Privacy Policy

Shining Light Church (SLC) is a registered UK charity 1141538. This privacy policy tells you what to expect when Shining Light Church collects your personal information

We collect Personal Information about you in the following ways; Directly from you when you:

• Make a donation;
• Order products on our website or over the phone;
• Contact us by phone, letter or email;
• Register to receive updates, newsletters or other resources;
• Sign up to become a Partner;
• Sign up to receive the monthly magazine;
• Complete a survey;
• Register for an event
• Are a church leader and your church is in Partnership with Shining Light Church;
• Apply for a job with Shining Light Church;
• Serve as a volunteer with Shining Light Church;

• Personal identifiers such as your title and name;
• Contact details including postal address, post code, email address and telephone number;
• Financial Information such as your bank details (for standing orders, recurring donations) or credit or debit card numbers;
• Whether you are a UK tax payer;
• Records of your contact with us

Sensitive Personal Data

The Data Protection Act recognises some information as ‘sensitive personal data’. This includes, but is not limited to, information which reveals your religious beliefs, health issues, race or ethnic origin.
Shining Light Church is a Christian organisation committed to our Christian ethos. Where necessary and consented to we may collect details about your Church affiliations and beliefs.

We also receive prayer requests and information that may reveal sensitive personal data. We are committed to praying for Partners and Friends every day Additionally we may collect details about any health concerns of any job applicants and visitors to our offices so that we can make any reasonable adjustments for them as required.

• To fulfil the mission of Shining Light Church.
• To enable us to pray and stand in faith with you.
• To process donations that you make to Shining Light Church.
• To process your monthly magazine subscription.
• To process newsletters, daily devotionals, and any other resources that you have requested from us.
• To reclaim tax on gift aid donations, if applicable.
• When you visit our website, we may gather information about which pages you visit to help us improve and provide you with the best service.
• To effectively manage our relationships with Partner churches.
• For compliance with employment and other legislation.
• To register you for a KCM European Event

Google Analytics

When you visit shininglight.church we use a third party service called Google Analytics to collect standard internet log information and details of behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things like the number of visitors to different parts of the website.

This information is processed in a way that does not individually identify anyone and we do not make any attempts to identify anyone. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website we will be open and up front about this and we will make it clear when we collect your personal information. We will also explain what we intend to do with it.

To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites visit:
http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. We use cookies:
• To improve the functionality and look and feel of our site
• To remember how far you are through an order
• To provide secure log- in
• To provide individually tailored content
• To analyse how the site is being used so that we can improve our service

Website Hosting

We use WordPress, an open source content management system to publish the contents of our website. Our site is hosted by www.hostgator.com

Online Surveys

From time to time we may ask you to participate in online surveys to get your feedback in order to improve our service to you. We use a software provider for surveys called SurveyMonkey. Their Privacy Policy can be found here.

We will only retain your personal data for one year from the date of your participation in the survey.

If you register for events on Shining Light Church website

We use a ticket registration provider called Eventbrite to register your details for events. The Eventbrite privacy policy can be found here.

Digital Newsletter, Daily Devotionals, Partner Letter & Online Magazine subscription

• We use a third party provider, Infusionsoft for our newsletter, daily devotionals, Partner letter and magazine. Infusionsoft’s Privacy Policy can be found here.
• On all emails subscriptions you will be able to unsubscribe at any time from all emails.
• We collect statistics in order to research how many emails are opened and clicked to measure and engagement and improve our services.

If you sign up for Partnership

• We use your information to send you your monthly Partner letter and Beatitude newsletter and magazine.
• We may contact our Partners and Friends if they have consented to update them on our services and to pray with them.

If you purchase items or donate to Shining Light Church

• We do not store your debit or credit card details; If this changes in future for recurring donations our payment processor will store payment details.
• We will only keep a record of your personal information and your donations and other account activity for 6 years from the date of your first gift or order.
• We will send you a receipt for your donation unless it was made by direct debit or standing order;
• We will keep a record of your gift aid declaration (if applicable) for 6 years.
• We use Barclays and PayPal to process orders and donations. Their privacy policies can be found here: Barclays, PayPal,

If you receive the monthly Partner letter and magazine by post

We may pass your information to our third-party service providers, agents, subcontractors and other associated organisations for the purposes of completing tasks and providing services to you on our behalf. However, when we use third party service providers, we disclose only the personal information that is necessary to deliver the service and we have a contract in place that requires them to keep your information secure.
We may from time to time contact you to inform you of your magazine or Partner Letter subscription coming to an end.

If you phone into the Ministry

We do not collect any caller ID information.
We will ask for your name and postcode to find your details on our system to access your account and fulfil the reason for the call. If you wish to remain anonymous, you may do so.
We do not record our calls.
We do not record the details of the call. We only make a note of the reason for the call eg. ‘Prayer agreed’ or ‘missing item on order’ etc. No personal details of the prayer are kept.
If you call to order a product, details of your order will be recorded on your account.

If you write into the Ministry

If you give a donation when you write in to us we will retain your personal information and a record of your gift for 6 years.

If you email into the Ministry

Email addresses are kept on your personal account for the following reasons:
• for those persons who have given consent to receive communication via email e.g. Newsletter, daily devotionals, Beatitude magazine and/or Partner Letter
• If you have ordered product through Shining Light Church website and contact pertaining to your order needs to be made.
• If you have emailed a prayer request to us and we need to respond.
We delete all e-mails relating to prayer and service requests after we have responded to them.
You may contact us at any time to stop email communication and have your email address removed from our records.
Testimonies submitted via mail, email, phone will have a separate consent and permission agreement in place before publishing on digital, video or print. Testimonies selected for possible publishing in the Beatitude magazine will be anonymised with initials and country only, before forwarding to the magazine editing department. Testimonies are saved on the Shining Light Church database for 6 years.

Job applicants, current and former Shining Light Church

When individuals apply to work at Shining Light Church, we will only use the information they supply to us to process their application and to monitor recruitment statistics. Where we want to disclose information to a third party, for example where we want to take up a reference or obtain a ‘disclosure’ from the Criminal Records Bureau we will not do so without informing them beforehand unless the disclosure is required by law.

Personal information about unsuccessful candidates will be held for 12 months after the recruitment exercise has been completed, it will then be destroyed or deleted.

Once a person has begun working at Shining Light Church we will compile a file relating to their employment. The information contained in this file will be kept secure and will only be used for purposes directly relevant to that person’s employment. Once their employment with Shining Light Church has ended, we will retain the file in accordance with legal requirements and then destroy it.

How long we keep your data

We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is required and in accordance with statutory requirements. Where information is no longer required we will ensure that it is disposed of securely. If you have indicated that you do not wish to hear from us in the future, we will keep the minimum information subject to any legal requirements to ensure that we do not contact you in the future.

Subject Access Request

Individuals can find out if we hold any personal information by making a “subject access request.” If we do hold information about you we will,
• Give you a description of it
• Tell why we are holding it
• Let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form
If we do hold information about you
• You can ask us to correct any mistakes
• You can ask us to stop processing your personal information at any time
• You can ask us to permanently delete your data.

We will do our best to comply with your request as long as it is legal for us to do so and we will let you know when a legal obligation prevents us from complying with your request.

To make a request about your personal information you need to put the request in writing to our senior pastor at ps@shininglight.church or by post to:

The Senior Pastor
Shining Light Church
60 Hutton Road
Shenfield
Essex CM15 8LB
Phone us: 01277 361431 between 10.00-17.00 Monday – Friday UK Time

Please ensure that you include an up to date contact number as a member of the team will call you to verify your identity before we respond and take any action on your request.

If you are unhappy with how your request has been handled or with any other concerns about your personal information you can contact the Information Commissioners Office helpline on 0303 123 1113 or lodge a complaint at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/

Links to other websites

This privacy notice does not cover any links within this site linking to other websites. We encourage you to read the privacy notices on the other sites that you visit