Terms and Conditions

We Love Church is a website platform for churches, at welove.church. It is owned and operated by Esite Online Services CC, registration number 2006/078051/23, a close corporation registered in South Africa (“We Love Church”, “we”, “us”).

Contact us at support@welove.church.

By using welove.church, or a church’s site that runs on the platform, you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, please do not use the sites.

We Love Church is software that churches use to run their own websites: pages, sermons, events and bookings, small groups, online giving, a bookstore, serving rosters, announcements and a member portal. A church’s site appears under that church’s own name, at an address such as yourchurch.welove.church or the church’s own domain.

welove.church itself is an information site about the platform. Nothing is sold on it, and nothing on it is a quotation or an offer capable of acceptance.

Each church on the platform is an independent organisation. We supply the technology; the church decides what is on its site and remains responsible for:

• its content, teaching, events and activities;
• the goods it sells, their description, price, delivery and quality;
• how the gifts it receives are used, and its standing with the South African Revenue Service, including whether it may issue Section 18A tax certificates;
• the personal information it collects from its members and visitors, for which it is the responsible party.

A question about a particular church’s event, order or gift is best put to that church first. You may always contact us at support@welove.church and we will help.

• Some features, such as the member portal, need an account. Give accurate information and keep it up to date.
• Keep your password to yourself. You are responsible for what is done through your account until you tell us or the church that it has been compromised.
• A child's details may be added only by a parent or guardian, as part of that adult's household.
• You may ask for your account to be closed at any time.

Payments on a church’s site are in South African rand (ZAR) and are processed by Paystack, a registered payment service provider. You complete payment on Paystack’s secure checkout. Neither we nor the church receive or store your full card number.

• Gifts. A gift to a church is a voluntary donation to the fund you choose. Nothing is supplied in return. You receive a receipt by email, and a Section 18A certificate where the fund qualifies and the church is approved to issue one.
• Event bookings. The price of each ticket type is shown before you pay. A booking is confirmed when payment succeeds and the confirmation page is shown. Places are limited to the capacity the church sets.
• Bookstore orders. The price of each product, and the cost of delivery, are shown at checkout before you pay. An order is accepted when payment succeeds and your order page is shown.

All prices include VAT where it applies. The amount you see before you confirm is the full amount you pay; nothing is added afterwards. A payment is recorded only once Paystack confirms it to us.

• Digital products are delivered immediately after payment, as a download link on your order page.
• Goods are either collected at a congregation of the church or sent by courier to the address you give, as you choose at checkout.
• The church aims to send or make available an order within 7 business days of payment. If goods cannot be supplied you are told and refunded in full.
• Risk in goods passes to you when you or your nominee receive them.

Our Refund Policy sets out when a gift, booking or order can be cancelled or refunded, and how. It forms part of these terms.

A church that signs itself up at app.welove.church subscribes on these terms. A church that uses We Love Church under a separate written agreement with Esite Online Services CC is bound by that agreement, which prevails where it conflicts with these terms.

• A new church gets a free trial of 30 days. No card is needed to start it.
• After the trial, the subscription is R450 a month, including VAT where it applies, for each congregation the platform hosts. A congregation that is only listed, or that links to a website of its own, is not charged for.
• Fees are charged monthly in advance to the card the church adds, through Paystack. Adding a card is checked with a R1 charge, which is refunded straight away.
• If no card has been added 7 days after the trial ends, or a monthly payment fails and is not put right within 7 days, the church's site is paused. Nothing is deleted, and adding a working card brings it back.
• A church can stop paying for a congregation at any time by making it listed or pointing it at its own website, and can end its subscription by writing to us. Fees already paid for the current month are not refunded.

• A church's content and its members' information remain the church's. We process that information on the church's instructions, as its operator, and return it on request when the agreement ends.
• A church must have the right to publish what it puts on its site, and must use the platform lawfully.
• Payments made on a church's site are settled to the bank account that church has registered, less any fees agreed with us and Paystack's own charges.

Anyone may join the referral programme at app.welove.church/referrers/. A referrer:

• earns R100 for each month a church that signed up through their link pays for a hosted congregation, for as long as it does. Nothing is earned during a free trial or for a payment that fails or is refunded;
• is paid by bank transfer to a South African bank account, at the start of the month after the commission was earned. Commission waits until bank details are added;
• may not refer their own church, create accounts to earn commission, or describe We Love Church misleadingly. We may withhold or reverse commission earned in breach of these terms, and may close a referrer account that breaches them;
• is responsible for any tax on what they earn.

We may change the programme or the commission with 30 days’ notice by email. Commission already earned is still paid.

You may not use any site on the platform to:

• break the law, or infringe anybody's rights;
• make a payment with a card or account you are not authorised to use;
• send unsolicited messages, or collect other people's information;
• interfere with the platform's security or operation, or attempt to gain access you have not been given;
• post content that is defamatory, hateful, or harmful to children.

We may suspend an account or remove content that breaks these rules.

The platform, its software, and the We Love Church name and heart mark belong to Esite Online Services CC. A church’s name, logo, sermons, pages and other content belong to that church or its licensors. You may view and share content for personal, non-commercial use, and may not copy or republish it otherwise without the owner’s permission.

We work to keep the platform available and accurate, but we do not promise that it will be uninterrupted or free of errors. We may change or withdraw features, and may take the platform offline for maintenance.

To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, or for loss caused by a church’s content, events, goods or conduct, by Paystack or another third party, or by events outside our reasonable control. Nothing in these terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, or limits a right you have under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008.

Our Privacy Policy explains what personal information is collected through the platform, why, and the rights you have over it.

We may update these terms. The date at the top of this page shows when they last changed, and the version in force when you make a payment is the one that applies to it.

These terms are governed by the law of South Africa, and the South African courts have jurisdiction.

If something has gone wrong, email support@welove.church. We acknowledge a complaint within 2 business days and aim to resolve it within 14 days. If we cannot, you may approach the National Consumer Commission or the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud.