Terms of Use

Discipleship Connect · Version 1.0 · Effective 12 June 2026

Please read before you sign up

1. Who these Terms are between

These Terms of Use (“Terms”) are an agreement between you, the individual using Discipleship Connect, and [OPERATOR LEGAL NAME] (ABN [ABN]) of [REGISTERED/PRINCIPAL ADDRESS, QLD], the operator of Discipleship Connect (the “Platform”, “we”, “us”, “our”). Your church is a separate organisation that uses the Platform to run and oversee discipling within its community; it is not a party to these Terms, but these Terms describe how you and your church each use the Platform.

2. What Discipleship Connect is — and what it is not

Discipleship Connect is a coordination and oversight tool. It helps a church connect disciplers with disciplees, schedule and log meetings, and give church leadership visibility for pastoral oversight. There is no free-text messaging or chat by design.

The Platform is not, and does not provide:

• professional counselling, psychological, medical, legal, financial or other professional advice;
• a crisis, emergency or safeguarding-response service; or
• supervision of, or a guarantee about, the conduct, character, suitability or safety of any member.

In an emergency, or where someone is at risk of harm, contact emergency services on 000 (or the relevant local emergency number). Do not rely on the Platform to summon help. The “Raise a concern” feature routes information to your church's leadership for follow-up; it is not monitored as an emergency channel and does not guarantee a response time.

Discipling relationships are between members and are overseen by your church. We provide the tool; we do not provide, supervise or deliver the discipling itself.

3. Eligibility

You may use the Platform only if you are at least 18 years old (or any higher minimum age set by your church); you are a genuine member of, or are otherwise authorised to participate in, a church that uses the Platform; and your identity can be matched to your church's membership records (via Planning Center). The Platform is not for minors. You must provide accurate information and keep it up to date, and must not impersonate any person or misrepresent your affiliation, age or identity.

4. Your account and sign-in

Depending on your role, you sign in either through your church's single sign-on (Planning Center) or by verifying a one-time code sent to your email. You are responsible for the security of the email account and any credentials used to access the Platform, and for all activity under your account. Tell us (or your church leadership) promptly if you believe your account has been accessed without authorisation. Your account is personal to you — do not share, transfer, or let anyone else use it. Your access depends on your continued membership of, and good standing with, your church.

5. Acceptable use and code of conduct

When using the Platform, you agree that you will:

• Treat others with respect and care — you will not harass, bully, intimidate, abuse, threaten, demean or discriminate against any person, and will conduct yourself consistently with your church's code of conduct.
• Respect confidentiality — information you can see about another member is for the purpose of discipling and oversight within your church; you will not disclose it outside the Platform except as appropriate for that purpose, and will not screenshot, copy or republish it for any other purpose.
• Use the safeguarding features honestly — you will not misuse “Raise a concern” to harass or make knowingly false reports, and will not retaliate against anyone for raising a genuine concern.
• Keep records honest — catch-up logs and other records you create must be truthful; catch-up logs and audit records are designed to be permanent and are not editable by you once created.
• Respect the oversight model — you accept that there is no private chat, that your participation, the rhythm of your relationships, and your catch-up logs are visible to your church's leadership, and you will not attempt to conduct private, unmonitored contact that circumvents safeguarding.
• Not misuse the Platform — no unlawful, fraudulent, harmful or sexually inappropriate use; no attempt to access another church's data or another member's account; no probing, scanning, attacking or circumventing security; no scraping or bulk extraction; no malicious or infringing content; no spam; and no use to build a competing product.

Breaching this Section may lead to suspension or termination (Section 13) and may be reported to your church leadership and, where appropriate, to authorities.

6. Content you provide

You retain ownership of the information and content you submit (“Your Content”). You grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, process and display Your Content solely to operate, secure, maintain and provide the Platform to you and your church, and as otherwise described in our Privacy Policy. We do not use Your Content for advertising and we do not sell it. You are responsible for Your Content and warrant that you are entitled to provide it and that it does not breach these Terms or any law or third-party right. You acknowledge that certain records (catch-up logs, the audit trail and concern reports) are retained and may be immutable as described in these Terms and our Privacy Policy, including after your account is closed.

7. Safeguarding, concerns and emergencies

The Platform provides a “Raise a concern” feature that sends a confidential report to your church's leadership — the appropriate channel within the Platform for raising a worry about a member or relationship. The Platform is not an emergency or crisis service; concern reports are reviewed by people, not in real time. If there is an immediate risk to anyone's safety, contact 000.

Responsibility for safeguarding response, and for any mandatory reporting obligations, rests with your church, its leadership and the relevant authorities — not with us. We may, but are not obliged to, disclose information to authorities where we reasonably believe it is necessary to prevent a serious and imminent threat to the safety of any person or as otherwise permitted or required by law, consistent with our Privacy Policy.

8. Your church's role

Your church decides to use the Platform, configures its settings, approves disciplers, and exercises pastoral oversight. Your church is responsible for the conduct of its leadership and for its own compliance with its safeguarding, child-safe, privacy and other obligations. We are not responsible for the decisions, acts or omissions of your church or its leadership, including how they exercise oversight, whom they approve, or how they respond to a concern. Your relationship with your church is between you and your church.

9. Privacy

Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle your personal information (including sensitive information) and forms part of these Terms. By using the Platform you consent to that handling.

10. Intellectual property

The Platform, and all software, design, text, graphics and other material we provide (excluding Your Content), are owned by us or our licensors and are protected by law. These Terms do not transfer any of those rights to you. We grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the Platform for its intended purpose while these Terms are in force. You must not copy, modify, distribute, reverse-engineer or create derivative works from the Platform except as permitted by law.

11. Service availability and changes

We aim to keep the Platform available and working well, but we provide it on an “as is” and “as available” basis (subject to Section 14). We do not warrant that it will be uninterrupted, error-free or secure, or that it will meet your particular requirements. We may modify, suspend or discontinue any part of the Platform, and may perform maintenance, at any time; where a change is material and within our control we will give reasonable notice where practicable. The Platform relies on third-party services (including Planning Center, hosting, email and monitoring providers), and we are not responsible for their acts, omissions, availability or content.

12. Fees

The Platform is free for members. Any subscription or fees for use of the Platform are arranged separately between us and your church and are not your responsibility under these Terms. If members are ever charged, separate paid terms will apply and will be presented to you before any charge.

13. Suspension and termination

You may stop using the Platform and request closure of your account at any time (see the Privacy Policy for how deletion requests are handled and what is retained). Your access depends on your continued membership and good standing with your church, which may cause your access to be suspended or ended. We may suspend or terminate your access, with or without notice, if we reasonably believe you have breached these Terms, if required by law, to protect the safety of any person or the integrity of the Platform, or if your church ceases to use the Platform. We may also suspend or end a church's use of the Platform under our separate agreement with that church, which may affect your access.

On termination, your right to use the Platform ends. Sections that by their nature should survive — including confidentiality, content and retention, safeguarding, intellectual property, disclaimers, liability, indemnity and governing law — survive. Certain records are retained after termination as described in the Privacy Policy and Section 6.

14. Australian Consumer Law and disclaimers

Our services may come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law (Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)) (“ACL”). Nothing in these Terms excludes, restricts or modifies any right or remedy, or any guarantee, warranty or other term or condition, implied or imposed by the ACL or any other law where to do so would be unlawful or would cause any part of these Terms to be void.

Subject to the above, and to the maximum extent permitted by law, we exclude all other representations, warranties, guarantees and conditions, whether express or implied, including as to merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, availability, accuracy and non-infringement. Where the ACL applies and our services are not of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household use or consumption, our liability for a failure to comply with an applicable consumer guarantee is limited, at our option, to supplying the services again or paying the cost of having the services supplied again.

15. Limitation of liability

This Section is subject to your non-excludable rights under the ACL and other laws. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable to you for any indirect, special, incidental, consequential or punitive loss, or any loss of profits, revenue, goodwill, data or anticipated savings; for loss or harm arising from the acts or omissions of any member, your church or its leadership (including any discipling relationship, conduct between members, or any decision about approving members, oversight or concerns); for loss or harm arising from third-party services; or for loss or harm arising from your failure to keep your account secure or your breach of these Terms.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, and subject to the ACL, our total aggregate liability to you arising out of or in connection with the Platform and these Terms is limited to [AUD $100 — CONFIRM CAP]. You acknowledge that the Platform is a free coordination tool and that the allocation of risk in these Terms is reasonable in that context.

16. Indemnity

To the maximum extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify us against any loss, liability, cost or expense we reasonably incur arising out of or in connection with your breach of these Terms, your misuse of the Platform, Your Content, or your breach of any law or third-party right — except to the extent the loss was caused by our own breach, negligence or wrongful act.

17. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make a material change we will take reasonable steps to notify you and, where appropriate, ask you to re-accept the updated Terms before you continue to use the Platform. The current version is always available within the Platform and on this page. Your continued use after a change takes effect means you accept the updated Terms.

18. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of Queensland, Australia. You and we submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Queensland and the courts that may hear appeals from them. Before starting any court proceeding (except for urgent injunctive relief), you agree to first contact us to try to resolve the dispute in good faith. Nothing in this Section limits your right to make a complaint to a regulator (including the OAIC for privacy matters).

19. General

These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and us about the Platform and supersede any prior understanding on that subject. If any provision is found to be unenforceable, it is severed and the rest continue. A failure or delay by us in exercising a right is not a waiver of it. You may not assign or transfer these Terms; we may assign or novate them, including as part of a business transfer, without affecting your rights under the ACL. Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, agency, employment or joint-venture relationship. We may give you notices through the Platform or by email.

20. How to contact us

[OPERATOR LEGAL NAME] (ABN [ABN]), [REGISTERED/PRINCIPAL ADDRESS, QLD]. General: [CONTACT EMAIL]. Privacy matters: [PRIVACY CONTACT EMAIL] (see the Privacy Policy).