A Fellowship Worth Protecting
A community becomes what its members repeatedly practise.
No platform feature can replace attention. No rule can manufacture goodwill. No statement of purpose can protect trust unless members choose to honour it.
The Jonah’s Club Community Covenant sets out the practices and boundaries required for a serious relational community.
The covenant begins with the kind of person each member chooses to become.
Jonah’s Club asks members to practise attention, truthfulness, confidentiality, reciprocity, humility and goodwill.
These are not slogans placed above the community. They are habits carried into ordinary conversation.
The covenant gives practical form to these commitments.
The fellowship is formed through ordinary acts of character.
Listen to the person who is actually present.
Do not reduce another member to a problem, prospect, audience or source of information.
Honesty must serve the person’s good.
Do not flatter to preserve comfort. Do not use truth as permission for cruelty or humiliation.
Goodwill comes before advantage.
Participate for the genuine good of others, not for status, leverage, control or self-display.
Give perspective without taking possession.
Another member remains responsible for his or her decisions, conscience, calling and life.
What is entrusted must remain protected.
Do not share private conversations, screenshots, recordings or personal details without permission.
Contribute as well as receive.
Bring questions, attention, experience and follow-up rather than treating the community as a service desk.
Confidentiality protects trust. It does not require silence in the face of serious harm.
Private member content should remain within the setting in which it was shared.
This includes personal histories, family matters, business information, direct messages, recordings and unfinished ideas.
Confidentiality may have legitimate limits where there is:
Membership does not create unlimited access to another person.
Members may decline:
A boundary should not require a public defence.
Honesty does not require immediate exposure.
Trust develops through time, consistency and tested goodwill.
Members decide what is appropriate to disclose. No one should be pressured to share private information as proof of courage, authenticity or commitment.
A person may speak truthfully while maintaining proper privacy.
The community is not a stage.
Members should not feel compelled to appear unusually successful, wise, vulnerable or productive.
Do not use titles, income, influence or access to establish personal superiority.
Share reality rather than a polished version designed to impress.
Personal difficulty should not become a contest for attention or authenticity.
Community participation must not become a route to unsolicited promotion.
Professional usefulness may grow from trust. Trust must not be pursued merely for professional usefulness.
Members may identify their work and areas of expertise.
They may respond where another member genuinely asks for relevant help. Collaboration and referrals may arise naturally.
Members must not:
Experience may be shared. Expertise must not be invented.
Jonah’s Club is not a substitute for medical, psychological, legal, financial or pastoral care.
Members should not diagnose, prescribe or present personal experience as professional authority.
A responsible peer may recognise that an issue requires qualified support and encourage the person to seek it.
Agreement is not the price of belonging.
Members may differ in judgment, background, profession, faith tradition or interpretation.
Disagreement should remain connected with the subject under discussion and the dignity of the person.
Trust cannot survive harassment, exploitation or gossip.
Repeated unwanted conduct is not acceptable.
This includes intimidation, threats, sexual harassment, discriminatory abuse and persistent private contact after a boundary has been stated.
Trust must not become leverage.
Do not use vulnerability, access, influence or confidential information to manipulate another member.
Do not make absent members the subject of social currency.
Where a concern is real, take it to the appropriate person or reporting process rather than circulating it informally.
Even serious communities will experience misunderstanding and harm.
The question is how members respond when this happens.
Repair does not always restore the previous relationship. It may still restore truth and proper responsibility.
Private tools do not remove public responsibilities.
Private contact should be relevant, welcome and respectful of time and boundaries.
Do not record, screenshot or reproduce private conversations without clear permission.
Do not upload confidential member content into external AI systems, transcription tools or third-party services without permission.
Do not create unnecessary pressure for immediate response or constant availability.
Greater continuity requires greater care.
Members who enter smaller circles take on additional responsibilities.
Facilitators serve the process. They are not therapists, directors or authorities over members’ lives by virtue of the role.
Moderation exists to preserve the conditions in which trust remains possible.
Depending upon seriousness, context and impact, Jonah’s Club may:
Serious breaches may require immediate action.
Good-faith reporting must be possible without retaliation.
Use the reporting process for serious or repeated concerns.
This includes harassment, threats, exploitation, repeated unwanted contact, confidentiality breaches, fraud, discriminatory abuse and safety concerns.
Provide relevant facts rather than public accusation.
Reports should be honest, specific and made through the designated process. Retaliation against a person who raises a good-faith concern is itself a serious breach.
Membership does not create immediate entitlement to closeness.
Trust grows through repeated attention, confidentiality, truth, repair and time.
Members may leave Jonah’s Club without giving a public explanation.
Where a person belongs to a recurring circle, respectful notice may help others understand that participation is ending.
Confidentiality continues after membership ends.
This covenant does not replace legal terms, safeguarding duties or professional support.
The Community Covenant expresses the culture and conduct expected within Jonah’s Club.
It sits alongside the Privacy Policy, Terms, applicable laws, safeguarding obligations, emergency services and any formal AQMeets membership agreement.
Where these documents or duties apply, they remain in force.
The covenant becomes meaningful when members actively accept it.
By participating in Jonah’s Club, I affirm that:
I will treat other members with dignity, attention and goodwill.
I will protect confidential information and respect the boundaries of others.
I will offer counsel without attempting to control another person’s life or judgment.
I will not use the community as a captive market, prospecting list or stage for status.
I will remain within the limits of my competence and encourage qualified support where it is required.
I will participate reciprocally, remain open to correction and take responsibility for the impact of my conduct.
I understand that access may be limited or ended where conduct threatens the safety, trust or integrity of the community.
A community where people may become known without being used.
Where counsel is offered without control. Where truth is spoken without humiliation. Where confidence is protected and repair remains possible.
The covenant cannot create this fellowship by itself.
Members create it through the way they listen, speak, remember, disagree, protect and return.