Terms and Conditions

Focus on Jesus Ministries | Church Harbor

Last Updated: October 23, 2026

1. Welcome and Scope

Focus on Jesus Ministries is a United States 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to sharing the love of Jesus and helping disciples in their daily walk. We own and operate Church Harbor, a Bible-reading and spiritual-growth application.

These Terms and Conditions ("Terms") explain the basic rules for using our website at focusonjesusministries.com, Church Harbor, and other ministry services that link to these Terms (together, the "Services"). By using the Services, or accepting these Terms when asked, you agree to them to the extent permitted by law. If you do not agree, please do not use the affected Services.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information. Agreeing to these Terms does not, by itself, enroll you in text messages or give permission for optional AI analysis of your private writing. Those choices are handled separately.

2. What Our Services Provide

Our Services may include ministry information, charitable programs, forms, resources, Bible reading, saved Scripture, reading plans, personal notes, private prayers and journals, and optional connections to churches. Features may differ by location, device, account status, or stage of development.

Many Church Harbor features are intended to be available free of charge, including access to Bible reading without an account where supported. An account may be required to save or synchronize personal information. If we ever offer a paid feature, we will disclose its price and applicable terms before you agree to purchase it. Nothing in these Terms creates a paid subscription.

We may add, change, temporarily suspend, or discontinue features for legitimate operational, security, licensing, or ministry reasons. When changes materially affect users, we will provide notice where reasonably practicable or legally required.

3. Age and Eligibility

Church Harbor account registration is intended for individuals 13 years of age or older, subject to higher minimum ages or parental authorization required by applicable law. If you are a minor, you should use the Services with any required permission or involvement of a parent or legal guardian.

You must provide accurate information when registering and must not create an account on behalf of another person without appropriate authority. We may restrict or close accounts that do not satisfy applicable eligibility requirements.

4. Accounts and Security

You are responsible for safeguarding your login credentials and for activity under your account, except to the extent the activity results from circumstances for which we are responsible under applicable law. Please notify us promptly if you suspect unauthorized access.

We may use email or SMS verification, one-time access codes, and other reasonable security measures to protect accounts. Do not share verification codes with other people. We cannot guarantee that any delivery method will always be available or instantaneous.

You may request account deletion as described in our Privacy Policy. Certain records may need to be retained for legal, security, accounting, or other lawful reasons.

5. Bible Text, Resources, and Intellectual Property

The Church Harbor name, our original designs, software, ministry materials, and other content created by or licensed to Focus on Jesus Ministries are protected by applicable intellectual property laws.

Bible translations and other third-party materials may be owned or licensed by their respective publishers and content providers. Their copyrights, notices, permitted uses, and attribution requirements continue to apply. Access through Church Harbor does not transfer ownership of those materials or grant permission to reproduce, scrape, redistribute, resell, or create a separate Bible database from them.

We grant you a limited, personal, nonexclusive, nontransferable, revocable right to access and use the Services for their intended purposes, subject to applicable law and the rights of content owners. You may share content only through available sharing features or where permitted by the applicable license and law.

6. Your Personal Writing and Other Content

You retain ownership of the original prayers, journals, notes, reflections, and other material you create. We do not claim ownership of your personal spiritual writing.

You give Focus on Jesus Ministries a limited permission to store, transmit, synchronize, back up, display to you, and otherwise process your material only as needed to provide the features you request, operate and secure the Services, follow your selected sharing and privacy settings, and meet applicable legal obligations. This permission ends when no longer necessary for those purposes, subject to lawful retention and existing authorized disclosures.

Your private journal entries, private prayers, notes, highlights, and reading history are private by default. Connecting your account to a church does not automatically give its leaders access to those records. If you deliberately submit material to a shared feature, such as a church prayer-request area, it may be visible to the intended recipients as explained when you share it.

Do not submit material to a shared or public area unless you have the right to share it. Please respect the privacy, rights, and dignity of other people mentioned in your submissions.

Our Privacy Policy describes access controls, exceptional disclosures, retention, and your privacy rights in more detail.

7. Optional AI-Assisted Personalization and Anonymous Research

Where available, Church Harbor may offer optional automated analysis of the prayers, journals, or notes you choose to analyze. The purpose is to identify general themes and suggest relevant Scripture, reading plans, and free spiritual-growth resources. Theme descriptions are automated inferences; they are not verified facts, diagnoses, or judgments about you.

This analysis requires a separate choice and any consent required by law. You can use private notes and journals without enabling it. Personal themes associated with your account remain personal information, even if your name was removed during processing. They are not ordinarily shown as a separate profile to you or to church administrators, but your applicable privacy rights still apply.

A separate optional choice, where offered, may permit eligible themes to contribute to effectively anonymized, aggregated reports about broad spiritual-growth interests and needs. We do not include personal journal text, individual theme profiles, or identifying information in those reports. We do not allow an AI provider to use private writing submitted under our arrangements to train general-purpose models or for advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy.

AI suggestions may be incomplete, mistaken, or unsuitable for a particular situation. You should evaluate them for yourself and may choose not to follow them. Automated recommendations are not a substitute for professional advice or human pastoral care.

8. Connections to Churches and Other Organizations

Church Harbor may allow you to find or voluntarily connect with a church. That connection is for the features you choose to use; it does not mean that the church operates Church Harbor or owns your Church Harbor account.

Churches do not automatically receive your private notes, journals, prayer history, inferred themes, or Bible-reading activity. Information you intentionally share through church-connected features may be seen and managed by the intended church or recipients. Churches and other organizations may have their own rules and privacy responsibilities for information they collect independently.

You may manage or end church connections where the Services provide that option. A church's independent records may not be deleted merely because you disconnect from it in Church Harbor.

9. Appropriate Use

Please use the Services lawfully and respectfully. You agree not to:

Use the Services to threaten, harass, exploit, defraud, impersonate, or unlawfully harm another person.
Submit or distribute content that infringes another person's rights or violates applicable law.
Attempt to access another person's account or private information without authorization.
Introduce malicious code, interfere with service security, or disrupt the Services.
Scrape, extract, or redistribute licensed Bible content or other protected materials contrary to applicable rights or permissions.
Use messaging, forms, or shared features for spam, unauthorized advertising, or abuse.

We may remove content from shared areas, restrict features, or suspend accounts when reasonably necessary to protect users, enforce these Terms, comply with the law, or maintain the Services. We will take applicable legal rights and fair processes into account.

10. Text Messaging Terms (SMS)

Program operator: Focus on Jesus Ministries. Church Harbor is owned and operated by Focus on Jesus Ministries. We send SMS messages only for our own ministry communications and Church Harbor account authentication—not as a messaging service for churches or other organizations. A Church Harbor user may receive a code whether or not the user is connected to any church.

A. Ministry Messages

If you separately opt in, Focus on Jesus Ministries may text you ministry news, event and program information, responses to your inquiries, requested reminders, and related updates described at signup. Message frequency varies based on the program and your choices; any expected recurring frequency will be stated where you enroll. Consent to promotional or recurring ministry SMS is optional and not a condition of using unrelated Services, making a donation, or creating an account.

B. Church Harbor One-Time Codes

When you request an SMS verification method and provide any required consent, Focus on Jesus Ministries may send one-time codes for account creation, phone verification, sign-in, account recovery, or security. Message frequency varies based on the verification actions you request and any retries. These are transactional/security messages, not a subscription to ministry communications. Requesting a code does not enroll you in promotional messages or authorize an associated church to text you.

C. Rates, Consent, STOP, and HELP

Standard message and data rates may apply to all SMS messages. Your mobile provider determines any charges. Message delivery is not guaranteed, including when messages are blocked, delayed, or unsupported by your carrier or device.

To stop receiving recurring ministry texts, reply STOP to the number that sent the message. You may receive a final confirmation message. We will honor applicable opt-out requests. Replying STOP to a number used for verification may also prevent future verification codes from that sender until you re-enable them; alternate verification methods may not always be available.

For assistance, reply HELP to the number that sent the message, or contact us through our contact page.

Your phone number and messaging consent are handled under our Privacy Policy. We do not sell or share mobile numbers or SMS opt-in information with third parties or affiliates for their own marketing or promotional purposes.

Carriers are not liable for any delayed or undelivered messages.

These SMS terms apply in addition to the disclosures presented when you request a verification code or enroll in ministry messages. Accepting these general Terms is not consent to receive promotional SMS.

11. Emails and Other Communications

We may send messages needed to operate the Services, such as account notices, security alerts, and responses to requests. Optional ministry or promotional communications are subject to your preferences and applicable consent requirements. You can use unsubscribe controls or contact us to change optional communication preferences.

12. Donations, Grants, and Ministry Programs

Donations made to Focus on Jesus Ministries are voluntary. Any amount, designation, payment terms, recurring-gift authorization, and available cancellation or refund information will be shown through the applicable giving process or communicated for that program. We do not initiate recurring charges without the authorization required by law.

A donation's tax treatment depends on applicable law and the donor's circumstances. We do not provide individual tax advice or guarantee that every payment or contribution qualifies for a deduction.

Grant programs, scholarships, events, and other ministry opportunities may have additional published eligibility rules, selection criteria, and conditions. Applying or contributing does not guarantee approval, funding, participation, or a particular outcome. Where program-specific terms apply, they control that program to the extent they do not conflict with applicable law.

13. External Websites, Providers, and Content

Some features rely on third parties, including licensed Bible publishers, infrastructure providers, payment processors, and churches. Links or access to another organization's content do not necessarily mean that Focus on Jesus Ministries endorses its every statement or controls its practices.

Independent websites and services may have their own terms and privacy policies. When you choose to use them, those separate terms may apply.

14. Spiritual Resources Are Not Emergency or Professional Services

Our Bible, prayer, devotional, and related resources are intended to support personal faith and spiritual growth. They are not medical, mental-health, legal, financial, or other licensed professional services. Automated recommendations are not an individualized professional assessment.

Church Harbor is not a crisis hotline, emergency-response service, or a system for reporting threats, abuse, or urgent danger. Private journals and notes are not messages to ministry staff. We do not routinely read private writing or monitor it for threats, emergencies, or possible criminal activity, and optional AI theme analysis is not a crisis-detection service. Do not rely on the Services to identify an emergency or send help.

If you or someone else is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services or an appropriate crisis-response service. If you need pastoral support, reach out directly to a trusted pastor, church leader, or qualified support professional.

If concerning information actually comes to our attention, we may take actions required by law or otherwise permitted to address an urgent safety issue. Nothing in these Terms limits duties imposed by applicable law.

15. Availability, Errors, and Service Changes

We work to provide trustworthy, useful services, but internet access, mobile networks, third-party Bible licensing, and technical systems can fail or change. We cannot promise uninterrupted availability, error-free content, preservation of every unsaved change, or that every feature will remain available indefinitely.

You should retain independent copies of information important to you when export or backup options are available. We will exercise reasonable care and comply with mandatory legal obligations relating to digital services and personal information.

16. Disclaimers and Limits of Responsibility

To the extent allowed by applicable law, the Services are provided without guarantees beyond those expressly stated in these Terms or required by law. We do not promise particular spiritual, personal, emotional, or practical outcomes from using Church Harbor or participating in ministry programs.

To the extent permitted by law, Focus on Jesus Ministries is not responsible for losses caused solely by events outside its reasonable control, by third-party services it does not operate, or by a user's misuse of the Services. We are not excluding responsibility for our own unlawful conduct or for losses where liability cannot legally be limited.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or restricts rights or remedies that applicable consumer, privacy, or other laws do not permit us to waive, including rights of users in the European Economic Area or United Kingdom.

17. Suspension, Closing an Account, and Ending Use

You may stop using the Services at any time and may request deletion of your account and eligible personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

We may temporarily restrict or close an account for serious or repeated violations of these Terms, security risks, legal requirements, or necessary service discontinuation. Where appropriate and lawful, we will give notice and a reasonable opportunity to address the issue. Ending an account does not automatically erase records we are legally entitled or required to retain, or information you previously chose to share with others.

18. Applicable Law and Disputes

We are based in Arizona, United States. These Terms are generally governed by Arizona law, except where mandatory laws applicable to you provide otherwise. If you have a concern, please contact us first so we can try to resolve it.

Nothing in this section prevents you from relying on mandatory consumer protections, filing complaints with applicable authorities, or bringing a claim in a court that has jurisdiction under applicable law. We do not require mandatory arbitration under these Terms.

19. Updates to These Terms

We may revise these Terms to reflect changes in the Services, laws, or ministry operations. We will update the date above and provide additional notice for material changes when required. We will not use a Terms update as a substitute for obtaining separately required consent, including consent for promotional SMS or optional analysis of private writing.

If you do not agree with a material change, you may stop using the affected Services and may request account deletion as described in the Privacy Policy.

20. Contact Us

Focus on Jesus Ministries
PO Box 13285
Chandler, AZ 85248
United States

Website: www.focusonjesusministries.com
Contact: www.focusonjesusministries.com/contact
Privacy Policy: www.focusonjesusministries.com/privacy