Privacy Policy

About this policy

Engage the Church (ETC) provides tools that help churches and ministry teams develop clarity and alignment, strengthen relationships, and carry out their mission. This policy describes how ETC handles personal information in its connected platform, including church workspaces, Sandbox, GEM, assessments, and optional AI assistance.

Information we collect

Account information includes your name, email address, account identifier, sign-in method, and the details needed to maintain a secure session. Church information can include a church name and logo, membership and tool permissions, team contact details, ministry plans, church beliefs and values, schedules, assessment responses, and other content you or your church choose to enter. We also process support correspondence and, where billing is used, billing contact and subscription information. Hosting and authentication services process technical information needed to provide and protect the service, such as network and browser information and security logs.

When you sign in with Google

Google sign-in is optional. If you choose it, Google provides an account identifier, your email address, and basic profile information, which can include your name and profile picture. ETC uses these details to authenticate you, associate your identity with your ETC account, and provide account-related functions. Our authentication provider, Supabase, processes and stores the identity and session information needed for this purpose.

ETC does not receive your Google password. This sign-in connection requests basic identity access; it does not request access to Gmail messages, Google Drive files, calendars, or contacts. Google sign-in alone does not grant membership in a church or permission to use its tools. Matching verified email addresses may link sign-in methods to an existing ETC account; using a different email address can lead to a different account.

ETC does not sell Google user data, use it for advertising, or use it to train general-purpose AI models. ETC’s use of information received from Google APIs follows the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements where applicable. You can review or revoke the Google connection in your Google Account settings. Revoking that connection does not itself delete your ETC account or church work.

How information is used and who can see it

ETC uses information to operate accounts and church workspaces, enforce permissions, save and recover work, provide the tools you select, deliver account and assessment communications, handle support and billing, and protect the service.

Authorized ETC personnel may access information when needed to provide support, maintain the service, investigate security issues, or meet legal requirements. Church work is shared with people whose church and tool permissions allow access. Church administrators manage invitations and access, and authorized ministry leaders can review the work and feedback available to their roles. Coaches must receive explicit authorization from the church and only the access needed for their work; a coaching relationship does not automatically grant access to every church workspace. Do not put information into a shared workspace that the authorized team should not receive. Assessment and survey links may allow participation without an ETC account; this does not guarantee that responses are anonymous. Any name, email address, phone number, or identifying detail you provide can make a response identifiable. Keep private invitation and assessment links secure.

Optional AI assistance

When you choose an AI feature, the text and relevant context supplied for that request are sent to OpenAI to generate assistance. In GEM, this consists of the notes or question entered into the help panel and the current step topic. Sandbox features can use source text and context supplied to the selected feature, including saved Sandbox sections when you explicitly request an alignment review. Google sign-in information and unrelated church records are not automatically attached to these requests.

ETC asks OpenAI not to keep a saved response for later retrieval, and optional sharing of API data for model improvement is disabled. OpenAI may still retain information for security or operational purposes under its policies. We do not promise zero retention by the AI provider. OpenAI’s data controls explain these distinctions. Do not submit confidential pastoral-care details, medical information, private personnel matters, or other sensitive personal information to AI assistance. Review every result before using it; leaders remain responsible for discernment and decisions. Turning AI off blocks new requests; a request already sent may finish. Turning it off does not delete saved church work.

Service providers and other disclosures

ETC uses service providers to operate the platform: Supabase for authentication and account/workspace services; OpenAI’s Sites hosting and its infrastructure providers, including Cloudflare, for connected websites, application data, and hosting; Resend for account-email delivery; OpenAI for optional AI requests; and Stripe for billing where enabled. MailerLite is not currently connected to the ETC platform’s assessment workflows. Connecting an assessment email service in the future will require an appropriate disclosure; marketing subscriptions will still require a separate opt-in. Payment-card details entered into a Stripe payment page are handled by Stripe rather than stored in ETC’s application records.

Providers process the information needed for their service and may have their own retention and security practices. Information may be processed outside the country where you live. ETC may also disclose information when required by law, to address fraud or a security incident, or to protect people and the service. ETC does not sell personal information or share it for targeted advertising. Account and assessment communications are not permission to add someone to unrelated marketing campaigns.

Cookies, browser storage, and downloaded copies

The platform uses cookies and browser storage to maintain sign-in, remember tutorial choices, and keep local drafts or recovery copies. ETC does not use advertising pixels or individual marketing-behavior tracking inside church workspaces or assessments. Blocking or clearing this storage can sign you out or remove drafts that have not been saved to the shared workspace. Downloaded documents and recovery backups remain on the device where you save them; protect those copies, especially on shared devices. Signing out or changing an account does not necessarily remove downloaded files or every locally retained draft.

Retention, access, and deletion requests

Subscription cancellation or expiry pauses access according to your subscription; it does not immediately delete the church’s saved work. Our standard retention period for an inactive church workspace is 12 months after access ends. Before scheduling deletion after that period, ETC will give the church’s recorded contact at least 30 days’ notice and an opportunity to request a copy of its work. Deletion is handled through a reviewed process; there is no automatic purge at the moment a subscription ends. An authorized deletion request may result in earlier removal. Account deletion, church-workspace deletion, and subscription cancellation are separate requests. A church’s shared records may need to remain available to its other authorized members even if one person leaves.

Contact info@engagethechurch.com to request access to, correction of, a copy of, or deletion of personal information. ETC will verify your identity and authority, consider the church’s shared records and any applicable requirements, and explain the action it can take. Privacy requests are handled through ETC support rather than a self-service deletion button. Some records may need to be retained for billing, security, dispute resolution, or legal obligations. Recovery copies may remain in provider backups until they expire under the applicable provider’s schedule; ETC does not promise an immediate or fixed backup-erasure deadline. If data is restored from a backup, completed deletion requests must be reapplied before that data is returned to normal use.

Security and appropriate use

ETC uses HTTPS, managed authentication, and access checks to protect connected church work. No service or shared account can guarantee absolute security. Use an individual account, safeguard sign-in details, review church permissions, and report suspected unauthorized access to info@engagethechurch.com.

ETC accounts and assessment or survey participation are for adults aged 18 or older. Churches may use ETC to plan children’s and youth ministries, but should not use the platform to store identifiable children’s records, confidential pastoral-care case notes, medical information, or sensitive personnel files. If you believe a minor has provided personal information to ETC, contact info@engagethechurch.com so we can review and address it. We do not collect a date of birth or claim to verify age through Google sign-in.

Changes and contact

ETC will update this policy as the service changes and display its current effective date. Material changes to the use of Google user data will be disclosed, and additional consent will be requested where required before that new use begins. Questions and privacy requests can be sent to info@engagethechurch.com.