Terms of Service

These Terms of Service govern access to and use of Join Barnabas, including the Barnabas website, member application, church communities, groups, events, messaging, discipleship tools, and related services. During the proof-of-concept period, Barnabas is being tested with invited and participating users and features may be changed, corrected, suspended, or removed as the platform is improved.

1. Eligibility and accounts

You must provide accurate account information and keep your login credentials secure. You are responsible for activity performed through your account. Do not share an account in a way that allows another person to impersonate you.

2. Christian community platform

Barnabas provides tools for Christian community, discipleship, prayer, encouragement, church discovery, groups, events, messaging, study, accountability, and personal spiritual-growth records. Barnabas is not a substitute for emergency services, licensed medical care, mental-health care, legal advice, financial advice, or pastoral care when professional or immediate assistance is appropriate.

3. User content and sharing

You retain ownership of content you create. You grant Barnabas the limited rights reasonably necessary to store, process, display, transmit, back up, and otherwise operate the content according to the privacy and sharing choices you make. You are responsible for ensuring you have the right to upload or share content involving other people.

Private journals, accountability information, prayers, messages, and similar material remain subject to the visibility settings you choose. Barnabas will not intentionally publish private content to a broader audience without an action by you or an authorized administrator acting within their permitted role.

4. Churches, groups, and administrators

Churches and groups may have authorized leaders or administrators who manage their own community areas, events, membership, and content. A church or group may adopt additional rules for its own space as long as those rules do not conflict with Barnabas policies or applicable law.

5. Events, tickets, payouts, and promotions

Barnabas may allow members, churches, Small Groups, and Bible Talks to create free or paid events. When paid-event functionality is enabled, payment processing and organizer payouts may be provided by Stripe or another disclosed payment processor. Event organizers are responsible for event descriptions, fulfillment, refunds they owe, taxes, permissions, venue requirements, and compliance with applicable law. Barnabas may charge disclosed platform or promotional fees.

6. Acceptable use

You may not use Barnabas to harass, exploit, threaten, defraud, impersonate, spam, distribute malware, unlawfully collect personal information, violate another person's rights, or facilitate illegal conduct. Community use is also governed by the Community Guidelines.

7. Safety and moderation

Barnabas may investigate reports and restrict, remove, preserve, or disclose content or accounts when reasonably necessary to operate the service, enforce these Terms, protect users, respond to valid legal process, or address safety and security concerns.

8. Intellectual property

Barnabas software, branding, design, documentation, and platform materials are protected by applicable intellectual-property laws. These Terms do not transfer ownership of Barnabas technology or branding to users.

9. Proof-of-concept availability

The proof-of-concept service is provided for testing and evaluation. Features may contain defects or experience downtime. Users should not rely on the proof-of-concept as the sole storage location for information that they cannot afford to lose.

10. Termination

You may stop using Barnabas at any time. Barnabas may suspend or terminate access when reasonably necessary for security, abuse prevention, legal compliance, nonpayment after paid services launch, or material violations of these Terms or the Community Guidelines.

11. Disclaimers and limitation

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the proof-of-concept is provided on an "as available" basis without a promise that it will be uninterrupted or error-free. Nothing in these Terms excludes rights or liabilities that cannot legally be excluded.

12. Changes

These Terms may be updated as Barnabas moves from proof of concept toward production. Material changes will be reflected by updating the date on this page and, when appropriate, providing additional notice.

13. Contact

Questions about these Terms can be submitted through the Barnabas Contact Us page.