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Legal

Privacy Policy

Effective date: September 10, 2026  ·  The Gathering Church  ·  https://gatheringchurchdfw.org

We keep this policy plain and direct. We collect only what we need to serve you, we do not sell your data, and you can ask us to delete your information at any time.

1. Who We Are

The Gathering Church is a Christian church located at 500 Furlong Dr, Dallas, TX 75211. This Privacy Policy applies to our website at https://gatheringchurchdfw.org and any forms or services we operate through it.

For questions about this policy or your personal data, contact us at info@gatheringchurchdfw.org.

2. What Information We Collect

We collect information only when you voluntarily provide it through our forms or when it is automatically generated by your visit.

Contact form — when you submit our contact form, we collect:

  • Full name
  • Email address
  • Phone number (optional)
  • Your message
  • IP address (collected automatically for spam prevention)

Prayer request form — when you submit a prayer request or praise report, we collect:

  • Full name (stored as "Anonymous" if you choose the Anonymous privacy setting)
  • Email address (optional)
  • Phone number (optional)
  • Your request or praise report
  • Privacy preference (Public, Anonymous, or Private)
  • IP address (collected automatically for spam prevention)

Website usage — if you have consented to analytics cookies, we collect anonymized data about how you navigate our site (pages visited, time on page, device type) through Google Analytics.

3. How We Use Your Information

  • Contact submissions — to respond to your inquiry and connect you with the appropriate staff member or ministry leader.
  • Prayer requests — to share your request with our pastoral team for prayer. Public requests may be shared with our congregation (with your explicit consent via the "Share Publicly" setting). Anonymous requests display no name. Private requests are seen only by our pastoral team.
  • IP addresses — used solely to detect and prevent spam submissions. We do not use IP addresses to track individuals.
  • Analytics — to understand how visitors use our website so we can improve it. This is only collected with your consent.

4. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We may share it in limited circumstances:

  • Staff and ministry leaders — contact form submissions may be forwarded to the specific staff member you selected. Prayer requests are shared with our pastoral team.
  • Google (reCAPTCHA) — our forms use Google reCAPTCHA v3 to detect spam. Google processes your IP address and browser behavior to generate a trust score. This is subject to Google's Privacy Policy.
  • Google Analytics — if you consent to analytics cookies, anonymized usage data is sent to Google Analytics. You can opt out at any time via our cookie settings.
  • Planning Center — if you use our giving or church management features, those are powered by Planning Center Online, which has its own privacy policy.
  • Legal requirements — we may disclose information if required by law or to protect the safety of individuals.

5. Cookies

Our website uses the following types of cookies:

  • Essential cookies — required for the website to function (e.g., your session when logging in to manage your account). These cannot be disabled.
  • Analytics cookies — Google Analytics cookies that help us understand site usage. These are only set with your consent. You can accept or decline via the cookie banner shown on your first visit, or change your preference at any time by clicking "Cookie Settings" in the footer.

We do not use advertising, retargeting, or third-party tracking cookies.

6. Data Retention

  • Contact messages — retained for 12 months, then reviewed and deleted unless there is an ongoing pastoral relationship.
  • Prayer requests — retained for 12 months. Public requests may remain visible until manually removed.
  • Analytics data — retained by Google Analytics per their default retention periods (26 months).
  • Backups — our site backups retain data for up to 12 monthly snapshots. Deleted records may persist in backups during this window.

7. Your Rights

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

  • Right to access — request a copy of the information we hold about you.
  • Right to correction — ask us to correct inaccurate information.
  • Right to erasure — ask us to delete your personal data ("right to be forgotten").
  • Right to object — object to how we process your data.
  • Right to opt out of analytics — decline or withdraw analytics consent at any time via the cookie banner.

To exercise any of these rights, email us at info@gatheringchurchdfw.org with the subject line "Privacy Request." We will respond within 30 days.

8. Children's Privacy

Our website is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has submitted information to us, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.

9. Security

We take reasonable steps to protect your information, including HTTPS encryption, access-controlled databases, and secure session handling. No method of transmission over the Internet is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

10. Third-Party Links

Our website may contain links to external sites (YouTube, Facebook, etc.). We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites and encourage you to review their policies.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The effective date at the top of this page will reflect when the most recent changes were made. Continued use of our website after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

12. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or want to exercise your data rights, contact us: