Draft Privacy Notice

1. Scope of this draft

This notice applies to enquiries about The Whole Journey with God, including prayer requests, a one-to-one mentor meeting, placement in a small Bible-study group, the optional Journey Survey, and study reflections deliberately returned to an assigned leader.

Prayer and connection requests are relayed through FormSubmit to the ministry team’s private Gmail inbox. FormSubmit therefore processes the information entered in those requests and may apply its own privacy practices. Detailed answers written beside Bible-study questions are saved only in the visitor’s browser storage on that device. They are not submitted to the ministry team, and visitors can clear them. On a shared device, another person using the same browser may be able to see saved answers.

At the end of a study shared by an assigned leader, a participant may deliberately send at least three lessons learned, an optional question and an optional application step. Only this short feedback is stored in the website database and shown in the assigned leader’s private account. Journey Survey answers are handled similarly after the person consents and presses Send. Local browser drafts may also be kept on the participant’s device.

Optional voice entry uses speech-recognition capabilities provided by the visitor’s browser or device. Depending on that browser or device, audio may be processed by its speech service to produce a transcript. The website saves only the resulting text.

2. Information that may be collected

To respond and make a safe, appropriate connection, the ministry may ask for only limited information such as:

• Your name or preferred name
• Email address or approved messaging contact
• Nationality, present country and time zone
• Your preferred language for the Bible study
• Confirmation that you are aged 18 or above
• The session or type of conversation, prayer or group you are seeking
• Two preferred meeting dates and times
• Your preferred approved communication platform
• Availability and relevant accessibility needs
• Information you choose to share in a message, prayer request, Journey Survey, or conversation

Details about religious beliefs, spiritual questions or prayer needs may be considered sensitive personal information in some countries. Such information should be requested only when necessary and handled with particular care.

3. Why information may be needed

Information may be used to receive a prayer request, reply to an enquiry, arrange a suitable volunteer or group, support participant safety, communicate essential updates, respond to concerns and improve the ministry through non-identifying feedback. It should not be used for advertising, fundraising or unrelated marketing.

4. Who may access information

Access should be limited to authorised ministry coordinators, trained mentors or facilitators who need the information for their role, and approved service providers used to manage communication. Journey Survey answers and deliberately submitted study feedback require an authenticated Leaders Library account and are shown to the assigned leader and authorised administrators. When pastoral responsibility is formally transferred to another approved leader, the website record and its access move to that receiving leader, and the outgoing leader’s access ends. The transfer is recorded for accountability. When a participant is recommended and approved for mentor preparation, their Journey identity may be linked to a personal mentor account so completed studies and study permissions can be retained. Study recommendations, readiness decisions, approvals and suspensions are recorded for ministry accountability. FormSubmit acts as the relay for mentor and small-group requests, and Google provides the receiving Gmail inbox. Information should not be sold. It should not be shared outside these purposes unless the person agrees, the law requires it or there is a serious and immediate safety concern.

5. How long information may be retained

FormSubmit states that form submissions are retained for 30 days. Journey Survey answers, assigned-study history and submitted study feedback remain in the private Journey record until the assigned leader or administrator deletes that record. The final ministry retention periods have not yet been approved. The ministry intends to keep information only for as long as it is needed for the purpose described, safeguarding accountability and any applicable legal obligation. The leadership-approved policy must define practical deletion or anonymisation schedules before launch.

Read FormSubmit’s privacy terms for information about its processing.

6. Correction, access and deletion

A person may ask what information is held about them, request a correction or ask for deletion. Some limited information may need to be retained when required by law or for a documented safeguarding reason. The final policy must explain how identity is verified and how requests are handled in the relevant country.

7. Security and international participation

Reasonable organisational and technical safeguards should be used, including limited access, accountable volunteer roles and approved services. Because participants and volunteers may be in different countries, information could be accessed across borders. Leadership and privacy review must determine which services and cross-border safeguards are acceptable.