Policies and General Information

Only members of the Resource Center for Churches may check-out and rent our resources. Members of the Resource Center belong to either our supporting judicatories or those churches that have paid their yearly membership fee.

Member judicatories are:

• The Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota
• The Minnesota Annual Conference United Methodist Church
• The Minnesota Conference United Church of Christ
• The Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area
• The Synod of Lakes and Prairies (PCUSA)

Additional institutions and churches have lately joined our Resource Center. They include United Theological Seminary, Veteran's Home, Judson Memorial Baptist Church, Open Circle of the Brethren and several Lutheran churches. Your church or institution may join by using a sliding scale from $50 to $150 depending upon size of local membership and use potential. (For details see: Annual Membership Enrollment Form)

Usage Fees

Video/DVDs placed in the Resource Center by our partner denominations to describe missions and/or leadership initiatives of their own denominations are FREE, plus shipping and handling fees.

ALL OTHER Video/DVD’s

• $10- 1-2 Week- 10days (Remember This includes the week of preview for $4 plus the $6 for first week of use.)
• $16- 3 Weeks
• $22- 4 Weeks
• $28- 5 Weeks
• NO ADDITIONAL CHARGES FOR UP TO 6 WEEKS (Again, No video/DVD resource usage fee will be over $28 for up to 6 weeks usage)

(Please Note: After 6 weeks we will begin charging a usage fee on top of the $28. Others are counting on these very popular resources. Please don’t be late in mailing them back!)

Parachute, the labyrinth, and the LCD projector vary by item. These costs will be included on the “Interactive Resources” web page.

Print resources can be used free of charge if you pick them up in person. If we ship them to you, you will be charged a handling fee and shipping cost.

With all resources, we will inform you of any usage and handling fees when we confirm your reservation. And you will be invoiced for all charges when you receive your resource(s). Or, you may use our convenient PayPal option.

Shipping and Handling Fees

Shipping and Handling Fees will be $2.50 for the first item plus $1.00 for each additional item.

EMAIL Check Out

E-mail the Resource Center

To request a resource by e-mail, simply click on the e-mail link above. This should open your e-mail program and allow you to send us an e-mail. We will check availability and contact you to confirm your reservation.

Reservations are made for specific dates of use. Resources may be picked up prior to use or the Resource Center will ship them out 8-10 days before the scheduled use to give the teacher/presenter adequate time to prepare. We ask that you return resources as soon as you have finished using them. If for some reason you need to request an extension, please call the Resource Center to confirm availability.

Print materials are free for members when checked out on site.
Audiovisual materials are subject to a user fee commensurate with the length of use.
All materials will incur an additional postal fee if we need to arrange for special delivery.

To reserve by phone, call (612) 870-0861

or toll free in Minnesota (888) 293-9901

Please include the following information

How Long Can We Keep Resources?

Videos and DVDs are reserved for use within a specific time frame. (Please Note: Videos and DVDs are charged per week. Therefore, there will be additional costs if materials are held for additional days after agreed upon dates.) If it is convenient, you may pick up the video or DVD prior to use or the Resource Center will ship it out 8-10 days before the scheduled use to give the teacher/presenter adequate time to prepare. We ask that you return the resource, in person or by mail, the day after its scheduled use date. If for some reason you need to request an extension, please call the Resource Center to confirm availability. This extension might not be possible if we have another church waiting on the resource.

Interactive Resources (such as the parachute, the canvas labyrinths, and the LCD projector) are also reserved for specific dates and should be returned promptly after use. (Please Note: Extra charges will be charged for extra time.)

Print Resources are usually checked out for a period of three weeks, although arrangements can be made for an extended loan.

Anthems: We have roughly 150 anthems in our files. They may be used free of charge in addition to a shipping and handling fee if necessary.

Returning Resources

The borrower is always responsible for returning your resources. You are asked to return resources to the Resource Center for Churches in person, by UPS, or first class mail promptly following use within the agreed upon time frame. Occasionally we may ask you to send a resource directly to another congregation for use. In this case an appropriate label will be enclosed.

Preview Policy

You are always welcome to preview a video or DVD resource, either at the Resource Center or off premises, before reserving it. There is no charge to preview a video/DVD at the Resource Center. If you wish the preview a video or DVD off-site, the charge will be $4.00 plus shipping and handling. Because many of our video and DVD resources are used quite frequently, it is important that they be returned within 10 days. If resources checked-out for preview are not returned within the allotted time, you will be charged the full usage and handling fee based on the resource’s time away from our office.

Many of our newer Video/DVD resources have an online video preview in the new ICON search engine. You may want to skip the Resource Center’s preview policy and go directly to their web site. We will include their web address when available.

Deposit Account

In order to avoid writing frequent small checks, some congregations choose to open a deposit account. If you have a deposit account, we will deduct any charges for resource use from your account and inform you of deductions, your account balance, and the necessity to deposit additional funds via invoice. A deposit account can be opened with a $50.00 minimum.

User Liability

The borrower is responsible for resources during the entire period of loan and return shipment. Loss or damage to resources due to machine malfunction or careless handling is your liability. The same is true of loss or damage sustained during return shipping (we package videos in hard shatter-proof plastic cases, taped securely). If a video is lost or damaged beyond repair while in your care, you will be charged for replacement.

Copyright

The videos in our collection are protected by United States copyright laws. In addition, videos labeled "for home use" should not be used in a public setting; therefore, we try to purchase only videos with public performance rights. However, even with public performance rights our videos should only be shown in non-commercial settings. Churches are not exempt from lawsuits related to copyright laws.

To launch the “Classic” catalog now, click here.

To Launch the new ICON search engine, click here.

(Remember, the ICON search engine is primarily for the newest DVD resources. If you want a book, curriculum, or older video, you’ll want to use the Classic Search Engine found above.)