Developing A Good Policy

Last year, I wrote an article about the problems of making too much information available on your church web site. It all still applies today, but one safeguard I failed to include is the idea of a Photo Policy.

What brought this to mind was the Worthington Christian Church Photograph Policy, which is an exellent policy for the presentation of photos on it's website. It's clear, specific, and isn't filled with "lawyer speak" (though there is a touch of it):

Worthington Christian Church Respects Your Right to Privacy

All photos used on the site are property of Worthington Christian Church unless otherwise noted. Professional photos are used only with written permission from the copyright holder. All other photos were taken by, and belong to, Worthington Christian Church.

Including the images of our church family on our website can be a great way to motivate and encourage individuals to become more involved. It is also an excellent outreach tool to the visitor who may be curious about what our events and activities are like. It is for these reasons that we feature personal photographs on the Worthington Christian Church website.

However, we realize the importance of maintaining the privacy of the individual(s) pictured on this site. To this end, the Worthington Christian Church website ensures:

• The last name of a pictured individual is never published alongside a photograph
• Anyone listed as a contact will be an adult (21-years-old or older)
• No identifying information will be posted on the internet (see our privacy policy)
• In the case of a group photo, first names may be mentioned, but we will not disclose which individuals are standing where in said photo

Worthington Christian Church reserves the right to amend this policy at any time.

Questions or concerns regarding this policy should be addressed to the site webmaster or site maintainer.

Excellent work there guys! I'd encourage anyone who was looking to develop a similar policy on their site (and if you're not looking to and using photos on your site, you should probably look into it) to take a look at this one as a template for doing so, and then enforce that policy across your site. It'll be worth your time, will help to protect the members of your congregation, and it shows a professional approach to your church website when you have your act together as well as they do there in Worthington, OH.