Introduction

At Gateway Baptist Church (Gateway), we are committed to protecting the privacy of individuals who provide personal information to the church. We have adopted the Australian Privacy Principles and the Australian Privacy legislation as the basis for the ways we collect, hold, use and disclose any personal information we collect or receive.

Personal information is information or an opinion about an identified person, or a person who is reasonably identifiable.

Purposes for collecting, holding and using personal information

Gateway only collects, holds and uses personal information for:

1. providing appropriate care, support and services to people,
2. administration of the church and its activities,
3. enabling financial giving, receipting and payments for people,
4. contacting people who volunteer in any of the church’s ministries, activities or events,
5. providing people with information about progress with our ministries and projects and advising of coming events, services and opportunities within our ministries,
6. providing professional support and health services to clients of Gateway Counselling,
7. managing the employment of staff members, and
8. fulfilling government directives.

Disclosure of personal information

Gateway will not sell your personal information to third parties. In order to facilitate provision of ministry services and meet your needs, your personal information may be shared on a confidential basis (in Australia or overseas to countries such as the United States):

1. between the related entities of Gateway which have a need to know to provide a specific service to you
2. with third party service providers engaged by Gateway which function is to maintain Gateway’s database system or to facilitate mass communication of material prepared by Gateway or to effect electronic funds transfer which you have authorised; or
3. other third party service providers and contractors who provide services to us, including persons who are not in Australia; or
4. with our advisors if in our opinion, the circumstances warrant us to seek professional counsel/advice to best address any concerns or issues; or
5. with superannuation and managed funds organisations and salary packaging services providers – in the case of employees of Gateway; or
6. with Government or regulatory bodies/agencies as required or authorised by law or regulations; or
7. with parties that Gateway is required or permitted by law to disclose; or
8. with any other parties that you have given your prior consent (expressly or implied) for disclosure; or
9. with Government agencies to protect the welfare of children or vulnerable adults in accordance with the relevant laws; or
10. with Government agencies to prevent or report a criminal act.

We may also disclose your personal information where

1. disclosure is required or desirable to lessen or prevent a serious threat or harm to an individual’s or public life, health or safety;
2. there are serious concerns about the safety of wellbeing of any person;
3. the information is subpoenaed, is required to be disclosed by law or a court or tribunal, or is disclosed in relation to legal proceedings;
4. disclosure is required by mandatory regulatory requirements or professional codes by which we or our staff are bound.

Types of personal information we collect and hold

Gateway Baptist Church collects contact information such as names, addresses, contact numbers, email addresses and other information such as church and group memberships and attendances, dates of birth, family members, baptisms, Blue Card numbers and areas of service.

For clients of Gateway Counselling, information such as appointment details and Medicare numbers (where relevant) is collected in order to provide those services. We may also collect details of your COVID vaccination status if we are required to do so by the Queensland Government. Confidential session notes are made by the treating professionals and are handled in accordance with the requirements of their Professional body. These notes are not stored on Gateway’s central database.

For staff members, additional information directly relating to their career and current employment is collected in accordance with our Human Resource Management policies.

For financial transactions we collect credit card details and these are handled in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. We collect bank account details for people we make payments to.

Sensitive information such as criminal records, religious beliefs or associations, trade union memberships, philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation or practices, health or biometric information, financial conditions, court determinations, academic/professional qualifications and the like may also be collected. By requesting Gateway’s services and assistance, you understand that such sensitive information may be gathered about you and you consent to its collection. Gateway will only collect such information if it is reasonably necessary for its function and activities, and to satisfy its legal obligations such as its duty of care and child protection obligations.

Information pertaining to health is collected only where necessary, such as:

1. in Children’s Ministry and Youth Groups to ensure their health needs are met and health risks are properly managed;
2. for pastoral care purposes, to support people through health challenges;
3. allergies to assist in safely catering at church or ministry events; and
4. in providing health services through Gateway Counselling.

Information about country of birth and language background may be collected to enable our staff and volunteer teams to best connect, support and assist our church family.

Images and videos may be captured during our services and events and used for promotional and archival purposes. Our services may be filmed and/or live streamed and may be made available on digital platforms. In the process of capturing a worship experience, our footage may include images or recordings of participants. Any person who wishes to opt out of appearing in any of Gateway’s promotional, archival or live stream material, may contact our Office Manager on 07 3291 5900 or email admin@gatewaybaptist.com.au. Please note, that parental/guardian consent will be sought where possible before the use of any identifiable images of anyone under the age of 16 years.

How we collect and hold personal information

Where possible, we collect personal information directly from you. This may be in person, on the phone, via email or through the web (for example by completion of online forms such as event registration forms, connect cards, application forms, client intake forms and group information forms). This information is collected from the person themselves or from a parent, guardian or carer (for children or where otherwise necessary). Where attendance records are collected, this is done through sign-in sheets, online registration systems or by direct observation.

The information collected is either disposed of after its use or may be held in any of the following forms:

1. Secure online databases, finance or communications software platforms that are password protected and may be maintained by a cloud hosted service provider or other third party database storage or server provider.
2. Paper based client and staff files, or small group lists. Paper based files containing sensitive information are kept in locked cabinets and can only be accessed by approved staff, contracted professionals and volunteers of the relevant ministry area.
3. Small amounts of personal information are held for ministry-specific purposes in documents and spreadsheets on church computers with access protected by individual profiles and passwords.

As data transmission via electronic means (such as the internet) cannot be guaranteed to be totally secure, we do not accept responsibility for the security of information transmitted to or by us via electronic means. In addition, we are unable to ensure that third parties to whom we disclose your personal information will keep your information secure or otherwise observe the Australian Privacy Principles.

All staff and volunteers who have access to personal information held by Gateway Baptist Church are bound by codes of conduct and formal agreements that require full compliance by the staff member or volunteer with this privacy policy and associated procedures.

Gateway ensures reasonable steps are taken to make sure that all information collected is accurate, up to date and protected from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Network access privileges are assigned to a limited number of staff for the purpose of updating, modifying and editing. These positions are reviewed regularly to determine if they are still appropriate. Ministry leaders with access to personal information are made aware of this policy and associated procedures and are required to comply with them.

Archived material is stored in a secure and confidential environment.

How people may access and/or seek correction of their personal information

Any person whose personal information is held by Gateway may request access to that personal information and, where necessary, request correction to that information.

To view or seek correction to personal information held by Gateway, a person may contact our Office Manager as follows:

• Office Manager, Gateway Baptist Church, PO Box 2033 Mansfield, QLD 4122; or
• Phone 07 3291 5900; or
• Email admin@gatewaybaptist.com.au

How people may ask or complain about how we deal with their personal information

Any person whose personal information is collected or held by Gateway may ask or complain about how we collect, hold or use their personal information, by writing, phoning or emailing our Office Manager using the contact details above.

Any complaint received will be handled in accordance with our Complaints and Feedback Policy which is available on our website at www.gatewaybaptist.com.au/feedback or from our office.

What happens when we no longer need your personal information?

We will only keep your information for as long as we require it for our purposes. We are also required to keep some of your information for certain periods of time under law, such as the Associations Incorporation Act 1981 (Qld), Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and taxation laws. When we no longer require your information, we will ensure that your information is destroyed or de-identified.

Availability of this policy

This policy is available on our website at www.gatewaybaptist.com.au/privacy.

Paper copies are available on request from our office or by contacting our Office Manager as above.