Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Welcome to Hope Community Church and Hope for Recovery ("we," "our," or "us"). We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information with care and respect. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website (hopecommunity-church.co.uk) or interact with our services.

Hope Community Church Clydebank is a Scottish registered charity (SC054414) and is responsible for your personal information (the "data controller"). Hope for Recovery is a ministry of the church, not a separate organisation.

We are a faith-based organisation providing church services, recovery programmes, and community support in Clydebank. Our mission is to offer hope, healing, and wholeness to all who seek it.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Personal Information You Provide

We may collect personal information that you voluntarily provide when you:

• Submit prayer requests through our online form
• Contact us through our contact forms
• Register for recovery programmes or events
• Give online through our giving page (DonorBox) or Buy Me a Coffee
• Sign up for prayer updates or newsletters
• Participate in our community cafe or foodbank

This information may include:

• Name and contact details (email, phone number, address)
• Prayer requests and personal circumstances
• Recovery programme application information
• Donation information (processed by our payment providers; we do not see or store your card details)

2.2 Automatically Collected Information

When you visit our websites, we may automatically collect:

• IP address and browser type
• Pages visited and time spent on our site
• Referring website information
• Device information

2.3 Prayer Requests and Sensitive Information

Prayer requests can include details about your health, family or beliefs, which are sensitive. Please share only what you are comfortable with. Your email address is optional. We use what you send to pray for you and, if you ask us to, to get in touch.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

• To provide spiritual and pastoral care: To pray for your requests and offer appropriate support
• To administer recovery programmes: To facilitate your participation in Hope for Recovery programmes
• To communicate with you: To respond to your enquiries and provide updates about church activities
• To process donations: To process gifts made through our giving page (handled by our payment providers)
• To improve our services: To understand how our website and services are being used
• To comply with legal obligations: Where required by law

4. Legal Basis for Processing

We process your personal information based on:

• Your consent: When you voluntarily provide information through our forms, including any sensitive details (such as health or religious belief) that you choose to include in a prayer request
• Legitimate interests: To provide pastoral care and community services
• Legal obligations: Where required by applicable laws
• Vital interests: In cases of emergency where someone's health or safety is at risk

5. Sharing Your Information

We value your privacy and do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to third parties. We may share information in the following limited circumstances:

• With your consent: When you explicitly agree to share information
• With prayer teams: Prayer requests may be shared with our prayer team members who have committed to confidentiality
• With service providers: With trusted partners who assist our ministry (for example Formspree for our forms and DonorBox for online giving)
• For legal reasons: When required by law or to protect rights, property, or safety
• Within our church community: With appropriate confidentiality for pastoral care purposes

6. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information. However, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

All prayer requests and sensitive information are treated with the utmost confidentiality and shared only with authorised team members who have committed to maintaining confidentiality.

7. Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. Prayer requests are typically retained for one year unless otherwise requested.

8. Your Rights

Under UK data protection law you have certain rights regarding your personal information:

• Access: Request access to your personal information
• Correction: Request correction of inaccurate information
• Deletion: Request deletion of your personal information
• Restriction: Request restriction of processing
• Objection: Object to processing of your information
• Data portability: Request transfer of your information
• Withdraw consent: Withdraw consent at any time

To exercise these rights, please contact us using the information below. If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, you can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk, 0303 123 1113).

9. Third-Party Services

Our websites use the following third-party services:

• Formspree: processes the messages and prayer requests you send through our forms
• DonorBox: processes online gifts. The giving form is built into our Support Us page, so your browser connects to DonorBox when that page loads.
• Buy Me a Coffee: an alternative way to make a one-off gift
• YouTube (Google): hosts our videos and live services. When you visit our Videos page your browser contacts YouTube to load our video list, and playing a video may share data with YouTube. We use the privacy-enhanced youtube-nocookie.com address for video playback.
• Google Fonts: supplies the typefaces on our pages. Your IP address is sent to Google when the fonts load.
• Social media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok): we link to our profiles. These platforms have their own privacy policies.

These services have their own privacy policies, and we encourage you to review them.

10. Children's Privacy

Our services are not directed to individuals under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16. If we become aware that a child under 16 has provided us with personal information, we will take steps to delete such information.

11. Cookies

Our website does not set advertising or analytics cookies. Some of the third-party services above, such as YouTube, may set their own cookies when you use them. You can set your browser to refuse cookies or to tell you when one is being sent. If we add website analytics in future, we will update this page.

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last Updated" date.