During the course of my ministerial studies in the Church of the Nazarene, and in serving as a pastor and evangelist, I have come in contact with many ministers, the majority of them in small churches with 50 or less members. As such, I've realized that most of these men and women are unaware of the vast array of free resources available to them and their congregations via the Internet.
There are literally hundreds, maybe thousands, of Christian Websites and organizations that provide free materials on a wide range of topics. At Google.com (the recognized best search engine online), there were 54,600,000 listings found when searching for "Christian resources." Not all of these are free, of course, but many are. These include such things as:
• Articles and newsletters on most any topic imaginable
• Vacation Bible School crafts, ideas and curricula
• Graphics for the church bulletin
• Web hosting for church Websites
• Original skits and full-length plays
• Poetry and Christian readings
• Sermon outlines and illustrations
• Bible studies
• Commentaries, concordances, Bible dictionaries and encyclopedias
• Printable games, puzzles, worksheets, and crafts
• Online prayer chains and support groups
• Statistics on the state of the church and Christianity in the United States
• Games, activities, devotionals, and more geared to specific age groups
• International recipes, languages, and other mission study resources
• Full-length texts from John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, Elmer Towns, and many other Christian writers and preachers
• Printable tracts
• Full-length books on a huge variety of topics
• Creative evangelism resources and ideas
• Church management, accounting and Bible study software
• Much, much more!
Here is just a sampling of specific resources found as of this writing:
Over 90 FREE Christian books
http://www.freebooks.com/
Can be used in a Christian home school curriculum for high school. Topics: Biblical worldview, Christian economics, Christian history, government, foreign policy, family, evangelism, Christian education, eschatology, much more.
Eldrbarry's "Do Them Yerselves" Vacation Bible School Materials
http://www.eldrbarry.net/vbs/vbsc.htm
FREE VBS materials that can be adapted or used as is to launch a full-fledged Vacation Bible School.
AppleSauce Kids
http://applesaucekids.com/
Free Christian youth ministry materials and resources, group games, activities, coloring pages, crafts, Sunday school lessons, youth group ideas, and much more.
Constant Hope
http://www.constanthope.org/resources/
Free Church bulletin ideas and content, free Christian booklets on prayer, peace, love and encouragement, free Scripture booklets dealing with prayer, peace, love and support.
SermonCentral.com
http://www.sermoncentral.com/
Sermon resource center where you can search over 81,000 free sermons, illustrations and dramas.
New Testament Greek
http://www.ntgreek.org/
Learn the grammar and syntax of New Testament Greek. Easy to understand Biblical Greek grammar and syntax for readers of English. Grammatical explanations and other resources for learning Greek.
The Barna Group
http://www.barna.org/
Information-heavy environment with data about current trends in our culture and analysis that you can trust and use.
ElmerTowns.com
http://www.elmertowns.com/
Free books and valuable resources to use for the study of church growth, Sunday School, Christian education, Bible study and exposition, and Christian life. Includes many free, full-length books.
John Wesley's Christian Library
http://wesley.nnu.edu/john_wesley/christian_library/index.htm
All 30 volumes of John Wesley's "A Christian Library," scanned from the 1821 edition of these classics.
CBN's Tract and Literature Ministries
http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/TeachingSheets/
Free Bible-based teaching sheets to help people understand God and Christian beliefs in a clear, concise format.
BulletinInserts.org
http://bulletininserts.org/
Free downloadable bulletin inserts for personal or church use.
World Missionary Press
http://www.wmpress.org/
Interdenominational faith ministry producing 48-page topical Scripture booklets in 318 languages, plus Bible studies and New Testaments for free worldwide distribution.
YouthPastor.com
http://youthpastor.com/
Free youth ministry resources for youth pastors, ministers, workers and volunteers. Online resources include a job center, free lessons, a searchable directory of ministries, game and lesson ideas.
As stated, these are only a very small sample of the abundance of free and low-cost resources available for pastors and churches. As a pastor and Christian writer, I encourage you to make the most of the wealth of free resources available to assist you and your congregation in reaching lost and hurting souls for Jesus.
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