The Network is a collection of content posted by members of our online community. We do not own the rights to the content that users post on the site, nor does our hosting of user-submitted content imply our endorsement of it. Please know that we cannot and do not verify the accuracy of user-submitted content.
When posting, please be aware of these Community Guidelines. They are not exhaustive, but are intended to help understand our approach to user posted content. It all boils down to being polite, courteous, and Christ-like in the way we communicate online.
We are committed to ensuring that The Network community is a safe, diverse, equitable, and welcoming space for everyone. This means that we seek posts and comments from marginalized voices that we haven’t traditionally heard.
We expect posts and comments to demonstrate Christian humility and graciousness in tone, language, and implication even when people strongly disagree. We closely moderate comments that trivialize the experiences of directly impacted people or make significant claims outside of the writer’s lived experience; we will remove posts and comments that attempt to dominate conversations or turn marginalized people’s experiences into controversies.
In our view, a good post or comment:
- is related to ministry, Christian practice, faith life, and/or the CRCNA
- stays on-topic; comments should directly relate to the original post or resource.
- is concise and easy to follow.
- is polite and respectful in tone and language, even when you strongly disagree.
- contributes something new and positive to the discussion.
- has clear authorship—that means using your real name.
- is truthful and avoids making or repeating false claims.
And avoids:
- dominating the discussion or repeating yourself.
- arguing back and forth; take it elsewhere or agree to disagree.
- trivializing, minimizing, or denying the lived experiences of marginalized voices and those directly impacted by injustice.
- making derogatory remarks and/or personal comments about others, particularly marginalized members of religious groups, ethnicities, genders, etc.
- undermining the church, its mission, or its ministries. Constructive criticism is welcome.
- posts that are similar in nature to a marketplace, including but not limited to:
- posting under false pretenses—including for commercial gain.
- posting primarily to advertise or collect funds.
- posting to donate / get rid of physical resources (digital ministry-related resources are welcome).
- posting that is primarily solicitous in nature.
- posting to increasing traffic to an external website or blog
- explicitly supporting or opposing specific politicians or parties. All comments regarding public policy should refer only to the policy in question. Any comments judged to be of a partisan nature will be reviewed and/or removed (per CRA guidelines).
If you see a comment or post that you believe does not meet the standards listed here, please 'flag' it for review and decision by one of our moderators. Moderators aren’t perfect, but we try to make the best decisions we can for the good of the whole community. A moderator’s decisions are final and a comment or post may be removed without further explanation. Discussions about why a comment or post was or wasn’t removed will be deemed off topic and removed.
As with most user-contributed websites, you are solely responsible for what you post and assume all risks related to your posts, including those related to intellectual property or other legal rights. For example, if you violate someone else's copyright by posting their words or images.
If you have questions about these guidelines, don’t hesitate to email us at [email protected].