This PRIVACY POLICY of Messiah Lutheran Church and School (Mechanicsville, VA) was last updated and approved by vote of its Church Council in August 2009. It remains in effect until amended or replaced by any later vote of Messiah Lutheran Church and School’s Council.
Messiah Lutheran Church and School (also identified hereafter as "the congregation") affirms the importance of one’s right to privacy and commits itself to respectfully handling and protecting all private identifying information. Our Privacy Policy is designed to provide the knowledge and protections needed to control personal information. We encourage everyone who participates in our activities or utilizes our internet services to read the entire policy. This policy will provide an understanding of what information we collect, how we use that information, how we protect that information, and what you can do to control your information. Although Messiah Lutheran Church and School is a 501(c) Charitable Non-Profit Organization exempt from "Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998" (COPPA), our policy calls us to comply with the act’s requirements wherever possible in order to protect the children under the age of thirteen whom we hope to serve. You can learn more about COPPA by visiting http://www.coppa.org .
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. What Information We Collect
2. How We Use Your Information
3. How We Protect Your Information
4. Control of Your Information
5. Changes to the Privacy Policy
6. Questions About the Privacy Policy
7. Internet Procedures
8. Internet Policy
1. WHAT INFORMATION WE COLLECT
Personal Information:
The congregation does not collect any personal, identifiable information about you unless you voluntarily submit such information to us, by, for example, sending us an e-mail message or applying to participate in a program. The types of information that may be requested include your name, address, or phone number as appropriate.
Aggregate Information:
The congregation may collect aggregate, non-personal information about its users and their usage of this web site and any related services. This information is not used to identify any individual user.
Cookies:
The congregation may collect information about your use of the site through the use of cookies. Cookies are small pieces of information passed by the web server to your browser. We use cookies to identify you to the web server during page requests. You can control the user of cookies through your browser settings.
Public Forums:
You understand that any information that you divulge in the public areas of this web site, including the newsletters, news alerts, or other areas, is public information and is not kept confidential by the congregation. Please use discretion when posting information to the public areas of this or any other web site.
Information from Children:
The congregation in general does not collect personal, identifiable information about children who view this web site who are under eighteen (18) years of age. From time to time, the congregation will offer voluntary registration for such programs as our affiliated Messiah Lutheran School, Vacation Bible School, or others to facilitate the participation in activities offered. In these instances, the congregation requires that registration be completed and signed by the minor's parent or legal guardian.
2. HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION
The congregation will only use the information provided to us in support of the purpose for which such information was supplied.
Third Parties:
The congregation will only provide your personally identifiable information to external parties when you have specifically consented to it via an “opt-in” process. This information will only be used for the purposes for which it was collected.
Aggregate Information:
External companies may be provided aggregate information about our users. Aggregate information is statistically relevant information based on the overall population of the user community. This information cannot be traced back to a specific individual.
Cookies:
Information collected via cookies helps the congregation determine what areas of our site are important to our users. The congregation does not use cookies to identify individual users.
Co-Branded Services:
The congregation’s services may be offered in conjunction with other persons or agencies. These are called co-branded services. In order to provide these co-branded services to you, it will be necessary for us to share information with other persons. If you don't want your data to be shared, you can choose not to allow the transfer by not using or accessing that particular service.
Transmission Errors or Unauthorized Acts:
Although the congregation will use all reasonable efforts to safeguard the confidentiality of your personal information, transmissions made by means of the internet cannot be made absolutely secure. The congregation will not be liable for disclosures of your personal information due to errors in transmission or the unauthorized acts of third parties.
Required by Law:
In extreme cases, where required by law or the court, the Congregation may be forced to release information regarding users of our web site to permit the investigation of fraud, illegal use of the Internet or other cases of misconduct on our web site.
Other Web Sites:
This Privacy Policy only addresses the congregation's information gathering practices. To the extent that you disclose personal information to other web sites, or link to or access other web sites, you are subject to the other web sites' privacy policies. We encourage you to review a third party web site's privacy policy before you disclose any personal information.
3. HOW WE PROTECT YOUR INFORMATION
Security:
Any information provided to the congregation is treated with care and discretion. When information is shared, the congregation will take a proactive approach to ensure the information is kept private and not misused. Additionally, when external entities are provided information, the congregation will, in good faith, make an effort to ensure that the third party complies with all the privacy policies of the congregation.
4. CONTROL OF YOUR INFORMATION
Your Choice:
The congregation respects your decisions about the collection and use of your information. You may receive information while accessing this web site from the congregation or a third party. By accessing and using this web site you consent to the use of your personal information by the congregation in the manner specified in this Privacy Policy.
Delete Information:
If at any time you wish to stop receiving certain types of information (such as the newsletter), you can elect to do so by sending an email to office@mlcas.org.You may also choose to delete your profile information from our active database by either using any online system provided or by emailing us at the above address. Unfortunately, the congregation may not be able to delete other types of information, such as aggregate or stored information.
5. CHANGES TO THE PRIVACY POLICY
The congregation may make changes to its Privacy Policy from time to time without prior notice. When significant changes are made that affect how information that you provided to us is handled or used, we will post a notice on our website, and/or alert you to changes by other similar means. By continuing to use this web site, you agree to be bound by any such revisions and should therefore periodically visit this page of the web site and print the latest version of the Privacy Policy for your records. For your information, the date of the last update to this Privacy Policy appears at the top of the document.
6. QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PRIVACY POLICYIf you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy, please forward your inquiries to our Web Steward at admin@mlcas.org
7. INTERNET PROCEDURESThe internet policies referenced on this page apply to www.mlcas.org, the official web site of Messiah Lutheran Church and School).
Intended Audience: This page is provided for the general public. It is the primary reference to the congregation's internet policies and procedures.
Comments: You are welcome to contact the congregation’s Web Steward (Website Administrator) at admin@mlcas.org at any time. Your comments will be thoughtfully reviewed and shared with all relevant parties within the congregation.
Compliance: Concerns about how the policies are implemented should be addressed to admin@mlcas.org at your earliest convenience. Every reasonable effort will be made to respond to your concern(s).
501(c) Status: Messiah Lutheran Church and School, with its physical location at 8154 Atlee Road, Mechanicsville, VA, has been granted 501(c) status by the Internal Revenue Service as a Charitable Non-Profit Organization. If you require any additional information in regard to this status, please feel free to contact our congregation’s office by phone (804-746-7134) during normal business hours (Monday – Friday; 8am - 12pm) or by email (office@mlcas.org ).
Policy Regarding Use of Children's Information ("COPPA")
1. Currently the congregation does not collect personal information from children under the age of 18 (name, home/e-mail address, phone number) unless to participate in activities as noted in Chapter 1. Should it need to do so for any other reason, the congregation shall:
A. Post a link to the privacy policy on the home page and at each area where
information is collected from children.
B. Shall not require a child to disclose more information than is reasonably
necessary to participate in an activity.
C. Shall get verifiable parental consent to collect personal information.
D. Shall get new consent when information practices materially change.
E. Shall allow parents to review personal information collected from their
children.
F. Shall allow parents to revoke consent and delete information collected from
their children at the parent’s request.
G. Shall post a privacy policy that complies with COPPA including:
(1). Name and contact information of the operator of the site
(2). The kinds of personal information collected
(3). Whether and to whom the operator discloses the children’s personal
information
2. The congregation will not post or distribute personally identifiable information of children under 18 years (name, address, phone number, e-mail address) without prior written parental permission.
3. Said prior written parental permission will be sought using the congregation’s Authorization and Release form (available through the congregation’s office).
The Web Steward, other agents of the congregation, or anyone using this website, may not willfully post, upload, email or otherwise transmit: (i) advertisements, solicitations or other promotional material; (ii) information that is illegal, unlawful or otherwise objectionable; (iii) messages that are threatening, abusive, harassing, tortuous, vulgar, invasive of another's privacy, harmful to a person's reputation, obscene, racially or ethnically derogatory, or otherwise objectionable; or (iv) material that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment. We do not control the external content accessed or linked to via the congregation’s website, and as such, do not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such content. Under no circumstances will we be liable in any way for any content, including, but not limited to, any errors or omissions in any content, or any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any content posted, emailed or otherwise linked to or transmitted via the congregation.
If you find inaccuracies or incomplete information, don't find what you were looking for, or would simply like to inquire more about our website or its policies; e-mail us at office@mlcas.org. Your help in making this web site a valuable tool for the members of the congregation and our visitors is sincerely appreciated and remains a testimony to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The content of these pages is the sole responsibility of Messiah Lutheran Church and School. Thank you!
This website is operated and maintained by:
Messiah Lutheran Church and School
8154 Atlee Road
Mechanicsville, VA 23111
The host server is provided through a contract with Hostek.com.
© 2009 Messiah Lutheran Church and School, Mechanicsville, VA.