Privacy at Church Commons

Effective date: August 28, 2026
Last updated: August 28, 2026

Church Commons exists to provide resources for worship, formation, Scripture, training, and faithful life together. We take privacy seriously and seek to collect only the information reasonably necessary to provide these services, support participants, maintain accurate formation records, communicate with users, and keep the site secure.

This Privacy Policy explains what information Church Commons may collect, how it is used, when it may be shared, how long it may be retained, and the choices available to you.

1. Information We Collect

The information Church Commons collects depends on how you use the site.

We may collect:

• Basic account information, such as your name, email address, username, display name, password credentials, account status, and assigned roles.
• Organization and ministry information, such as your church, presbytery, organization, ministry role, organizational affiliations, and participation relationships.
• Formation and training information, such as pathway assignments, Formation Plans, course registrations, attendance, progress, completion records, deadlines, prior-learning requests or evidence, submitted work, reflections, committee or review decisions, and related educational records.
• Registration and logistical information that you choose to provide for a course, retreat, event, or other activity. This may include information such as dietary needs, accessibility needs, scheduling information, or other practical requests.
• Communications, including messages you send through Church Commons, replies to Church Commons email, support requests, and communication preferences.
• Contact-form information. If you use the Ask Questions or Invite Matt forms, we may receive your name, email address, church or organization, role, type of invitation or request, event information, location, timeframe, and the message you choose to provide.
• Technical and security information, such as IP address, browser or device information, timestamps, login activity, request logs, and information necessary to detect errors, abuse, unauthorized access, or security threats.
• Cookies and similar technical information necessary for WordPress sessions, account authentication, preferences, security, and ordinary operation of the site.

Because Church Commons serves Christian communities and provides theological and ministerial formation, information that you voluntarily provide may sometimes reveal religious beliefs, ministry relationships, or other information considered sensitive under some privacy laws. Church Commons uses this information only for appropriate ministry, educational, administrative, security, and service purposes.

2. How We Use Information

Church Commons uses personal information to provide and operate the site and its services.

This includes creating and managing accounts; providing access to resources, courses, training, and Formation Plans; maintaining enrollment, attendance, progress, completion, and Formation Records; administering organizations and authorized oversight processes; responding to questions and invitations; sending account, course, registration, schedule, security, and other operational communications; improving reliability and usability; preventing fraud, abuse, or unauthorized access; maintaining appropriate records; and complying with applicable legal obligations.

We seek to use personal information only for the purpose for which it was collected or for another reasonably compatible purpose.

3. Formation Records and Organizational Oversight

Church Commons Formation is designed to support learners who may participate in programs overseen by churches, presbyteries, educational partners, instructors, governing bodies, or other authorized organizations.

When you participate in Formation through such an organization, appropriate information may be available to authorized people responsible for administering, teaching, reviewing, or overseeing your program.

Church Commons uses role-based and organization-scoped permissions to limit access according to a person’s responsibilities.

Some information is part of a long-term institutional Formation Record. This may include enrollment, attendance, course completion, recognized prior learning, program requirements, and other core educational history. These records may be retained even if other personal information is later erased because they document educational or institutional actions that have occurred.

Learner-authored reflections, optional messages, and temporary logistical information are treated separately from permanent educational history whenever practical.

4. Sensitive Registration Information

Information such as dietary restrictions, accessibility requests, lodging needs, or similar logistical information is collected only when reasonably necessary to support an event, course, retreat, or participant.

This information is not intended to become part of a permanent Formation Record and should be retained only as long as reasonably necessary for the activity and any necessary follow-up.

Please do not provide highly sensitive personal information unless it is genuinely necessary for the request you are making.

5. Contact and Invitation Forms

Church Commons provides native forms for questions, requests for help, speaking invitations, training inquiries, retreats, facilitation, and related conversations.

Information submitted through these forms is transmitted to Church Commons so that we can respond. The site does not intentionally retain the full text of these submissions in WordPress as a permanent record, although the resulting email correspondence and limited technical or mail-delivery records may be retained as necessary for communication, security, and troubleshooting.

6. Email Communications

Church Commons may send operational email related to accounts, invitations, password resets, registrations, courses, schedules, Formation activities, security, and support.

Church Commons currently uses its authenticated Church Commons email infrastructure to send these messages.

If Church Commons later offers optional newsletters, announcements, or promotional updates, those communications will be treated separately from essential account or program messages and will provide an appropriate way to unsubscribe.

Unsubscribing from optional communications does not prevent Church Commons from sending messages reasonably necessary to administer an account, registration, course, or other service you are using.

7. How We Share Information

Church Commons does not sell or rent personal information.

We do not share personal information for third-party behavioral advertising.

Information may be disclosed only when reasonably necessary:

to authorized instructors, administrators, organizations, presbyteries, governing bodies, committees, or reviewers involved in providing or overseeing a service in which you participate; to service providers that host, transmit, secure, maintain, or support Church Commons; when you request or authorize an integration or disclosure; when reasonably necessary to protect Church Commons, its users, or others from fraud, abuse, security threats, or unlawful activity; or when disclosure is required by law or valid legal process.

Service providers receive only the information reasonably necessary to perform their functions.

8. Hosting and Service Providers

Church Commons relies on technical service providers to operate the site.

These may include website hosting, domain and email infrastructure, security services, and optional services connected to particular Church Commons features.

For example, the Church Commons website is currently hosted through Namecheap/EasyWP, and Church Commons email is transmitted through authenticated Church Commons email infrastructure associated with its mail provider.

If optional services such as video conferencing, calendars, or other integrations are connected to a course or program, information necessary for that integration may be exchanged with the selected provider. Those providers may also process information according to their own privacy policies.

Church Commons seeks to minimize the information shared with outside services.

9. Cookies

Church Commons may use cookies or similar browser storage that is necessary to:

authenticate signed-in users, maintain secure sessions, remember appropriate preferences, protect forms and accounts, prevent abuse, and provide normal WordPress and application functionality.

Church Commons does not currently use cookies for third-party behavioral advertising.

If our use of analytics, cookies, or tracking technology changes materially, this policy will be updated.

10. Security

Church Commons uses reasonable administrative and technical safeguards intended to protect personal information.

These include HTTPS/TLS for data transmitted to and from the site, authenticated email transport, access controls, role-based permissions, account authentication, software updates, backups, security monitoring, and other appropriate safeguards.

No website, database, email system, or Internet transmission can be guaranteed to be completely secure. Users should therefore avoid sending passwords, Social Security numbers, financial-account credentials, or similarly sensitive information through ordinary messages or contact forms.

11. Data Retention

Church Commons does not intend to retain every category of personal information indefinitely.

Retention depends on the nature of the information and why it was collected.

Temporary registration and logistical information is generally retained only while it is operationally useful. Contact and support correspondence may be retained as necessary to respond, maintain appropriate records, or resolve issues. Technical and mail-delivery logs may be retained for security, reliability, and troubleshooting.

Core Formation Records—including course completion, attendance, enrollment, recognized prior learning, and comparable institutional educational history—may be retained for a longer period because they document completed educational and organizational actions.

When information is no longer reasonably necessary, Church Commons may delete, anonymize, or otherwise dispose of it.

12. Your Choices and Privacy Requests

You may contact Church Commons to ask about personal information associated with you.

Depending on the information involved and applicable law, you may request access to your information, correction of inaccurate information, an export of information associated with your account, deletion of information that is not required to be retained, or clarification about how your information is being used.

WordPress also provides personal-data export and erasure mechanisms that Church Commons uses where appropriate.

Some requests may be limited when information must reasonably be retained as an institutional Formation Record, to protect the rights of another person, to maintain security or integrity, or to comply with legal or organizational obligations.

Church Commons will not discriminate against a person for making a legitimate privacy request.

13. External Links

Church Commons resources may link to other websites, Scripture resources, educational materials, organizations, or services.

A link to another site does not mean that Church Commons controls that site’s privacy practices. When you leave Church Commons, the privacy policy of the destination site applies.

14. Children

Church Commons is primarily designed for adults participating in worship leadership, ministry, education, organizational leadership, and theological formation.

We do not intentionally use the general public website to solicit unnecessary personal information from children under 13. If Church Commons learns that personal information from a child under 13 has been collected through the public site without appropriate authorization, we will take reasonable steps to address or remove it.

Programs serving minors should use appropriate parental, guardian, church, organizational, and legal safeguards independently of the general Church Commons website.

15. No Sale of Personal Information

Church Commons does not sell personal information.

Church Commons also does not exchange personal information with advertisers for cross-context behavioral advertising.

If that practice were ever to change, this Privacy Policy would be updated and any legally required notice or choice would be provided before the change takes effect.

16. Changes to This Policy

Church Commons may update this Privacy Policy as the site, Formation system, email system, integrations, or legal requirements change.

Material changes will be reflected by updating the date at the top of this page. When appropriate, additional notice may be provided to registered users.

17. Contact

Questions, concerns, or requests regarding privacy may be sent to:

Church Commons
support@churchcommons.org

You may also use the Church Commons Contact page to begin a conversation.