Privacy Policy

New Life Christian Church (“New Life,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting the personal information you share with us. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website nlcchurch.org (the “Website”), attend our services, participate in our ministries, or engage with us in any way. Please read this policy carefully. By using the Website, you consent to the practices described herein.

01 Information We Collect

We may collect the following types of information:

Personal Information You Provide

• Contact information: Name, email address, phone number, and mailing address when you fill out a contact form, connection card, prayer request, or registration form
• Financial information: Payment details when you make an online contribution (processed securely through third-party payment processors; we never store your credit card information on our servers)
• Communication content: Messages, prayer requests, and other content you submit through the Website or email
• Counseling intake information: Information you share when scheduling or participating in pastoral counseling (treated with strict confidentiality)
• Event registration: Information provided when registering for church events, classes, or programs

Information Collected Automatically

• Device and browser information: IP address, browser type, operating system, and device identifiers
• Usage data: Pages visited, time spent on pages, referring URLs, and click patterns
• Cookies and tracking technologies: Small data files placed on your device to enhance your experience (see Section 5 below)
• Location data: General geographic location based on IP address (we do not track precise GPS location)

02 How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

• Ministry operations: To communicate with you about services, events, programs, and church life
• Pastoral care: To follow up on prayer requests, provide pastoral counseling, and offer spiritual support
• Email communications: To send newsletters, devotionals, event announcements, and other ministry-related correspondence (you may opt out at any time)
• Financial processing: To process donations and provide giving statements for tax purposes
• Website improvement: To analyze usage patterns, diagnose technical issues, and improve the Website experience
• Safety and security: To protect against fraud, unauthorized activity, and misuse of the Website
• Legal compliance: To comply with applicable laws, regulations, and legal processes

We will never sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes.

03 Third-Party Service Providers

We work with trusted third-party services to operate our Website and ministry. These providers may have access to your personal information only as needed to perform their functions. Our current third-party providers include:

• Liquid Web: Website hosting
• Stripe: Secure payment processing for online giving
• Calendly: Pastoral counseling appointment scheduling
• The Events Calendar: Church events management
• Google Analytics: Website traffic analysis and reporting
• Google Search Console: Search performance monitoring
• Rank Math: SEO optimization
• YouTube: Sermon and video content hosting
• Facebook / Instagram / Social platforms: Social media engagement

Each of these providers operates under their own privacy policies. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party service you interact with through our Website.

04 Pastoral Counseling Confidentiality

New Life Christian Church takes the confidentiality of pastoral counseling with the utmost seriousness. Information shared during pastoral counseling sessions with Dr. Stephen Carter, Sr. is treated as confidential pastoral communication and is protected under clergy-penitent privilege as recognized by the State of Colorado.

Counseling information will not be shared with any third party except in the following circumstances:

• When you provide written consent to share information with a specific party
• When there is a credible threat of imminent harm to yourself or others
• When required by law, including mandatory reporting of child abuse, elder abuse, or dependent adult abuse
• When ordered by a court of competent jurisdiction

Counseling records are stored securely and separately from general church records. They are not accessible to church staff, volunteers, or leadership other than Dr. Carter unless explicitly authorized by the client.

05 Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Our Website uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance your browsing experience and gather analytical data. The types of cookies we use include:

• Essential cookies: Required for the Website to function properly (session management, security)
• Analytics cookies: Help us understand how visitors interact with the Website (Google Analytics)
• Preference cookies: Remember your settings and preferences for future visits

You can manage cookie preferences through your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to block or delete cookies. Disabling cookies may affect certain features of the Website.

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics to analyze Website traffic. Google Analytics collects information anonymously and reports trends without identifying individual visitors. Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics is governed by the Google Privacy Policy. You may opt out by installing the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-on.

06 Email Communications

When you subscribe to our email list or submit a contact form, you may receive ministry-related communications including newsletters, event announcements, sermon updates, and church news. Every email includes an unsubscribe link. You may opt out at any time. Opting out of marketing emails does not affect transactional communications such as giving receipts or event registration confirmations.

07 Data Security

We implement reasonable administrative, technical, and physical security measures to protect your personal information. These include SSL/TLS encryption, secure managed hosting with Liquid Web, PCI-compliant payment processing through Stripe, limited access on a need-to-know basis, and regular security updates. While we take data security seriously, no method of transmission over the Internet is 100% secure.

08 Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this policy, unless a longer retention period is required by law:

• Contact and communication data: Retained for as long as you maintain a relationship with our church, plus a reasonable period thereafter
• Financial and giving records: Retained for a minimum of 7 years to comply with IRS requirements
• Pastoral counseling records: Retained securely and indefinitely unless you request deletion (subject to legal retention requirements)
• Website analytics data: Retained according to Google Analytics default settings (currently 14 months)
• Email subscriber data: Retained until you unsubscribe

09 Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information, including the right to access, correct, delete, opt out of marketing, and request data portability. To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the information in Section 12 below. We will respond within 30 days.

10 Children’s Privacy

Our Website is not directed to children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 without verifiable parental consent. If we learn that we have collected such information, we will delete it promptly. For children’s ministry registration, we collect information directly from parents or legal guardians.

11 Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page. Your continued use of the Website after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.

12 Contact Information

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, wish to exercise your data rights, or have concerns about how your information is being handled, please contact us: