Church Community Platform Terms of Use
Effective Date:
Last Updated:
IMPORTANT: These Terms are written for a church-operated online community hosted at . The specific church identified on the applicable website, app, or subdomain as (the “Church”) operates its own community and may be reached at . The Church community is based in . FaithSuite (“FaithSuite”) provides the hosted platform, technology, infrastructure, and related support used to run the Church’s branded community. By accessing or using the platform, you agree to these Terms.
1. Purpose of the Platform
The platform is intended to help churches support worship, fellowship, discipleship, prayer, events, giving, volunteering, communication, and community life online. Depending on how the Church configures its instance, the platform may include a website, member portal, mobile or progressive web app, groups, messaging, announcements, prayer requests, event registration, donations, media, courses, and related community features (collectively, the “Platform”).
2. Who These Terms Apply To
These Terms apply to:
(a) visitors to the Platform;
(b) registered members, donors, volunteers, leaders, moderators, and administrators; and
(c) any person or organization accessing or using the Platform on behalf of another person or entity.
If you are using the Platform on behalf of a church, ministry, business, or other organization, you represent that you have authority to bind that entity to these Terms.
3. Relationship Between the Church and FaithSuite
3.1 Church as community operator. The Church identified as controls its branding, membership decisions, content, ministries, events, giving campaigns, communications, moderation, and many day-to-day decisions about how its community operates.
3.2 FaithSuite as technology provider. FaithSuite provides the hosted software, infrastructure, security measures, maintenance, analytics, integrations, and support services used to deliver the Platform.
3.3 Supplemental church terms. The Church may post supplemental rules, statements of faith, ministry guidelines, event terms, giving terms, or community standards. If posted, those supplemental terms are incorporated into these Terms for that Church and will control if they conflict with these general Terms on a church-specific issue.
4. Eligibility and Account Registration
4.1 Minimum age. The Platform is intended for users age 13 and older, unless the Church expressly enables a feature for younger children and all legally required parental or guardian notices and consents have been obtained.
4.2 Minors. If you are under the age of majority in your state, you may use the Platform only with the involvement of a parent, legal guardian, or authorized church leader, and subject to the Church’s policies.
4.3 Accurate information. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information when creating an account or registering for any ministry, event, or service.
4.4 Account security. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. You must promptly notify the Church or FaithSuite if you believe your account has been compromised.
4.5 One account per person. You may not impersonate another person, create an account using false information, or use an account you are not authorized to use.
5. Church-Oriented Community Standards
Because the Platform is designed for church communities, you agree to use it in a respectful, lawful, and ministry-appropriate manner. You may not:
(a) harass, bully, threaten, defame, stalk, or exploit anyone;
(b) post hateful, obscene, sexually explicit, violent, or discriminatory content;
(c) post content that is misleading, fraudulent, deceptive, or unlawful;
(d) violate another person’s privacy, publicity, intellectual property, or other rights;
(e) collect member information for unauthorized commercial, political, or spam purposes;
(f) upload malware, attempt unauthorized access, scrape data, interfere with the Platform, or bypass security measures;
(g) use the Platform in a way inconsistent with the Church’s mission, posted community rules, or statement of faith, if applicable;
(h) post prayer requests, photos, videos, family information, or personal stories about another person without appropriate permission; or
(i) use the Platform for emergencies, crisis intervention, or urgent medical, mental health, or safety situations.
The Church and FaithSuite may remove content or restrict access if either believes, in its discretion, that content or conduct violates these Terms, harms the community, creates legal risk, or threatens safety.
6. User Content
6.1 Your content. “User Content” means content you submit, upload, post, send, stream, store, or otherwise make available through the Platform, including messages, comments, prayer requests, photos, videos, event submissions, profile information, testimonies, and ministry-related materials.
6.2 Ownership. You retain ownership of your User Content, subject to the licenses you grant in these Terms.
6.3 License to the Church and FaithSuite. By submitting User Content, you grant:
(a) the Church a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, display, distribute, modify for formatting, and otherwise use your User Content as reasonably necessary to operate the Church’s Platform, ministries, events, communications, and community features; and
(b) FaithSuite a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, copy, process, transmit, display, back up, analyze, and otherwise use your User Content as reasonably necessary to provide, secure, support, maintain, and improve the hosted service.
6.4 Visibility settings. Some User Content may be visible to the public, all members, specific groups, ministry leaders, or Church administrators depending on the feature and settings selected. You are responsible for understanding where your content is being shared before posting it.
6.5 No obligation to publish. Neither the Church nor FaithSuite is required to publish, preserve, or continue to display any User Content.
6.6 Sensitive and third-party information. Do not post confidential, highly sensitive, or third-party personal information unless you have the right to do so and the Platform is intended for that purpose. In particular, do not share another person’s health details, counseling information, child information, or financial information without appropriate consent or legal authority.
7. Donations, Tickets, Purchases, and Paid Features
7.1 Church-controlled transactions. If the Church uses the Platform for online giving, event registration, subscriptions, ticketing, marketplace items, or other payments, those transactions are offered by or on behalf of the Church unless clearly stated otherwise.
7.2 Payment processors. Payments may be processed by third-party providers. FaithSuite does not store full payment card data unless expressly stated. Your payment transaction may also be subject to the terms and privacy policies of the Church’s payment processor.
7.3 Voluntary donations. Donations are generally voluntary and, unless required by law or expressly stated by the Church, may be nonrefundable. The Church is responsible for its own donation, refund, receipting, tax, and charitable solicitation compliance.
7.4 Paid content or services. If the Church offers paid digital content, classes, memberships, or event access, the Church may impose additional purchase terms, cancellation rules, or refund policies.
8. Communications
8.1 Platform communications. By using the Platform, you agree that the Church and FaithSuite may send you service-related communications such as account notices, password resets, security alerts, donation receipts, event confirmations, and administrative messages.
8.2 Ministry and promotional communications. The Church may also send newsletters, ministry updates, event invitations, fundraising messages, or similar communications in accordance with applicable law and your preferences. You can opt out of non-essential promotional emails using the unsubscribe link or applicable settings, though transactional and administrative messages may still be sent.
8.3 Push and SMS. If enabled by the Church, push notifications or text messages may be used for church communications. Message and data rates may apply. Your mobile carrier is not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.
8.4 Consent to electronic records. To the extent permitted by law, you consent to receive notices, disclosures, receipts, confirmations, and other records electronically through the Platform, email, in-app notice, or other digital means.
9. Third-Party Services and Integrations
The Platform may contain links to third-party sites, embedded media, app store listings, livestream tools, maps, payment processors, calendar tools, or other integrations. The Church may also connect third-party ministry tools or service providers. Neither the Church nor FaithSuite is responsible for third-party services that are not under their direct control. Your use of those services may be governed by separate terms and privacy policies.
10. Intellectual Property
10.1 Platform rights. FaithSuite and its licensors own the software, platform design, code, functionality, trademarks, service marks, and other intellectual property in and to the hosted service, except for Church branding and User Content.
10.2 Church rights. The Church and its licensors own the Church’s name, logos, sermons, teachings, graphics, event materials, ministry content, and other Church-provided materials unless otherwise stated.
10.3 Limited permission to use. Subject to these Terms, you may access and use the Platform for its intended church and community purposes. You may not reproduce, reverse engineer, distribute, sell, sublicense, scrape, or exploit the Platform or its content except as expressly allowed by the Church or FaithSuite in writing.
11. Copyright and Takedown Requests
If you believe content on the Platform infringes your copyright or other intellectual property rights, send a notice to aus@faithsuite.org with enough detail to identify the work, the allegedly infringing material, and your contact information. The Church and FaithSuite may remove or disable access to content while reviewing the matter.
12. Safety, Pastoral Care, and No Emergency Use
12.1 No emergency service. The Platform is not an emergency-response system, crisis hotline, medical service, counseling hotline, or law-enforcement reporting channel. If you or someone else is in danger or needs urgent help, call 911 or your local emergency services immediately.
12.2 Pastoral care limitations. Messages, prayer requests, forms, and other communications sent through the Platform may be reviewed by Church staff or volunteers depending on Church settings and workflows. Do not assume that any message sent through the Platform is privileged, confidential, or monitored in real time unless the Church expressly says so.
12.3 Health and counseling information. Unless the Church expressly states otherwise, the Platform is not intended to function as a HIPAA-regulated medical record or counseling record system.
13. Suspension or Termination
The Church or FaithSuite may suspend, restrict, or terminate access to the Platform, remove User Content, or deactivate accounts at any time, with or without notice, if reasonably necessary to:
(a) enforce these Terms or church-specific rules;
(b) protect the safety, integrity, security, reputation, or legal interests of the Church, FaithSuite, or others;
(c) respond to legal demands or suspected unlawful conduct;
(d) prevent spam, abuse, fraud, or technical harm; or
(e) discontinue or modify the Platform or any feature.
You may stop using the Platform at any time. Sections that by their nature should survive termination will survive, including provisions on content licenses, disclaimers, limitations of liability, dispute terms, and intellectual property.
14. Disclaimer of Warranties
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE PLATFORM IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE.” THE CHURCH AND FAITHSUITE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, ACCURACY, QUIET ENJOYMENT, AND THAT THE PLATFORM WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE.
The Church and FaithSuite do not guarantee that:
(a) the Platform will always be available or operate without delay;
(b) content posted by users will be accurate, appropriate, or reliable;
(c) communications sent through the Platform will always be delivered; or
(d) the Platform will meet every legal or ministry need of a particular Church or user.
15. Limitation of Liability
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL THE CHURCH, FAITHSUITE, OR THEIR RESPECTIVE OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, VOLUNTEERS, AGENTS, LICENSORS, OR SERVICE PROVIDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, GOODWILL, MINISTRY OPPORTUNITY, OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THE PLATFORM OR THESE TERMS, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF FAITHSUITE ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE PLATFORM OR THESE TERMS SHALL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS (US$100) OR (B) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID DIRECTLY TO FAITHSUITE FOR THE SPECIFIC SERVICE GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM. IF YOU DID NOT PAY FAITHSUITE ANY AMOUNT, YOUR SOLE REMEDY IS TO STOP USING THE PLATFORM.
Some jurisdictions do not allow certain disclaimers or limitations, so parts of this section may not apply to you.
16. Indemnification
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Church, FaithSuite, FaithSuite, and their respective affiliates, officers, directors, employees, volunteers, agents, licensors, and service providers from and against any claims, demands, actions, liabilities, damages, judgments, settlements, penalties, losses, costs, and expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising out of or relating to:
(a) your use of the Platform;
(b) your User Content;
(c) your violation of these Terms or church-specific rules;
(d) your infringement or misappropriation of any rights of another person or entity; or
(e) your unlawful, negligent, or wrongful conduct.
17. Governing Law and Disputes
17.1 Church disputes. Unless the Church posts church-specific dispute terms, disputes between you and the Church will be governed by the laws of the state in which the Church is principally located, without regard to conflicts-of-law rules, except to the extent mandatory law provides otherwise.
17.2 FaithSuite disputes. Disputes that primarily concern the hosted software service or FaithSuite’s conduct as technology provider will be governed by the law applicable to the agreement between you and FaithSuite or, if no separate agreement applies, by the law of the jurisdiction in which FaithSuite is principally organized or headquartered, without regard to conflicts-of-law rules, except to the extent mandatory law provides otherwise.
17.3 Venue. Unless applicable law requires otherwise, court proceedings involving FaithSuite or FaithSuite shall be brought in a court of competent jurisdiction selected under applicable law and any controlling written agreement. Church-related disputes may also be brought where the Church is principally located if required by applicable law or church-specific terms.
17.4 Informal resolution. Before filing a formal claim against FaithSuite, you agree to send a written notice to aus@faithsuite.org describing the dispute and requested relief, and the parties will attempt in good faith to resolve the matter informally.
18. Changes to These Terms
The Church or FaithSuite may update these Terms from time to time. Updated Terms will be effective when posted or on the stated effective date. If changes are material, the Church or FaithSuite may provide additional notice where required by law. Your continued use of the Platform after updated Terms become effective means you accept the revised Terms.
19. Contact Information
For church-specific questions, event issues, member account issues, donations, prayer requests, or ministry communications, contact:
For platform, privacy, legal, copyright, or technical support matters relating to FaithSuite, contact:
FaithSuite
aus@faithsuite.org
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