Whenever we collect or process your personal data, we’ll only keep it for as long as is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected. At the end of that retention period, your data will be deleted completely. Examples include ‘Welcome Cards’ where the purpose of collecting the data is to enable an initial discussion to take place with the Church Ministers and/or staff team. Another example would be where permission is granted for a young person to attend a weekend away and medical details are required with emergency contact numbers. Other information, such as Church Members details, will be retained indefinitely unless a request is made by the subject for it to be erased.

From time to time we will ask you to confirm the accuracy of the data we hold about you and at the same time will ask for continuing consent to hold it.

As stated above, the information we collect is used to enhance communications for distribution of newsletters, emails or provision of financial reports, etc. If you advise our Data Protection Officer that you do not want to receive this information, your contact details will be retained but not used for this purpose.

We never sell or share your information to other organizations to use for their own purposes.

We will only share your information if:

• We are legally required to do so, e.g. by a law enforcement agency legitimately exercising a power; if compelled by an order of the Court; or, where the church has a duty to report to relevant bodies concerning the protection of children and vulnerable
• Whenever we are working with any partner carrying out work on our behalf and if they have signed a contract requiring them to abide by the requirements of the Data Protection Act; by contract, such third-parties are expected to treat your information as carefully as we would. Such instances would be infrequent, and the data would only be used for the purpose(s) it was An example is MailChimp, which is sometimes used to bulk-distribute devotional material or emails on behalf of the church, free of charge, with the consent of each recipient.

We place a great importance on the security of all personally identifiable information. Only authorised personnel have access to your information. Personal information is either stored in locked cupboards or held on computers with password protected access. All emails containing personal information are password protected and can only be accessed by authorised personnel and the intended recipient.

Authorised users of our computer systems are instructed that it is their responsibility to keep passwords confidential and are not to share them with anyone. Passwords are updated on a regular basis. All authorised persons are expected to abide by the terms of our Data Protection Policy (available by request from the Church Office).

GDPR/Data Protection Act gives you certain rights over your data and how we use it. These include:

• The right of access to personal data Christchurch Baptist Church holds about you
• The right to have inaccurate data corrected
• The right to have data deleted, subject to certain conditions
• The right to object to processing
• The right to restrict processing for direct marketing

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact our Data Protection Officer by emailing

info@ dunamisministries.org.uk  or by phoning the church office on: +44 7429 318726, +44 7817 603702

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Please visit www.ico.org.uk for further information.

This data protection policy ensures Dunamis Bible Church:

• Complies with data protection law and follows good practice
• Protects the rights of staff, members and contacts
• Is open about how it stores and processes individuals’ data
• Protects itself from the risks of a data breach

The Data Protection Act 1998 describes how organisations— including Dunamis Bible Church—must collect, handle and store personal information.

The General Data Protection Regulations came into effect on the 25th May 2018. These rules apply regardless of whether data is stored electronically, on paper or on other materials. To comply with the law, personal information must be collected and used fairly, stored safely and not disclosed unlawfully.

The Data Protection Act is underpinned by eight important principles. These say that personal data must:

1. Be processed fairly and lawfully
2. Be obtained only for specific, lawful purposes
3. Be adequate, relevant and not excessive
4. Be kept accurate and kept up to date
5. Not be held for any longer than necessary
6. Processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects
7. Be protected in appropriate ways
8. Not be transferred outside the European Economic Area (EEA), unless that country or territory also ensures an adequate level of protection

This policy applies to all data that the organisation holds relating to identifiable individuals, even if that information technically falls outside of the Data Protection Act 1998. This can include:

• Names of individuals
• Postal addresses
• Email addresses
• Telephone numbers
• Plus any other information relating to individuals

This policy helps protect Dunamis Bible Church from some very real data security risks, including:

• Breaches of confidentiality. For instance, the information being given out
• Failing to offer choice. For instance, all individuals should be free to choose how the organisation uses data relating to
• Reputational damage. For instance, the organisation could suffer if hackers successfully gained access to sensitive

Everyone who works for or with Dunamis Bible Church, including volunteers has some responsibility for ensuring data is collected, stored and handled appropriately. Each team that handles personal data must ensure that it is handled and processed in line with this policy and data protection principles. However, these people have key areas of responsibility:

The Board of Trustees under the directives of the Executive Committee is ultimately responsible for ensuring that Dunamis Bible Church meets its legal obligations.

The Church Administrator is responsible for:

• Keeping the    board    updated     about    data    protection     and responsibilities, risks and
• Reviewing all data protection
• Handling data protection questions from staff and anyone else covered by this
• Dealing with requests from individuals to see the data Dunamis Bible Church holds about them (also called ‘subject access requests’).
• Ensuring all systems, services and equipment used for storing data meet acceptable security
• Evaluating any third-party services the organisation is considering using to store or process data. For instance, cloud computing

• The only people able to access data covered by this policy should be those who need it for their
• Data should not be shared informally. When access to confidential information is required, employees can request it from their line
• Employees should keep all data secure, by taking sensible precautions and following the guidelines
• In particular, strong passwords must be used and they should never be
• Personal data should not be disclosed to unauthorised people, either within the organisation or
• Data should be regularly reviewed and updated if it is found to be out of date. If not longer required, it should be deleted and disposed
• Employees should not save copies of personal data to their own computers. Always access and update the central copy of any data.

• Keeping G Drive as our main database. We should minimise/eradicate where possible the number of places that personal information is stored. If another storage functionality is required, it must be password protected as a minimum standard.
• The number of people with access to G Drive should be limited to essential users only. If people are not regular users / have never logged on, their access should be deleted until requested again and evaluated for the need of
• Bi-annual checks should take place by all staff to ensure a regular review of data held is relevant and if unnecessary, shredded
• All staff should ensure that their computers have regularly updated firewall protection and regular scans activated. The majority of computers have inbuilt protection – ensure this is on!
• All printing that involves personal or sensitive data must be done confidentially

When data is stored on paper, it should be kept in a secure place where unauthorised people cannot see it.

These   guidelines     also   apply    to   data    that    is   usually     stored electronically but has been printed out for some reason:

• When not required, the paper or files should be kept in a locked drawer or filing
• Employees should make sure paper and printouts are not left where unauthorised people could see them, like a
• Data printouts should be shredded and disposed of securely when no longer
• When data is stored electronically, it must be protected from unauthorised access, accidental deletion and malicious hacking attempts:
• Data should be protected by strong passwords that are changed regularly and never shared among
• Data should only be stored on designated drives and servers, and should only be uploaded to approved cloud computing services.
• Data should be backed up Those backups should be tested regularly.
• Data should never be saved directly to laptops or other mobile devices like tablets or
• All servers and computers containing data should be protected by approved security software and a

All individuals who are the subject of personal data held by Dunamis Bible Church are entitled to:

• Ask what information the company holds about them and
• Ask how to gain access to
• Be informed how to keep it up to
• Be informed how the organisation is meeting its data protection obligations.

If someone contacts the organisation requesting this information, this is called a subject access request. Subject access requests from individuals should be made by email.

In certain circumstances, the Data Protection Act allows personal data to be disclosed to law enforcement agencies without the consent of the data subject. Under these circumstances, Dunamis Bible Church will disclose requested data. However, the Church Administrator will ensure the request is legitimate, seeking assistance from the board and from the organisation’s legal advisers where necessary.

Dunamis Bible Church aims to ensure that individuals are aware that their data is being processed and that they understand:

• How the data is being used
• How to exercise their rights

To these ends, the organisation has a privacy statement, setting out how data relating to individuals is used by the organisation.