Things pastors ask us

Sign up with your email, name your church and pick your link. It takes a couple of minutes, and set-up needs only your email. Then add your members one by one or import your list, and invite them to their own app by WhatsApp or SMS.

Yes. Import members from a CSV file saved from Excel or Google Sheets: names, phone numbers, emails, and details like gender and date of birth. Duplicates are skipped, never overwritten.

Send each member their personal invitation link by WhatsApp or SMS. They tap it, continue with Google or get a code by email, and their record is theirs, giving history and all. Or share your church’s join link: people ask to join and you approve them. You can also switch on open joining.

With their email address: one tap with Google, or a 6-digit code we email them. There’s no password to remember, though they can set one if they like. Signing in never costs your church or your members a text.

Yes. Zera is built for phones first. Pastors and treasurers can run everything from a phone, and members add Zera to their home screen like an app, no app store needed.

They’re still included. Your announcements and Mail reach them by text, and an event can text them a reminder the day before. Both come from your church’s prepaid wallet.

Yes. Everything a church needs to run day to day is free forever, for any number of members, Mail included. You only pay for texts to members who aren’t on the app yet, and for Zera Plus if you want it.

Church online, Chats, the Planner, finance controls, staff & HR, more branches with an HQ view, a listing on Zera Discover with your own page at yourchurch.zera.church (and the option to promote your events there), your logo and colours in the member app, texts at GH₵ 0.04, and priority support. Church online includes going live on Zera from a phone, a laptop or OBS. Compare free and Plus.

It’s priced by your church’s size: GH₵ 100 a month for Plus Small (up to 100 members), GH₵ 200 for Plus Medium (101–300 members), GH₵ 400 for Plus Large (301–1,000 members), GH₵ 700 for Plus Extra Large (over 1,000 members), plus GH₵ 100 a month for each branch after the first. Members are everyone on your list, apart from anyone who left or was marked inactive or graduated more than 30 days ago. Pay by the month, or for a year. A year costs ten months, so you get two months free. Churches on Plus before 4 October 2026 keep GH₵ 200 a month (GH₵ 2,000 a year) for Plus time that starts before 4 November 2026. Your dashboard shows your own price and why. Work out your price.

Yes. Churches trying Plus for the first time can ask for a free 60-day trial. Plus is for churches Zera has confirmed.

Online, by Mobile Money or card through Paystack. It’s one tap from wherever you need it in your dashboard, and back to where you were. Plus switches on as soon as it’s paid, with a receipt in your Mail. Or message us on WhatsApp and pay by Mobile Money. There’s no contract, and if you stop, nothing is deleted.

GH₵ 0.05 per text, or GH₵ 0.04 on Zera Plus. A text is up to 160 characters, or 70 with emoji or letters like ɛ and ɔ. A longer message counts as more than one. Zera shows the exact cost before anything is sent and refunds texts that fail to send. New churches get GH₵ 5 of free credit once your phone number is confirmed and you’ve added 10 members.

Only what you choose: text reminders for events (GH₵ 0.05 a text (GH₵ 0.04 on Zera Plus)), going live on Zera beyond the 200 viewer-minutes a month Plus includes (GH₵ 4 per 100 minutes), and promoting on Discover (GH₵ 50 a week). Each has its price up front, and you can see every line the wallet pays on your dashboard.

Their own app: the church feed with photos and video, prayer requests and testimonies, the Word every day, Mail with their church, events they can answer, booking a pastor, their giving record and statement, and a passport that moves with them. See the member app.

Their account, faith record and giving history stay theirs. They choose what to share with the new church, and their old pastor can add a letter of commendation. Leaving never needs anyone’s permission, and it’s free on every plan.

Not privately. With Zera Plus, members can message their pastors and their ministry leaders, and take part in their group chats. That keeps the church safe, especially for young people.

Where people on Zera find churches, follow them and see their public teachings, events and live services. Churches on Zera Plus that Zera has confirmed are listed; anyone signed in can browse. A member’s own church always comes first.

Your church’s own inbox, free for every church. The church sends announcements, letters and notices; members write to the pastoral team and get replies the moment they’re sent, with “Seen by the church” once someone has read it. Every conversation has a subject and is kept, on every device at once. See Mail.

Yes. Type their phone number in Mail and Zera finds them among your members. If they haven’t claimed their account yet, it reaches them by text, at the cost Zera shows before you send.

No. Mail is between a church and its people. Members talking to each other is Chats, with Zera Plus, which the church looks after.

Yes. With Zera open, a soft chime plays when something arrives. With Zera closed, Mail and a service going live reach their phone as a notification, worded so nothing private shows on the lock screen. Members choose what they’re told about, church by church, and can turn the sound off.

Members see your church’s own Mobile Money number and bank details in the app and under the live video, and give there. Zera never takes or holds the money. Churches record offerings and tithes, and import their Mobile Money statement so each payment lands on the right member’s record.

Only your finance team (owner, admins and finance) and the member themselves. Pastors and leaders see fund totals.

With Zera Plus, yes: a read-only seat to all the finance records, and the audit trail to download. It can cover one branch or all, with an end date.

A gift is never quietly deleted. It’s voided with a reason, and the void stays on the record. Every change to money is kept on an audit trail from your first day.

Yes, with Zera Plus. Go live on Zera itself from a phone, a laptop or OBS, or keep streaming on YouTube, Facebook, Zoom or Google Meet and paste the link. Members and guests join your service room to watch, chat, check in, send prayer requests, give and ask questions. Members also get a “We’re live” banner and a notification.

No. Go live on Zera itself from a phone, a laptop or OBS. Plus includes 200 viewer-minutes a month, then it’s GH₵ 4 per 100 minutes from your church wallet. Or keep using YouTube, Facebook, Zoom or Google Meet.

Yes. Zera Plus includes 200 viewer-minutes every month. That’s a 100-minute service watched by 2 people, enough to try it. After that it’s pay as you go: GH₵ 4 per 100 minutes from the church wallet. You get a heads-up at 80%, a live service is never cut off, and your control room shows the minutes left before and while you’re live. Replays and services on YouTube, Facebook, Zoom or Meet never use minutes.

Yes. Every broadcast on Zera becomes a replay. From OBS, it’s recorded as you go. From a phone or laptop, the device records alongside and uploads the replay when you stop. Replays are kept for 90 days. Paste a YouTube link to keep one longer.

Each church’s records are kept apart at the database level, so one church can never see another’s. Staff sign in with a verified email, and giving, notes and HR records are seen only by the people who need them. How we keep it safe.

Confirmed means Zera has checked the church is real and operating, with a call from our team. Verified ✓ means we’ve reviewed its registration certificate or denomination’s letter. Your phone number is checked when you ask Zera to confirm your church: we text you a code, right there in Settings.

Under-18s are never shown on Discover, can’t be messaged privately by other members, and can’t share their details from the app. Their church office handles that.

Never. We earn from Zera Plus and the church wallet, not from your information. Nothing is sold or rented, and there are no ad networks and no tracking on Zera, ever.

A church on Zera Plus has chosen to put one of its own public events, teachings or approved testimonies at the top of Discover, for GH₵ 50 a week (1, 2 or 4 weeks) from its wallet. It’s always labelled. No one’s personal information decides who sees it, it’s never shown to the church’s own members, and the church sees only totals: how many times it was seen and tapped, never by whom.