Hello, and welcome to Parish Pump. This page explains how our membership system and the free trial works.
A year’s subscription to Parish Pump costs less than the equivalent of two cups of coffee a month, but we want you to know that it will work for you, so you can try it out absolutely free for an issue! Keep reading for an overview, or click a link below to jump to the section you want.
How Parish Pump Works
Parish Pump publishes new material at the start of every month, relating to the month coming after the current month. e.g. on the 1st May, we will publish new content intended to be used in a June publication.
Your membership will run until the start of the month in which it expires, this ensures you get access to 12 issues (but not necessarily 365 days) of Parish Pump e.g. if you join on 18th November 2018, your membership will expire at midnight 1st November 2019. This means that joining at the end of the month may mean you get less access in time, but you will still get 12 issues of material from us.
This material consists of content and copy that you can use in your publication, and is broadly grouped into two categories: Graphics, and Editorial. You can preview this month’s content here.
- The graphics contains images and illustrations such as front covers, cartoons, puzzles, colouring-in pages, comic strips, craft activities and much more.
- The editorial section is text based and contains articles such as current news, reflections on upcoming church calendar events, jokes, thoughts for the day, interviews and more.
Once you are a member of Parish Pump, you can log on using your username and password, and view the current month’s material by clicking on ‘Resources‘. You can then choose to download whichever graphics or editorial articles you would like, and are free to use them in your publication (subject to the Terms and Conditions). As a shortcut, we also offer a bundle download of ‘all graphics’ and ‘all editorial’ for the month, that you can then sort through off-line.
Once you’ve downloaded the things you want, you can insert them into your publication anyway you want. Check the FAQs for more specific help on downloading and using the material.
Setting up your free trial
It is very easy to set up your free trial of Parish Pump, and enjoy our wide range of graphics and articles for this issue without paying a penny. Here is what you do:
- Please register some details. This will open an account for your church or organisation. We encourage you to use a username and email related to your church or organisation rather than you personally; this will make things easier if someone else takes over the membership in the future.
- Then, check your email! You will receive a confirmation email asking you to confirm that you want access to the Parish Pump free trial – this is a check so that we know your email address is valid and working! Please click the link in the email. If you don’t receive the email, do check your spam or junk folders, as sometimes they get filtered out! If you can’t find it, get in touch with us.
- Once you confirm your email, your account instantly approved and you gain access to the resources on the site for one issue. Please note, that each issue is released on the 1st day of the month – when a new issue is released, your free trial will expire.
- Please spend some time in the Resources Area, where you can browse all that we have to offer you, and download as much or as little of it as you like.
- Download and use our copy and graphics in your publication, and then ask your readers for their reaction. Did they like the additional material? You might consider downloading even more copy/graphics than you have space for this month, and showing that as well to your minister and church members – would they like to see this in their publication?
- Bear in mind: your free trial will finish after this issue! Upgrade to full membership before you need the next months resources, or you won’t be able to access them!
Joining for the year
If you have found Parish Pump helpful, it is easy to turn your Free Trial into a full subscription. Click the button or follow the instructions below.
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- Log in to the site using your free trial details. If you don’t want to do the free trial, then of course you can join for the year straight away if you want by clicking/tapping here and choosing ‘Annual Membership’.
- If you’ve logged in as a trial user and want to upgrade, then simply click on Pay/Renew on the main menu.
- Scroll down until you see the ‘My Membership’ section – this will contain details of your free trial. Click on ‘change’, or ‘all membership options’, or just follow this link.
- Choose the ‘Annual Subscriber’ level.
- Follow the checkout instructions to confirm your account details and chosen method of payment.
- We accept Credit/Debit Cards via Paypal and Stripe, and also payment by cheque or bank transfer (although these may take a few days to be processed).
- If you pay by Paypal or Stripe, your account should be automatically updated and you can enjoy our content for the rest of the year!
- If you pay by BACS or cheque then once we have received your payment we will update your account and send you a message, and you can get started!
- Make a note of your renewal month for next year. But don’t worry – we will send you a reminder in plenty of time, so that you are not left stranded.
If you keep your membership active, then we will endeavour to give you access to all the material published since the date that you joined (technology permitting), so you can hunt through previous month’s items if you’re hunting for the perfect illustration.
Payment Methods
Online – via Stripe or Paypal
We currently accept online payments via Stripe (which accepts most major credit/cards) or via Paypal. This method allows us to more or less instantly approve your account, so you can get access to the Resources as soon as possible. Sometimes the payment takes up to 30 mins to be credited to your account, but in most cases you will get immediate access!
The Stripe payment option, allows you to use a credit/debit card on the checkout page itself, or alternatively you can use Paypal to pay via Paypal’s payment gateway (with or without a Paypal account). Find out more on our FAQ page.
Click here to pay for or renew your account (choose Paypal or Credit/Debit card as your payment method).
Cheque or Bank Transfer
We accept manual bank transfers and cheque payments – but please bear in mind that this means that we cannot open or renew your account until we have received and confirmed your payment. You can choose this method at the checkout, and you will receive instructions on how to pay in this way. Once you complete the checkout, your account will be invoiced and we will look forward to receiving the payment!
Once your payment arrives, we will then manually approve your account and you will have access to the resources. Please don’t send payment until you have completed the checkout process!
Click below to pay for or renew your account (choose cheque/BACS as your payment method).
Renewing your account
When your annual membership has less than a month to run, we will contact you to remind you to renew your membership. Remember if you keep your membership active, you retain access to all the material published since you first joined! Simply log in to your account, click Pay/Renew in the main menu and then complete the checkout page. Your renewal will be activated once we receive your payment – please renew before sending a cheque or bank transfer so we know to expect it! If you’re logged in, you can click below to start the process.
Changing editor or account details
Does your Church or Parish already have an account with us? If you are are taking over from an existing editor, there is no need to open a new account! You can update all your member information (except for the username or account number that you signed up with) at your Profile page.
If you don’t know the password details of the existing account, then please use the ‘reset password‘ option available on the log in page, and use the email address of the account. If you don’t even know the email address of the account, then please Contact Us providing as much information as possible (e.g. Parish/Church name, address, postcode and account number if known) and we will be happy to help you change the account.