We know the struggle of trying to find the perfect image for a sermon to really drive the point home. Having imagery in church sermons can help the congregation engage with and retain the information better. We strongly agree that pastors and churches should use powerful sermon imagery to preach the Word of God! But what about pulling images from the internet? Are they free to use? How about from places like Google Images? The answer might surprise you!
Can A Pastor Use Pictures From The Internet To Illustrate Sermons?
Today’s legal alert might just keep you out of trouble with the law. Here’s attorney David Gibbs, Jr. of the Christian Law Association.
A pastor used a photograph he found on the internet as an illustration during his Sunday morning sermon. The picture was one slide of a PowerPoint presentation. As was his routine, he posted the PowerPoint presentation in his sermon notes on the church website about a week later. A few weeks after that posting, the church received a bill from the company that had posted the original photograph on the internet. The pastor contacted the Christian Law Association to find out, does he have to pay for the use of these photographs? One of our attorneys explained that using and re-posting the photograph was a violation of the copyright law in America and the church was indeed liable for the charges.
Looking for church graphics and sermon media to use? Sharefaith has the largest library of weekly updated church graphics and creative church resources with over 80,000 and counting! With everything from Sermon PowerPoints, church motion graphics, worship backgrounds, countdown timers, bulletin covers, flyers, newsletters and website graphics, you’ll have what you need to fully brand your church service from start to finish! Learn more about Sharefaith media here!