When I heard the word “free” my ears perk up. I like free. You probably do, too. But along with that word “free,” should come a healthy dose of skepticism. You’ve heard the old adage, “Nothing is really free.” So, let’s take a look at the issue of free as it relates to newsletter templates. Is it possible to get free newsletter templates? Yes and no.
Is There Such a Thing as Free Newsletter Templates?
- Free newsletter templates that you do yourself are not really free. I have a bit of the DIY bent in me, so my first reaction when faced with a problem is, “Well, I’ll just do it myself.” (As I have matured and suffered unfortunate plumbing mishaps and near-death electrician attempts, I’ve tilted away from my penchant to do it myself.) Can you make a free newsletter template on your own? Sure you can, but it’s not really free. Time is money, even in ministry, and designing a church newsletter template is not free, because it takes too much time. Throw in to the mix the fact that you may not have the right stock imagery (expensive), fonts (also expensive) or expertise (graphic design class: expensive) to DIY, and you’re left with only a few other options.
- Free newsletter templates that come preloaded with your software are not useful for churches. Nearly any word processing software comes with a few of those preloaded templates. Being an erstwhile Publisher user, a present MS Word user, a Pages user, and a few other programs, I’ve used my fair share of free templates. They’re fine, if not a bit bland. But can I use these free newsletter templates for my church newsletter? Not a chance. They are simply not designed for use with church newsletters. Would they work for a newsletter to distribute to my coworkers if I worked at a logistics company? Maybe. In 1998. But for churches, even if they are free newsletter templates, they aren’t up to the challenge. They don’t look Christian. They don’t look good. They don’t look attractive. They won’t work. Now, we’re down to just three options.
- Free newsletter templates that are available online are also not very useful for churches. So let’s head online and see if we can find anything. Sometimes, there are additional free newsletter templates available online. What have we here? The same problem as mentioned above. Correct me if I’m wrong, but to date, I have not found a free newsletter template that is suitable for use as a really nice free church newsletter template.
- Free newsletter templates that are available on some websites are shady, and sometimes a bait-and-switch.Whenever I’m online, I’m really skeptical about anything that is “free.” And with good reason. If you want to get something for free, it often means signing up for some scam that’s going to automatically charge your credit card $3901.09 every week for the rest of your life. Okay, maybe it’s not quite that bad, but there’s usually some catch. If not, there’s probably a reason why it’s free. Shall we say “really bad design?” Now, I will tell you that Sharefaith has a free trial, and you get to keep the free stuff, and there’s no scam involved. We won’t even download nasty viruses and bots onto your computer. You can try the free trial if you want. If not, there’s one final option for free newsletter templates that we need to consider.
- Sharefaith newsletter templates are not free newsletter templates, but they sure do seem like the best option. No, it’s not free, but it’s a good option. With a Sharefaith membership as low-cost as it is, these newsletters are almost like free. Getting nearly 40,000 designs for the paltry sum that you pay for a year long membership is like getting ownership of all the artwork in the Louvre for a couple thousand bucks. Okay, that’s a stretch. But anyway, it’s a good deal. Don’t get hung up on the word “free.” Instead, think about the word “value.” The value of a Sharefaith membership doesn’t have a price tag. It’s just a plain good decision.
So, what about the quality of the designs? If these not-exactly free newsletter templates are as inexpensive as I say, are they worth it? At such an incredibly insane low price are you actually getting a decent product? I invite you to decide for yourself.