PRIVACY POLICY

This Privacy Policy for Glow Church ('the church', 'we', 'us' or 'our') (ABN 44 161 310 130) describes how and why we collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information when you:

  • visit our website at glowchurch.com, or any website of ours that links to this privacy policy;
  • attend a Glow Church service, event, program or group;
  • give, register, volunteer or serve with us; or
  • otherwise engage with us, including through our communications, events and online platforms.

Glow Church is committed to protecting your privacy. We handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

Questions or concerns? Reading this policy will help you understand your privacy rights and choices. If you have any questions, please contact our Privacy Officer at [email protected].

Last updated: 9-SEP-2026

WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?

Personal information you give us

We collect personal information that you provide to us when you contact us, participate in church life, register for an event or program, give financially, volunteer, or otherwise interact with us. The personal information we collect may include (but is not limited to):

  • names;
  • phone numbers;
  • email addresses;
  • mailing addresses;
  • date of birth;
  • emergency contact details;
  • contact and communication preferences;
  • details of your involvement in church services, events, groups and volunteer teams;
  • payment and giving details (payments and donations are processed by our third-party payment providers — we do not store full card numbers on our systems); and
  • photographs and video provided by you, or taken at Glow Church services and events.

Sensitive information

Some of the information we collect is 'sensitive information' under the Privacy Act, which attracts additional protection. We only collect sensitive information with your consent, or where we are otherwise permitted or required by law to do so. This may include:

  • information revealing religious or philosophical beliefs, and details of your involvement in the life of the church;
  • health information, where you choose to provide it — for example, medical, dietary or allergy details supplied for a camp, event or children's program, or information shared with us in the course of pastoral care; and
  • criminal history information, where required by law for volunteer and staff screening (such as Working with Children Checks).

As a religious organisation, we may also collect and hold information about your religious beliefs and affiliation in the ordinary course of our activities, as permitted under the Privacy Act.

Please keep the personal information you provide to us true, complete and accurate, and let us know if it changes.

Information collected automatically

We automatically collect certain information when you visit or use our website. This information does not generally reveal your specific identity, but may include device and usage information such as your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, approximate location, and information about how and when you use our website. We use this information primarily to maintain the security and operation of the website, and for internal analytics and reporting.

Like most organisations, we also collect information through cookies and similar technologies. The information we collect includes:

  • Log and usage data. Service-related, diagnostic, usage and performance information our servers automatically record in log files — including your IP address, device information, browser type and settings, information about your activity on the site (date and time stamps, pages and files viewed, searches and other actions), and device event information such as system activity and error reports.
  • Device data. Information about the computer, phone, tablet or other device you use to access the website — which may include your IP address (or proxy server), device and application identification numbers, browser type, hardware model, internet service provider or mobile carrier, operating system, and system configuration information.
  • Location data. Information about your device's approximate location, generally derived from your IP address. You can limit this by adjusting the location settings on your device or browser, although some features of the website may not work as intended if you do.

HOW DO WE USE YOUR INFORMATION?

We use your personal information for the purposes for which it was collected, for related purposes you would reasonably expect, and where you have consented or the law otherwise permits. This includes:

  • To provide our services and run church life. To deliver services, events, programs, groups and pastoral care, and to manage your involvement in them.
  • To respond to your enquiries and provide support. To answer your questions and resolve any issues you raise with us.
  • To send you administrative information. To send you details about our services and events, changes to our terms and policies, and other similar information.
  • To manage giving, payments and registrations. To process and receipt donations and payments, manage event registrations, and meet our record-keeping, tax and accounting obligations.
  • To communicate with you. To send newsletters, updates and invitations, where you have asked to receive them or would reasonably expect them.
  • To screen and support volunteers and staff. To meet our child safety, workplace and legal obligations.
  • To protect safety. Where necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to the life, health or safety of any individual, or to public health or safety.
  • To meet our legal obligations. To comply with applicable laws, respond to lawful requests from courts, regulators or law enforcement, and to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

WHEN AND WITH WHOM DO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

Service providers. We may share your personal information with third-party vendors, service providers, contractors and agents who perform services for us or on our behalf and who need access to that information to do their work. We put contracts in place with these third parties that are designed to safeguard your personal information. They may only use your information for the purposes we have instructed, must protect the information they hold on our behalf, and must retain it only for the period we specify. The categories of third parties we may share personal information with are:

  • cloud computing and data storage providers;
  • website hosting providers;
  • church management and database systems;
  • communication and collaboration tools;
  • email and communication platforms;
  • data analytics and performance monitoring services;
  • payment processors and giving platforms;
  • finance and accounting providers;
  • event registration and ticketing providers;
  • social media platforms; and
  • account registration and authentication services.

We may also share your personal information in the following situations:

  • Google Maps Platform. Where our website uses Google Maps Platform APIs (such as the Maps API or Places API), information may be shared with Google. Google's Privacy Policy is available here.
  • Affiliated churches and entities. We may share your information with our affiliates, including international Glow Churches, campuses and related entities, in which case we require them to handle your information consistently with this policy.
  • Where required or permitted by law. Including to comply with a subpoena, court order or regulatory request, to meet mandatory reporting obligations, or where necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to a person's life, health or safety.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not disclose it to third parties for their own direct marketing purposes.

DO WE USE COOKIES AND OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES?

We may use cookies and similar tracking technologies (such as web beacons and pixels) to access or store information. Most web browsers accept cookies by default. You can usually set your browser to remove or reject cookies, although this may affect certain features of our website. Specific information about how we use these technologies is set out in our Cookie Policy.

Some browsers and devices include a 'Do Not Track' (DNT) setting. As no uniform technology standard for recognising DNT signals has been finalised, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals.

IS YOUR INFORMATION DISCLOSED OVERSEAS?

Our primary servers are located in Australia. However, some of the third-party service providers we use store or process data outside Australia — most commonly in the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore and the European Union.

Before disclosing personal information to an overseas recipient, we take reasonable steps to ensure the recipient handles that information in a manner consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles, as required by APP 8.

HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION?

We keep your personal information only for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (for example, for tax, accounting, child safety or other legal record-keeping requirements).

When we no longer need your personal information and we are not required to retain it, we will take reasonable steps to destroy it or de-identify it. Where this is not immediately possible — for example, because the information is held in backup archives — we will securely store it and isolate it from further use until deletion is possible.

HOW DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION SAFE?

We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect the personal information we hold from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These steps include access controls, staff and volunteer training, and appropriate security measures on the systems we use.

However, no method of electronic transmission or storage is completely secure. While we take the protection of your information seriously, we cannot guarantee that unauthorised third parties will never defeat our security measures. Transmission of personal information to and from our website is at your own risk, and we encourage you to access our services from a secure environment.

If we become aware of a data breach that is likely to result in serious harm to any individual whose personal information we hold, we will assess it promptly and, where required, notify affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

We collect personal information about children and young people who participate in our children's and youth programs. Where we do, we collect that information from a parent or guardian, or with their consent, and we handle it in line with our child safety obligations. A parent or guardian may request access to, or correction of, their child's information by contacting our Privacy Officer.

Our website is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children through the website without parental consent.

PHOTOGRAPHS AND MEDIA

We take photographs and video at our services and events, and may use them in our communications, on our website and on social media. If you would prefer not to appear in our photography or video, please speak with a member of our team at the event, or contact our Privacy Officer, and we will do our best to accommodate your request — including removing existing images where it is reasonably practicable to do so.

WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS?

Under the Privacy Act, you have the right to:

  • Deal with us anonymously or by pseudonym where it is lawful and practicable to do so — for example, you are always welcome to attend a service or event without giving us your details.
  • Access your personal information that we hold about you.
  • Ask us to correct personal information that is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading.
  • Opt out of marketing communications at any time.
  • Withdraw your consent where we rely on it to handle your information.
  • Make a complaint if you believe we have mishandled your personal information.

Opting out of communications. You can unsubscribe from our marketing and promotional communications at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any email we send, or by contacting us using the details below. We may still need to send you administrative messages relating to your involvement with us, your registrations or your giving.

Withdrawing your consent. Where we rely on your consent to handle your personal information, you may withdraw that consent at any time by contacting us. Withdrawing your consent will not affect the lawfulness of anything we did before you withdrew it, and will not affect handling that we carry out on another lawful basis.

HOW CAN YOU ACCESS, UPDATE OR DELETE YOUR INFORMATION?

To request access to, correction of, or deletion of the personal information we hold about you, please email our Privacy Officer at [email protected], or write to us at the postal address below.

We will respond to your request within 30 days. We may need to verify your identity before we act on a request. There is no charge for making a request, although we may charge a reasonable fee for the cost of giving you access to a large volume of information. If we refuse a request for access or correction, we will tell you why in writing and explain how you can complain about that decision.

HOW CAN YOU MAKE A COMPLAINT?

If you believe we have breached your privacy or mishandled your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer in the first instance, using the details below. Please set out the details of your complaint in writing so we can investigate properly.

We will acknowledge your complaint promptly and aim to respond in full within 30 days. If we need longer, we will let you know why and how long we expect to take.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may refer your complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC):

DO WE MAKE UPDATES TO THIS POLICY?

We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, in technology, or in the law. Any updated version will be published on our website with a revised 'last updated' date. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS POLICY?

If you have questions or comments about this policy, you may contact our Privacy Officer:

Email: [email protected]
Phone: (07) 5646 6200

Att: Privacy Officer
Glow Church
PO BOX 3426
GOLD COAST QLD 4230
AUSTRALIA

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