Covenant Eyes offers attractive Internet filtering and accountability options for individuals and families. They have good customer service and produce a good product, and I feel confident recommending them. I have discussed on this blog in the past the benefits for individuals and for families of having this service. In the post below, however, I will explain how everyone in your church can sign up for filtering and accountability for only approximately $3.50 a family--yes, not per person, but per family unit! This can be done through their option for group coverage for churches, businesses, and other organizations. The first person pays $12.49 for filtering and accountability, and each person after that, up to an unlimited number, pays $3.50. A church, business, or other organization could sign up and have a greatly reduced cost for their organization. For example, an organization with 10 users who have accountability & filtering pays only $43.99/month, or $4.39 per user. An organization with 50 users pays $183.99/month or only $3.68 a person. An organization with 100 users pays $358.99/month or a mere $3.59 per user. Furthermore, an entire household can use a single user name and account--so, say, for a family with 5 kids as well as mom and dad, each person is paying c. $0.50 a month for protection on the Internet!
Our church is doing this, and I think it is a great idea. The way we did it and think it is good to do it is:
1.) Make the Scriptural case for Internet accountability and filtering so the saints see the need, and explain what the options are for solutions. The flyer you can download here is a good resource in this regard that you could distribute in your congregation or other organization.
2.) Get a list of the individuals and/or family units that are interested in signing up. If a family is willing to use one username and all be on one account, that entire family will pay only a bit over $3.50 a month for protection. (I called Covenant Eyes and confirmed that this was OK). Of course, there are advantages for different family members having different accounts; if a bad site comes through on an accountability report, with only one account nobody can prove which one of the, say, seven kids it was, or mom, or dad. One can have individual accounts for individual people for a bit over $3.50 each to avoid that problem, with a maximum of the family price of $14.99 for any number of accounts per family. However, if a family is fine all being in one account, the charge is only the c. $3.50 / month, which is a fantastic price.
3.) Get it set up and get everyone protected! I think it is a very good idea to require everyone that is in a leadership ministry position to have the filtering, and very possibly to require the church to be one (not necessarily the only one) of the accountability partners listed. That will protect the pastors, deacons, Christian school teachers, Sunday School teachers, and so on from the incredible dangers of unfiltered and unaccountable Internet access. Wouldn't you want to KNOW that your daughter's Sunday School teacher wasn't looking at pornography and doing who knows what else? If the $3.50 a month--the cost of about 1 gallon of milk or 1 gallon of gas--is a financial burden (and in the USA, this is difficult to take seriously--if it really is, then use the information here to cut your phone bill by way, way more than $3.50 / month), or if the church simply believes the God-honoring thing to do is to provide the service free to the pastor, missionaries sent out by or supported by your church, Christian school teachers, etc., then the church could pay the $3.50 / month for those individuals required to have the protection while everyone else chips in for the monthly rate.
4.) One other thing that is worth thinking about is having people in your church or other group pay in advance in 6 month or 1 year increments. (That is what we did.) It is not at all a burden to have people pay c. $21 for 6 months or c. $42 for a year in advance rather than going after a bunch of families every single month to get $3.50 from them. You could even have people set up recurring payments through Paypal or some other similar process if they want everything automated so that they don't have to think about it.
I think that group coverage is a fantastic idea and I'm glad that we are doing it in our church. Perhaps you could do it in yours also. Isn't it worth it so that one child doesn't get lost to the world, one pastor or missionary doesn't dishonor the precious name of Jesus Christ and is forced to leave the ministry, or one Christian school or Sunday School teacher doesn't act on the wickedness he is secretly seeing online with a spiritually weak member of his class? (By the way, our church also conducts background checks for all Christian workers--if you don't, perhaps today is the day to get started, both to be a good testimony to the world, and because wolves still slip in secretly to devour Christ's flock. Let's be wise as serpents as well as being harmless as doves.)
Finally, missionaries get $4 off the price of either individual, family, or group pricing (i. e., $8.49/month for individual, $10.99/month for family, and $4.00 off whatever size of a group price).
To get more information about Covenant Eyes or sign up as an individual, family, or group, click on the banner below. And don't forget to use coupon code FAITHSAVES to get your first 30 days free!
For more information, please read the article here.
I believe Covenant Eyes has a quality product, and have become a Covenant Eyes affiliate. If you or your church uses my coupon code FAITHSAVES, not only do you get your first 30 days free, but I will receive financial compensation. I can in good conscience say that there is nothing in this article that I would not have said were I not a Covenant Eyes affiliate. If, however, you are bothered by this, you can sign up without using the coupon code FAITHSAVES and I will get nothing (although you will also not get 30 days free unless you first find a different coupon code).
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