have plenty of variations and choices among similar resources. Rather than 100 churches all doing the same thing, let 5-10 churches create that resource and give it away. Let the remaining 90-95 churches used those saved resources to impact the Kingdom of God in a new way.

By providing the technology platform and manpower to make sharing resources easy, Open Church turns the desire to share into a reality for those interested in equipping the global Church. Open Church’s central hub format simplifies user access, synergizes reach, and reduces costs for contributors.

Global Ministry Ideas

Generally speaking, the majority of ministry thought leadership influencing the global Church comes from white, upper middle class, American men. While their thoughts are good, they are naturally limited by culture and best suited for reaching people like themselves.

Open Church’s idea platform features these mainstream perspectives but also intentionally seeks out expert voices from underplatformed niches, such as G12 Africa, Europe, Chinese house church, Latino Americans, Black Americans, Indian Americans, college ministry, etc.

The goal is to present a holistic scope of ministry perspectives not only to cater to each niche but also help readers become more well-rounded and balanced. By mashing up ministry ideas from all geographies and cultures, it becomes much easier to recognize what are timeless Biblical principles and what are cultural best practices.

How You Can Help

At the moment, Open Church is 100% volunteers. The cost savings and extra manpower allows Open Church to do more, offer more, and reach more. If you feel passionate about Open Church’s vision, you can help the following ways:

1. Pray for Open Church — its mission and leadership.
2. Prayerfully consider contributing your time or resources.
   Open Church is currently lining up volunteer editors, writers, translators, resource managers, and resource contributors (particularly curriculum and administrative tools not just graphics). For more information about serving in these roles, please complete the volunteer signup form.

If you are interested, I’d love to explore ways for you to be involved.

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Like free church resources? Church on the Move (Tulsa, OK) is now offering free creative resources to download from their new site, Seeds.

The church resources include artwork, motion graphics, background music, promo videos, opener videos, mini-movies, drama scripts, slides, banners, worship guides, sermon series kits, and more. There’s something for kid’s ministry, student ministry, and plenty for regular worship services, too!

Best of all, the production quality is outstanding. Church on the Move has been winning ADDY Awards and producing mainstream quality content for years. Now you can have that same quality for free! Samples include:

FREE SLIDES & ARTWORK

Please Turn Off Your Phone - Slide

Communion Instructions - Slide

FREE VIDEOS (RSS readers must visit post to see videos)

Dad Life - Father’s Day Video

Why Worry - Drama Skit

Mommy Rhapsody - Mother’s Day Performance

FREE SERMON SERIES (RSS readers must visit post to see videos)

Kidnapped - Sermon Series Opener

Why Worry - Sermon Series Opener

This or That - Student Ministries Sermon Series Artwork

I Love My Bible - Kidmin Sermon Series Artwork

To start downloading free church resources, visit Seeds.ChurchontheMove.com

Great custom graphic design is ideal. But sometimes time, money, or skill limitations make it necessary to use premade graphics. And even when you have the time, money, and skills, there are still occasions when it is more efficient to not reinvent the wheel and to instead use and build upon a premade resource.

In either case, here are 15 of the best sites offering free church graphics and resources. And if you want to spend some cash, I have also included 6 sites that cost money but are worth considering for premade resources.

Free Church Graphics and Resources

• CreationSwap
  Offers free church graphics including logos, photos, vector art, projector slides, bulletins, sermon graphics, projector slides, templates, and more. The site also includes a social network for Christian artists.
• LifeChurch.tv Open
  Offers free sermon series resources that include message outlines, sermon graphics, videos, and more creative materials created by LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK).
• Muddy River Media
  Offers free illustrative videos, motion backgrounds, countdown timers, stock photographs, illustrations, small group resources, and more.
• NewSpring Ministries
  Offers free sermon series resources (e.g., sermon graphics, audio, message outline, & service outline) as well as administrative forms and manuals created by NewSpring Church (Anderson, SC).
• Nside Admin
  Offers free administrative documents from North Point Community Church (Alpharetta, GA) on church government, human resources, accounting, facilities, IT, and Web.
• Vine Resources
  Offers free sermon series graphics, postcards, countdown videos, and message bumpers created by the college ministry of Southeast Christian Church (Louisville, KY).

Free General Graphics and Resources

• Adobe Exchange
  Offers free downloads to use with Adobe software including brushes, styles, gradients, custom shapes, and patterns for Photoshop.
• BittBox
  A blog that regularly highlights free Photoshop brushes, Flash components, vector graphics, and more.
• Brusheezy
  Offers free Photoshop brushes.
• Flasheezy
  Offers free Flash elements.
• PS Brushes
  Offers free Photoshop brushes.
• Smashing Magazine
  A blog that regularly highlights free graphics, fonts, and more.
• Vecteezy
  Offers free vector graphics.

Church Resources that Cost Money

• Creative Pastors
  Sells sermon series resources that include sermon graphics, video, mind maps, outlines, audio, and more created by Fellowship Church (Grapevine, TX).
• North Point Resources
  Sells logos, DVDs, sermon messages, conference messages, and more created by North Point Community Church (Alpharetta, GA).
• Outreach
  Sells church graphics that include postcards, banners, bulletins, door hangers, invitations, brochures, logos, signage, and more.
• The Church Box
  Sells sermon series resources that include sermon graphics, PowerPoint slides, and audio created by Four Corners Community Church (West Chester, OH).
• WiredChurches.com
  Sells sermon series resources (e.g., outlines, graphics, videos, audio, & scripts) and administrative resources (e.g., forms, documents, & manuals) created by Granger Community Church (Granger, IN).
• WorshipHouse Media
  Sells mini-movies, motions, stills, software, and editables for churches.

For Discussion:
- What are you favorite websites for church resources and why? Be sure to mention whether they are free or cost money.