Terms
The rules of this site. All four of them.
A church website doesn't need eleven pages of legal language. Here's what using this site means, in the number of words it actually takes.
01
Use what’s here.
Last updated September 4, 2026.
Everything written on this site — the articles, the studies, the pages about what we believe — was put here to be used. Print it, email it, read it aloud in your living room, teach it to your small group, hand it to somebody who’s asking questions. You don’t need our permission and you don’t owe us anything.
Two asks, neither of them legal threats. Don’t sell it, and don’t change the meaning and leave our name on it. If you quote a piece somewhere, a link back is a kindness.
The photographs and the logo are a separate matter — some of the photos are licensed to us rather than owned by us, so those don’t travel with the text. The TheWay name and mark stay ours.
02
What this site is and isn’t.
This is a church’s writing. It is teaching and pastoral counsel, offered in good faith by people who believe it. It is not legal advice, medical advice, financial advice, or professional counseling, and it isn’t a substitute for any of those. If you’re in a crisis, please call somebody — and you can call us at +1 231-279-1900.
We try to get things right. We’ll get some things wrong anyway, and when we find out we fix them rather than quietly leaving them up. If you think something here is mistaken, tell us at dillon@bigrapids.church — that email is read by a person.
We link to other sites. We don’t control what those sites do or say, and a link is not an endorsement of everything behind it.
03
If you send us something.
When you fill out a form, email us, or text us, what happens to that information is covered on the privacy policy page. The short version: we use it to talk to you, and we don’t sell it.
Please give us real information about yourself and not somebody else’s. And please don’t use our forms or our phone number to send abuse, spam, or anything illegal — we’ll block it, and depending on what it is we may report it.
If you send us a question, a story, or a correction, we may quote it in something we write — without your name, unless you tell us it’s fine to use it. Tell us if you’d rather we didn’t, and we won’t.
04
The ordinary fine print.
The site is offered as it is. We can’t promise it will never be down, never have a broken link, or never contain a typo, and we’re not liable for losses that come from using it. That’s the standard clause, and it’s here for the ordinary reason.
We may change these terms. When we do, the date at the top changes with them. Michigan law governs, because that’s where we are.
Anything unclear? Ask us. We’d rather answer a question than have you guess.