Privacy Policy for Global Bible School

Effective Date: September 3, 2025

Last Updated: September 3, 2025

Global Bible School ("we," "our," "us") provides online Bible classes and spiritual mentorship, including the opportunity to share prayer requests. Protecting your personal data, particularly sensitive information about your religious beliefs, is of the utmost importance to us. This Privacy Policy explains how we handle your information in compliance with applicable laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 ("GDPR"), the UK GDPR, the California Consumer Privacy Act (as amended by CPRA), and other global privacy requirements.

1. Data Controller & Contact Information

Global Bible School is the Data Controller for your personal data.

Contact:

2. Types of Data We Collect

We may collect the following categories of personal data:

a. Personal Identification

Name, postal address, geolocation data (for location routing), email address, phone number, WhatsApp/Messenger ID, and account login credentials.

b. Source & Channel

  • Source (campaign/referral/entry point), Channel (WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger), Provider/Integration (e.g., WhatsApp Business API by Meta)
  • Messaging automation provider (e.g., ManyChat) used to deliver and facilitate courses.

c. Course & Mentorship Information

Activity history, latest activity timestamp, and course scoring (e.g., percentage of correct answers), course progress, lesson responses, messages to mentors.

d. Special Category Data (Sensitive Data)

  • Prayer requests, spiritual concerns, or religious affiliation you choose to share.
    • Processing of this data is based on your explicit consent.

e. Automatically Collected Data

Device information, browser type, IP address, usage logs.

f. Communications

Emails, WhatsApp/Messenger messages, and other communications with mentors or staff.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

We process your data under the following legal bases:

  • Contractual necessity – to provide you with Bible courses and mentorship.
  • Consent – for processing sensitive data (e.g., prayer requests) and for sending newsletters or updates.
  • Legitimate interests – to improve our services, ensure security, and maintain platform functionality, and to connect you, upon request, with a nearby representative for in-person study/prayer/resources (opt-out anytime).

4. How We Use Your Data

We will never sell your personal data, and only use it to:

  • If you request physical materials from us (e.g., books or study guides), we use and share your postal address and contact details as needed to arrange delivery or pickup through our local representatives/partner ministries or shipping providers.
  • Connect you—with your permission—to a local representative for in-person Bible study and prayer.
  • Deliver Bible courses and track your progress.
  • Enable secure communication with mentors.
  • Share prayer requests only with individuals or groups you consent to.
  • Maintain, secure, and improve our platform.
  • Comply with legal obligations.

5. Sharing of Data

We may share your information only in the following situations:

  • Local Representatives/Partner Ministries: With your permission, we share your name, address, contact details, channel ID, activity history, and consent timestamp for follow-up. These partners act as independent data controllers for their follow-up.
  • Fulfillment/Shipping (and Local Distributors): When you request physical materials, we share your name, postal address, and contact details with trusted fulfillment/transport partners or local representatives to deliver those materials.
  • Mentors and Prayer Partners: Only with your explicit consent for prayer request sharing.
  • Service Providers: Secure hosting, messaging platforms, and IT support under strict data protection agreements. We also may use ManyChat to facilitate messaging-based Bible study content. ManyChat processes conversation history, course progress, and contact details on our behalf. Use of ManyChat is subject to their Terms and Privacy Policy.
  • International Transfers: If your data is transferred outside your country, we use safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) or adequacy decisions.

6. Data Retention

We retain personal data only as long as necessary:

  • Account information: kept while your account is active.
  • Prayer requests: kept only as long as necessary for mentorship or until you request deletion.
  • Course records: kept for a limited period for academic and pastoral support.
  • Legal requirements: certain records may be retained to comply with obligations.

7. Your Rights

Depending on your location, you have the following rights:

Under GDPR

  • Right of access – know what data we hold about you.
  • Right to rectification – correct inaccurate data.
  • Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten") – request deletion of your data.
  • Right to restrict processing – limit how we use your data.
  • Right to data portability – obtain your data in a structured format.
  • Right to object – object to certain processing (e.g., newsletters).
  • Right to withdraw consent – at any time for prayer request sharing or newsletters.
  • Right to lodge a complaint – with your local Data Protection Authority.

Under CPRA (California)

  • Right to know what categories of personal information are collected.
  • Right to delete your personal information.
  • Right to opt-out of sale or sharing of data (we do not sell your data).
  • Right to non-discrimination for exercising privacy rights.

To exercise rights, contact us at: privacy@gc.adventist.org.

8. Data Security

We implement technical and organizational measures to protect your personal data, including:

  • Encrypted storage and transmission of data.
  • Access restricted to authorized mentors/staff.
  • Regular security monitoring and audits.

9. Children's Data

Our services are intended for individuals aged 16 and above. If you are under 16, you must have parental/guardian consent to use our services. If we discover data collected from minors without consent, we will promptly delete it.

10. International Users

As a global ministry, your data may be stored in or transferred to countries outside your home country. We ensure that all transfers comply with GDPR and other applicable laws through SCCs or adequacy mechanisms.

11. Updates to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The latest version will always be posted on our website with the effective date.

12. Contact Us

If you have questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or your data rights, please contact:

Global Bible School Privacy Team