Privacy policy

Your personal information

This statement sets out how we will deal with any personal information we collect from you or that you provide to us. If you are a member of the church, the whole statement is relevant to you. If you are not a member, only parts of it will apply.
We will collect and deal with your personal information in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018. For the purpose of the Act, we are the data controller of personal data we hold about you.

How we may use your personal information

Personal information that we collect may be used by us in a number of ways:

• To tell you about events that the church is running which we think may be of interest to you;
• To provide pastoral care, support, teaching and challenge for you in accordance with the teaching of the Bible;
• To enable to maintain appropriate safeguarding arrangements for our children and young people and vulnerable adults;
• To help you identify where you could serve in the life of the church;
  
• To help us organise rotas, small groups and to communicate with you;
  
• To help us ensure that you continue to meet the criteria for and obligations of membership (or where appropriate the qualifications for the office of deacon or elder);
  
• Exceptionally, to deal with church discipline in accordance with the church’s constitution.
  
• We will collect and handle your personal information either with your consent or because it is necessary for us to do so for the purposes of our legitimate interests outlined above.

Information we may collect from you
We may collect and process the following information about you:

• Your contact detailsYour attendance at events and meetings run or hosted by us
• Your participation in rotas for service in the church
  Information contained in emails or other correspondence from you and records of telephone calls or meetings with you
  
• Your marital status, age, gender and information about your immediate family
  Your occupation (where relevant)
  
• Details of money that you give to the church
  
• Information contained in checks provided by the Disclosure & Barring Service
  
• Information that you share with us for the purposes of pastoral care, encouragement, training and prayer
  
• Information relevant to your suitability for membership of and service in the church, employment by the church or service with other Christian organisations
  
• Medical information where necessary to ensure that the care and hospitality that we provide for you is appropriate to your needs
  
• Details of your visits to our website (including, but not limited to, traffic data, location data, weblogs and other communication data, whether this is required for our own purposes or otherwise) and the resources that you access

How we will collect information
We may collect information from others about you including from other members of the church or your home or previous church:

• To help us ensure that you meet the criteria for membership;
• To enable to maintain appropriate safeguarding arrangements for our children and young people;
  
• To help us better support you and to provide pastoral care, support, teaching and challenge for you in accordance with the teaching of the Bible;
  
• To help us ensure that you continue to meet the criteria for and obligations of membership (or where appropriate the qualifications for the office of deacon or elder);
  
• Exceptionally, to deal with church discipline in accordance with the church’s constitution.

Who we may share information with

We may share your information with others in the church including:

• To ask the members of the church to pray for you, along with other members;
  
• To enable them to provide pastoral care and support for you;
  
• To inform them that you are applying to be a member or that your membership has ended;
  
• On our on-line church management website, Church Suite, to allow other members to contact you or to arrange rota swaps with you;
  
• We may occasionally share your information with others outside the church including:
  
• Where we are approached for a reference by another church or organisation.
  With our the people who host and maintain our website.

How we will store information

Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

The data that we control may be transferred and stored outside the European Economic Area ("EEA"), for example where our software providers store information on servers outside the EEA. It may also be processed by staff operating outside the EEA who work for us or for one of our suppliers. Where there is a transfer outside the EEA we will ensure that organisation to whom information is transferred is one which subscribes to equivalent standards under the Act.

We will take reasonable, necessary steps to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy statement.

We will store your information for no longer than reasonably necessary, usually for the time that you are attending the church or are a member of the church. After this we may continue to hold your contact details for as long as you agree in order to keep you informed about the ministry of the church.

Your rights

You have the right to ask us not to process your personal data for the purposes of informing you of events and other opportunities. We will usually inform you (before collecting your data) if we intend to use your data for such purposes or if we intend to disclose your information to any third party for such purposes. You can exercise your right to prevent such processing at any time by contacting us.
The Act gives you the right to access information held about you. Your right of access can be exercised in accordance with the Act.
You may request that personal information is corrected where it is not correct or that the information is deleted. You may also object to the church processing information about you. Where you have consented to us handling your information, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.

Our website may, from time to time, contain links to and from the websites of our partner networks, advertisers and affiliates. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.

Our data protection contact

Our nominated representative for the purpose of the Act is Anita Otubu, our Volunteer Admin and Finance Team Member. For further information about how your personal information is used, how we store your information securely and your rights to access the information that we hold about you, please contact her.If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, you may complain to the Information Commissioner.