Date Effective: Feb 2023

Scheduled Review Date: Feb 2025

PURPOSE

This policy sets out Oceans Church commitment to responsible and trustworthy protection of personal information that it collects, holds, and administers. Personal Information is information about a living individual which allows them to be reasonably identified, such as name, email, or photograph. The purpose of this policy is to outline the principles that Oceans Church adopts when it comes to valuing and protecting personal information.

SCOPE

In this policy, when we refer to “Oceans Church” (“we”, “our”, “us”), we mean the Pastors, Board, Elders, and staff of Oceans Church.

This Privacy Policy describes what Oceans Church does with the personal information that we collect and use.

This policy applies to all personal information collected and stored about you by Oceans Church through official means. By this we mean, information collected through Oceans processes such as the One Form, email submissions such as through our website and any information provided to Oceans Staff, Board, Eldership, and staff.

Some communications, groups and relationships are outside of the scope of this policy. Such as group members at Oceans events like Dinner Party, Sunday Social or Multiply. Also, outside of the scope of this policy are WhatsApp and other social media platforms that are commonly used in connection with Oceans Church activities. Please also note that many kinds of relationships arise out of church-based connections and whilst we seek to cultivate a culture of confidentiality, many of these relationship circumstances are beyond the scope of this policy. Congregants are encouraged to exercise discretion and build trust before sharing personal information with others; and to be aware of dual roles (such as friendship, and volunteering) that exist between people, seeking clarity where required.

Oceans Pastors who are credentialed through Australian Christian Churches are bound by a high standard of confidentiality and are held accountable to this commitment. So, if you are unsure about the scope of this policy, or how it might apply to your circumstance, then please discuss it further with an Oceans credentialed Pastor. 

COLLECTING PERSONAL INFORMATION

The types of information that we collect include:

-      Personal details such as name, date of birth, email, gender, mobile and telephone numbers, address, and relevant pastoral information about you.

-      Spouse and family details when you jointly volunteer, register for events, and/or register your children for any reason at Oceans Church.

-      Records of your contact with us including relevant pastoral history such as decisions to follow Jesus, baptism, praise reports, and prayer reports.

-      Financial information such as donation history.

-      Employee and volunteer data such as qualifications, language and work experience.

-      Information that is relevant to keeping you and others safe, such as Working With Children Checks, Drivers Licence details, serious allergies and in some cases (where required) police records and records of complaints made about you to us.

-      Photographs provided by you or taken at Oceans church services, or events.

-      Any other information that may be relevant to our purpose of providing personal ministry to individuals and administrating their connection with Oceans Church.

When you visit our website, which is hosted by Squarespace, log data is collected. This may be collected through cookies, analytics, and other tracking technologies. It can include IP addresses, device information, and browsing behaviour. You can view Squarespace's privacy policy for specifics.

Further to this, when you are rostered on team; complete a One Form or attend Oceans events your contact with Oceans is recorded within Planning Center. Planning Center is used by Oceans Church as an excellent administrative solution, that also has secure data storage as part of their service. You can review Planning Center’s privacy policy and related details on their website.

Other than what is noted above, usually any information we collect comes directly from the individual to whom it belongs, or their guardian in the case of a child. The exception to this would be if an incident report, concern, or complaint is brought to us, that contains information about another person. 

USING AND DISCLOSING PERSONAL INFORMATION

Oceans Church collects personal information from church congregants/attendees, visitors, staff, and volunteers primarily for the purpose of providing personal ministry to those individuals, to administer their engagement with Church and ministries (including volunteer activities) and to provide information about the Churches events and ministries. Without personal information it is not practicable for the Church to provide such services to individuals.

The Church does not disclose personal information to external individuals or organisations without consent. Our Pastors, Board, Elders and Staff, Volunteer Staff, Lead Team members and on occasion other selected volunteers may access the information, where relevant, to use it for the purposes for which it was collected.

The circumstances when we might disclose this information include:

-      When required by law

-      It is necessary for the purpose for which the information was collected

-      When it is necessary or desirable to protect the personal or spiritual safety or welfare of the individual or another person

-      A change in the Church’s organisational structure makes it necessary.

An example of when it is required by law to disclose personal information is when a person discloses information about a serious crime; or the intent to commit a serious crime such as the intent to harm themselves or others. Another example includes any requirement on us to conduct internal investigations related to serious complaints; or in cases where Oceans records are subpoenaed.

Like most organisations, from time to time the Church may use contractors who could have access to personal information on our systems. Any contractors who have access to personal information relating to Church attendees are required to adhere to this policy, and not keep this information or use it for any unauthorised purposes.

Oceans Church uses photographs or video taken at Oceans events or services to create and display content on our website or our Social Media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Such content is used or shared in line with our Media Policy.

STORAGE AND SECURITY OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

The Church endeavours to take all reasonable steps to keep the information that we hold concerning individuals secure. Access to personal information is restricted to Pastors, Board, Elders, Staff and select volunteers at the Church. This information is only accessed when that information is considered relevant for the purpose for which it was collected. Our information systems are protected by password, and we require storage of personal information to be contained within Planning Center and Oceans Microsoft365 storage platform. You can read about their security at:

https://www.planningcenter.com/congregant-privacy and https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/how-onedrive-safeguards-your-data

RECEIVING UNWANTED CONTACT

If you are receiving correspondence from the Church and do not wish to receive this information any longer, please contact us and ask to be removed from the list.

QUESTIONS OR ISSUES

If you want to know more about the personal information we hold about you, or you have questions or concerns then please let us know. At any point, if we become aware of problems with our privacy practices, we will take these issues seriously and work to address these concerns. If you have any further queries about our privacy policy, please follow the “safer churches” link on our website, or send us an email at concerns@oceans.church