Privacy Policy

COMPASS CHURCH PRIVACY POLICY

Purpose

Compass Church Ltd (Compass Church) ABN: 26 456 290 125 is committed to managing personal, sensitive, and health information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act and in accordance with other applicable privacy laws. We commit to using your data solely to support our ministry, community engagement, and pastoral care in an open and transparent manner.

Compass Church appreciates that privacy is very important, and has adopted this Privacy Policy in recognition of the right of people to keep their personal information private. This Policy outlines Compass Church’s treatment of personally identifiable information that we collect or hold, including information collected through you contacting Compass Church. By using the Compass Church website, you consent to the data practices described in this statement.  

In this Policy, the terms “we”, “us”, or “our” refer to Compass Church, and “you” refers to any individual about whom we collect personal information. 

Types of Information

The Privacy Act defines types of information, including Personal Information and Sensitive Information. 

Personal Information means information or an opinion about an identified individual or an individual who is reasonably identifiable: 

  1. whether the information or opinion is true or not; and
  2. whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not. 

If the information does not disclose your identity or enable your identity to be ascertained, it will in most cases not be classified as “Personal Information” and will not be subject to this Policy.

Sensitive Information is defined in the Privacy Act as including information or opinion about such things as an individual’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of a political association, religious or philosophical beliefs, membership of a trade union or other professional body, criminal record, or health information. 

Sensitive Information will be used by Compass Church only:

  1. for the primary purpose for which it was obtained;
  2. for a secondary purpose that is directly related to the primary purpose; and
  3. with your consent or where required or authorised by law.

Compass Church generally does not collect Sensitive Information, but when we do, we will comply with the preceding section.

Collection of Your Personal Information

Compass Church collects Personal Information each time you are in contact with us, such as your e-mail address, home or work address, or telephone number. Compass Church may collect such information from you whenever you input such information through various channels:

    • Direct interactions: when you visit Compass Church, complete forms (online or paper), attend services, volunteer, or participate in events, functions, and activities.
  • Online: when you use our website, interact with our digital services, or engage in social media (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube).
  • Third-party sources: from external sources such as public registers or partner organisations, where necessary.
  • Cookies and Tracking: our website uses cookies to enhance your experience, analyse usage patterns, and improve our services. You can manage cookies via your browser settings, though disabling them may affect certain website features.

Compass Church will only collect the reasonable minimum amount of data for its disclosed purposes. Where practicable, the purpose for which we collect personal information will be made clear at the time of collection. If you do not provide us with certain information, we may be unable to provide you with access to some of our services or the assistance you have requested. 

Use of Your Personal Information

Compass Church uses your personal information for: 

  • Communication: providing updates on services, events, and activities.
  • Pastoral and Community Care: delivering tailored pastoral support, counselling, and community services.
  • Administrative Purposes: managing volunteer coordination, event registrations, processing of donations, and internal operations.
  • Service Improvement: analysing trends to enhance our website and services.
  • Legal Compliance: meeting our legal, regulatory, and reporting obligations.

Compass Church does not sell, rent, or lease your personal information. We may share your information with: 

  • Service Providers: Trusted partners (e.g., IT administrators, payment processors, mailing services) who help operate our website and services.
  • Affiliated Organisations: other entities within our church network (e.g., Australian Christian Churches) when necessary for church operations. 
  • Legal Authorities: when required by law, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Compass Church or others.

Collection of Sensitive Information

Compass Church also collects certain sensitive information about people making applications for registration as volunteers or employees. This may comprise information gathered from confidential interviews, reference checks, working with children checks, and National Police Clearance where required. 

We may also collect and store sensitive personal information such as: 

  • health information provided during pastoral meetings;
  • health information to assist attendance at services, activities, and events;
  • religious information; and
  • prayer requests.

Use of Your Sensitive Information

Gathering and reviewing of Sensitive Information is one of the primary purposes for which this information is gathered, and an essential part of Compass Church meeting its obligations to ensure the appropriate integrity of its volunteers and employees.

This information is retained securely and only accessed when required by authorised persons or as required by law.

Compass Church may engage in personal and private discussions in the course of providing pastoral care. Information of a sensitive nature may be collected during these pastoral care sessions. Personal information collected from individuals before and during pastoral care sessions is kept confidential and secure at all times.

Sensitive information stored electronically will be appropriately secured to ensure only authorised persons have access. When paper files are being used, they will be appropriately labelled and stored in locked filing cabinets.

On occasion, the personal information collected in the course of providing pastoral care must be shared with third parties. Personal information will be shared when:

  1. there is danger of harm being caused to the client or others;
  2. when Compass Church is required by law to disclose information; or
  3. where there are matters of a serious behavioural nature which require the attention of senior leadership within the church.

Data Security, Management, and Retention

Compass Church secures your Personal Information and any Sensitive Information from unauthorised access, use, or disclosure. The data you provide is secured and stored in a controlled, secure environment, that reasonably protects it from from unauthorised access, misuse, modification, or disclosure.  

Compass Church will take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information collected from individuals is complete, up-to-date and accurate at the time of collection. If we believe that the information we hold is incomplete, inaccurate or out of date, we will take steps to correct the information.

Compass Church retains your personal information only as long as necessary for our purposes or as required by law. When no longer needed, we securely delete or de-identify the data. 

Compass Church will take seriously and deal promptly with any accidental or unauthorised disclosure of personal information. 

Request for Access

The Australian Privacy Principles (APPs): 

  1. permit you to obtain access to the personal information we hold about you in certain circumstances (APP 12); and
  2. allow you to correct inaccurate personal information subject to certain exceptions (APP 13).

To request access to or correction of your personal or sensitive information, please contact us via:

After receiving a request from you, we will take reasonable steps to correct your information. Compass Church may decline your request to access or correct your personal, sensitive and health information in certain circumstances in accordance with the APPs. If we do refuse your request, we will provide you with a reason for our decision and, in the case of a request for correction, we will include a statement with your personal and sensitive information about the requested correction.

Overseas Disclosure

Compass Church is not likely to disclose your personal information to overseas recipients, except in exceptional circumstances related to the authorised use under this policy, for the purposes of storage on a cloud server, or for any other lawful purpose.


GDPR

In some circumstances, the GDPR (European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation) provides additional protection to individuals located in Europe. The fact that you may be located in Europe does not, however, on its own entitle you to protection under the GDPR. Compass Church does not specifically target individuals located in the European Union and do not monitor the behaviour of individuals in the European Union, and accordingly the GDPR does not apply.

Anonymity

Where practicable and lawful, Compass Church will endeavour to provide individuals with the option of interacting anonymously. We will try to accommodate a request for anonymity wherever possible; however, given the activities in which Compass Church is engaged in, this may not always be a practicable option.

Consent and Withdrawal

By providing your information, you consent to its collection, use, and disclosure as described in this Privacy Policy. You may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us or opting out from our communication; however, please note that this may affect our ability to provide some services.

Changes to Privacy Policy

Compass Church periodically updates this Privacy Policy. The most current version will always be available on our website, and we encourage you to review this Policy regularly.

Contact Us

If you are concerned with how we have collected, used, disclosed or managed your personal information, we will take these issues seriously and work to address these concerns. If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome, you may refer the matter to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

Should you have any further queries relating to our Privacy Policy, or you have a problem or complaint, please contact us via:

By engaging with Compass Church, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy and agree to its terms. We are committed to maintaining your trust through diligent data protection and transparent practices.

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