Below is our statement for how we hold and use your personal data.
Last Updated: 17th June 2026
Arun Church is a vibrant church and charitable organisation based in Littlehampton, West Sussex, UK. Our vision is to see lives transformed through Jesus, and our mission is bringing life to everyone, everywhere, everyday.
We are committed to serving and respecting all people regardless of their gender, marital status, race, ethnic origin, religion, age, sexual orientation or physical and mental capability. We recognise that people hold different values and beliefs to our own and we acknowledge the freedom of people to hold and to express these respectfully and freely within the limits of UK law. We allow spaces to explore Christian beliefs and values in a respectful environment. We form partnerships with other churches, voluntary groups, statutory agencies and local government where appropriate to provide the best service for our community.
Your privacy is important to us. Our aim is to be as clear as possible about how and why we use the personal data you give us. This Privacy Notice explains how we collect, use, store and share personal data, and your rights.
Arun Church is a collective name for connected organisations and services under the church umbrella that may share administrative systems. These are:
Depending on the activity, one of the Arun Church group entities may be the controller, or we may act as joint controllers. If you want to confirm which entity is responsible for a specific activity (e.g., childcare, venue hire, trading activity, or membership administration), please contact us using the details below.
For privacy queries across Arun Church and associated entities/services, please contact:
The Data Controller
Arun Church, The Wickbourne Centre, Clun Road, Littlehampton, BN17 7DZ
Email: hello@arunchurch.com
Telephone: 01903 782744
Broadly, personal data is information that can identify you. Depending on how you engage with us, we may collect:
As part of our ministry, Arun Church provides pastoral care and support to individuals and families. This may involve recording notes of conversations or interactions to provide appropriate care, follow-up, and safeguarding. Where we do keep pastoral records, we aim to keep them brief, factual and relevant, rather than detailed personal notes. These records may include:
We process pastoral care information because it is necessary for:
Ordinary personal data may be processed under the lawful basis of legitimate interests, legal obligation, or vital interests, depending on context. Some pastoral care information may include special category personal data (such as information relating to health, religious beliefs, or other sensitive matters). Special category data may be processed by us as part of our not-for-profit religious activities, as well as for safeguarding, legal reasons, or where otherwise permitted by law.
Access to pastoral records is strictly limited to authorised staff and trained volunteers who require access for their role. We treat this information with a high level of confidentiality and apply additional safeguards where appropriate.
We recognise that pastoral information is often shared in confidence. We will seek to respect confidences, although there may be circumstances (particularly safeguarding or legal requirements) where information needs to be shared.
We keep pastoral records only for as long as necessary for pastoral care and follow-up. We review them periodically and take into account the nature and sensitivity of the information, whether there is an ongoing pastoral relationship, and whether there is any safeguarding, legal, insurance or governance reason to retain them for longer. Where pastoral information also forms part of a safeguarding record, it will be retained in line with our safeguarding retention requirements.
We use your data for purposes including:
- to provide church services and pastoral care
- to administer membership and participation records
- to fundraise and promote our charitable purposes
- to manage volunteers, leaders, contractors and staff
- to maintain accounts and records, including Gift Aid
- to communicate about news, events, activities, services and opportunities
- to operate and improve our website and digital services
- to undertake surveys or feedback and evaluate our activities
- to meet safeguarding obligations and protect children and adults at risk
- to comply with legal and regulatory requirements
We do not use personal data to build profiles about you from third-party sources, and we do not sell personal data.
We only process personal data when we have a lawful basis under UK GDPR. The most common bases are:
Consent - used where you actively choose to give permission for a specific purpose, for example:
- receiving certain marketing emails where consent is required
- photographs/video for specific uses
- non-essential website cookies.
You can withdraw consent at any time.
Contract - used where we provide a service you sign up for or where an agreement exists, for example:· - event registrations or bookings
- childcare services
- employment contracts.
Legal obligation - used where we must process data to comply with law, for example:
- financial record-keeping and Gift Aid compliance
- safeguarding records
- employment and health & safety obligations.
Legitimate interests - used where processing is necessary for our legitimate interests as a church and charity and does not override your rights and freedoms. Typical examples include:
- internal communications with members and volunteers
- planning and running church activities
- administrative management, reporting and service improvement.
Special category data – where we process special category data, we also ensure an appropriate UK GDPR Article 9 condition applies (e.g., for not-for-profit religious organisations and safeguarding obligations), and we apply extra protections.
Service and operational messages
We may contact you about:
- changes to events you booked or signed up for;
- key updates needed to deliver services (e.g., childcare notices);
- safeguarding or urgent operational issues.
These messages are not marketing.
Direct marketing
Different rules apply depending on channel and context:
- Postal marketing - we may send postal communications where lawful and appropriate. You can opt out at any time.
- Phone calls - telephone marketing is subject to separate rules. Where required, we will respect relevant preference services and your expressed choices.
- Email, SMS/text, and social media direct messages - Under UK e-privacy rules, electronic marketing usually requires consent, but a “soft opt‑in” for charitable purposes may apply.
Charitable soft opt‑in
Where lawful, Arun Church (or the relevant Arun Church group entity) may send emails, texts, or direct messages about our charitable purposes without asking for explicit consent first, if ALL of the following are true:
- We are acting as a charity for the purposes of the rule;
- We collected your contact details directly from you ON or AFTER 5 February 2026;
- We collected them when you expressed interest in, or offered/provided support for, our charitable purposes (for example, volunteering, donating, signing up to hear about our work, registering interest in activities);
- Our message is only to further our charitable purposes (e.g., fundraising, volunteering, church/community initiatives);
- You were offered a clear opportunity to opt out at the time your details were collected; AND
- Every message includes a simple way to opt out.
Important: This charitable soft opt‑in does NOT apply retrospectively. If we collected your details before 5 February 2026, we will continue to rely on consent (or another lawful basis) for electronic marketing.
Products & services soft opt‑in
If you purchase a product or service from one of our entities (for example, venue hire or a trading activity), we may, where lawful, send electronic marketing about our similar products or services using the products & services soft opt‑in rules. You will always be given an opt-out at collection and in every message.
Your choices and how to opt out
- You can opt out of marketing at any time by using the “unsubscribe” or “change preferences” links in emails, or by contacting us.
- You can also update preferences via member/parent portals where available (see Viewing and Updating Your Information, below).
We aim to apply opt-out requests promptly.
We may take photos/video at services and events to share church life and promote our activities. Sometimes these may be broadcast online. We will only do this where we have a lawful basis and will take extra care for children and vulnerable individuals.
- Where consent is required (e.g., close-up images of children for promotional use), we will ask for it.
- If you have concerns about images, please contact us and we will respond promptly.
We work with children, young people, and adults who may be vulnerable. We take additional care with personal data in these contexts. Please see our safeguarding policy for more details.
- Where consent is required (e.g., close-up images of children for promotional use), we will ask for it.
- If you have concerns about images, please contact us and we will respond promptly.
We restrict access to authorised staff and volunteers who need it for their role. We apply appropriate security controls.
Third-party service providers (processors)
We use trusted third-party suppliers to help us deliver services (e.g., IT systems, email delivery, finance platforms, childcare systems). These providers must only process data under our instructions and are required to protect it. Examples may include:
- Church administration/membership systems (e.g., “My ChurchSuite”)
- Childcare management systems (e.g., “Tapestry”)
- Website analytics/video embeds (depending on cookie choices)
- Payment processors (we do not store full card details)
We do not sell personal data.
We do not use bought-in lists for electronic marketing.
We do not share your personal data with other organisations for their own marketing without your explicit consent, unless required by law or needed for safeguarding or legal claims.
Some of our suppliers may process or store information outside the UK. Where this happens, we use appropriate safeguards required by law (for example, UK adequacy regulations or approved contractual protections). Contact us if you want more information about the safeguards used for a specific supplier.
We keep personal data only as long as necessary for the purposes described in this Notice, then we securely delete or anonymise it.
If you want our retention schedule or more detail for a particular category, please contact us.
You have rights under UK GDPR, including:
- the right to be informed (through this Notice);
- access to your data (via a Subject Access Request). You can make a Subject Access request through our SAR Form here;
- rectification (correction of inaccurate data);
- erasure (“right to be forgotten”) in certain circumstances;
- restriction of processing in certain circumstances;
- data portability in certain circumstances;
- objection to processing (including direct marketing);
- rights relating to automated decision-making and profiling - however we do not make solely automated decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects.
Direct marketing: You always have the right to object, and we will stop
Where possible, we enable you to view and manage your personal data through secure systems such as:
- My Churchsuite (for church members, where enabled)
- TAPESTRY (for parents/guardians in Playcentre settings, where enabled)
You can also update details or preferences by contacting us using the details above.
We take security seriously and use appropriate organisational and technical measures to protect personal data. This includes access controls, confidentiality expectations for staff/volunteers, and supplier due diligence.When you contact us, we may ask for information to verify your identity.
Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit a website. We may use the following types of cookies on our website:
- Essential cookies - These are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems.
- Non-essential cookies (analytics, marketing, personalisation) - We will only place non-essential cookies if you give consent through our cookie controls/banner. You can change your cookie preferences at any time using the “cookie settings” link on our site.
- Third-party content - We may embed third-party content (e.g., YouTube, Facebook) that can set cookies if you consent to that category. Please see the relevant providers’ privacy and cookie information for details.
You can review or change your cookie settings at any time using the cookie settings by clicking here: Cookie settings.
If you have questions or concerns, please contact us first so we can help:
- Email: hello@arunchurch.com
- Tel: 01903 782744
- Address: Arun Church, The Wickbourne Centre, Clun Road, Littlehampton, BN17 7DZ
If you have a specific concern about data privacy, you can view our complaints policy and access our complaints form here.
If you remain unhappy, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):
- Website: https://ico.org.uk
- Telephone: 0303 123 1113
We may update this Notice from time to time. The latest version will be published here on our website with the “Last updated” date at the top.
