Believers Discipleship Chapel (“BDC Church”, “we”, “our” or “us”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information. This policy explains how information is collected, used, stored, disclosed and protected when you use the BDC Church mobile application, this website and related digital services.
1. Who is responsible for your information
Believers Discipleship Chapel is primarily responsible for deciding how members and visitors personal information is used. BioTrack Tech Limited provides the underlying technology, hosting, maintenance and technical-support services for the mobile application and processes information on behalf of BDC Church.
- Believers Discipleship Chapel
- P.O. Box 47943–00100, Nairobi, Kenya
- info@bdchapel.org
- +254 733 235715
- www.bdchapel.org
2. Information we collect — mobile application
Account and profile: full name, telephone number, email address, gender, date or year of birth, profile photograph, residential area, family or household information, membership status, ministry or group information, login credentials and account identifiers.
Church participation: service, event and group attendance; ministry and volunteer participation; discipleship and membership records; event registrations; appointments and follow-up records; communication preferences; pledges, giving records and transaction references; prayer requests and pastoral-support information you volunteer.
Content you submit: messages and enquiries, prayer requests, testimonials, forms and survey responses, photographs, documents, audio or video files, event registrations and feedback.
Device and technical: device type and operating system, application version, device or application identifiers, IP address, login times and activity logs, crash reports and diagnostics, push-notification tokens, and security and authentication records.
Some information, including prayer requests and pastoral-support information, is sensitive. It is available only to authorised church personnel who need it for the relevant ministry or support purpose. We do not use technical information to track you across unrelated applications or websites for advertising.
3. Information we collect — this website
The website collects only what you choose to submit, and nothing more:
- Giving — your name, email address, telephone number, the amount, the M-PESA receipt or card reference, and what you gave towards. You may give anonymously, in which case your identity is not attached to the public record.
- Prayer requests — what you ask us to pray for and any contact details you include. Requests you mark confidential are seen only by pastoral staff.
- Contact messages and appointment bookings — your name, contact details and message.
- Newsletter subscriptions — your email address, with one-click unsubscribe in every message.
- Event bookings — your name, email address, telephone number, the number of places and any note you add. Your ticket is protected by an access code, which is stored only as a cryptographic hash and never in readable form.
- Shop orders — your name, contact details and delivery address.
- Staff accounts — for church administrators only: login credentials, two-factor authentication data, session records and an audit trail of administrative actions.
The website does not ask for camera, microphone, contacts or device storage access, and it sends no push notifications. Those permissions apply to the mobile application only.
4. Device permissions — mobile application only
The application requests access only when a feature requires it.
- Camera and photographs — to upload or update a profile photograph, scan or attach a document, or attach an image to a submission.
- Microphone and media — when you choose to record or upload audio.
- Contacts — where a feature lets you select or invite a contact. Your private contact list is never published or disclosed without authorisation.
- Files and storage — when you upload, download or save a document, image, audio file or church resource.
- Notifications — church announcements, event and service reminders, ministry updates, and account or security notifications.
You can manage all of these through your device settings.
5. How we use your information
- Create, administer and secure your account
- Maintain accurate church membership records
- Provide church programmes and ministry services
- Manage events, groups, services and attendance
- Facilitate pastoral care and member follow-up
- Process and acknowledge pledges and giving records
- Send announcements, reminders and ministry communications
- Respond to enquiries, prayer requests and support requests
- Diagnose technical problems and improve our services
- Prevent fraud, misuse and unauthorised access
- Meet applicable legal, regulatory and accounting obligations
We do not sell or rent your personal information, and we do not use it for advertising.
6. Giving and payment information
Payments are processed by authorised banks, mobile-money providers and payment gateways. We receive limited transaction information: the payer name, telephone number or email address, the amount, a transaction reference, the payment status, and the date and purpose of the payment.
Card details, mobile-money PINs and banking passwords are entered only into the payment provider own secure interface and never reach our systems. We will never ask for your M-PESA PIN, online-banking password or full card number through a church form, email or message.
Financial records are retained for the period required by accounting, tax and audit obligations, even after other information is removed.
7. How we share information
We share information only where reasonably necessary, with:
- Authorised BDC Church pastors, administrators, ministry leaders and personnel
- BioTrack Tech Limited, as the mobile application technology provider
- Hosting, cloud-storage, email and SMS service providers
- Payment providers — Paystack for card payments, Safaricom (M-PESA) for mobile money, and Coinbase Commerce where cryptocurrency giving is offered
- YouTube and Vimeo, when you play an embedded sermon or livestream
- Professional advisers, auditors or insurers
- Government authorities or regulators where disclosure is legally required
Service providers may process information only for the authorised service. We do not share personal information with third parties for their own advertising or marketing.
8. Legal basis for processing
Where applicable we rely on: your consent; performance of a service you requested; the church legitimate ministry and administrative interests; protection of the rights, safety and security of members and others; and compliance with legal, regulatory, tax or accounting obligations. Where we rely on consent you may withdraw it, though this does not affect processing already lawfully carried out.
9. Data security
We use reasonable administrative, organisational and technical measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, accidental loss, misuse, alteration, unauthorised disclosure and destruction. Administrative access is restricted according to assigned responsibilities and recorded in an audit trail. Confidential prayer requests are readable only by pastoral staff.
No internet service or electronic-storage system can be guaranteed completely secure. Please keep your password confidential and tell us immediately if you believe your account has been accessed without authorisation.
10. Data retention
We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary to provide our services, maintain accurate membership and ministry records, resolve disputes and security concerns, and meet legal, accounting and safeguarding obligations.
Information is kept until it is no longer needed, until you ask us to remove it, or until the church removes it in the ordinary course of administration. When it is no longer required it is deleted, anonymised or securely archived. Information may remain briefly in secure backups until those are overwritten in the normal cycle.
11. Account and data deletion
You may request deletion of your account and associated personal information at any time. See how to request deletion, or email info@bdchapel.org with the subject BDC Church Data Deletion Request.
We may contact you to verify your identity first. After verification we delete or anonymise the information associated with you, except where retention is required for financial, tax or accounting records; fraud prevention or security investigations; safeguarding obligations; establishing or defending legal claims; or another applicable legal obligation.
What this means in practice: giving records are anonymised rather than erased — your name, email address and telephone number are removed, while the amount and date remain so the church accounts still balance. Prayer requests, contact messages, appointment bookings, newsletter subscriptions and partnership enquiries are deleted outright. Where information must be retained, access is restricted and it is not used for any unrelated purpose.
12. Your rights
Subject to applicable law, you may ask whether we hold information about you; request access to it; request correction of anything inaccurate or incomplete; object to or restrict certain processing; withdraw consent; request deletion of eligible information; request transfer of your information; and complain about how it has been handled.
To exercise any of these, contact info@bdchapel.org. You may also complain to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner of Kenya if you believe your rights have been infringed.
13. Children privacy
Our services include information relevant to children and youth ministries. Children should use them under the supervision of a parent, guardian or authorised church leader. Where we collect personal information about a child we seek appropriate parental or guardian authorisation where required, and use it only for legitimate ministry, safeguarding and administrative purposes. Parents and guardians may contact us to access, correct or delete a child information, subject to legal and safeguarding requirements.
14. Communications
We send service-related messages necessary for operating your account, including security alerts and important church notices. You can opt out of non-essential communications using the unsubscribe link in any message, your notification settings, your device settings, or by contacting the church. Opting out does not stop essential account, security or service messages.
15. External links and third-party services
Our services link to external websites, social-media platforms and payment providers that operate under their own privacy policies. BDC Church is not responsible for the privacy practices of services it does not control. Please review their policies before providing personal information.
16. International processing
Some technology and cloud-service providers may process or store information outside Kenya. Where information is transferred internationally, BDC Church and its technology providers take reasonable steps to ensure appropriate safeguards are applied in accordance with applicable data-protection requirements.
17. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy when features change, our information-handling practices change, service providers change, or legal requirements change. The updated policy is published on this page with a revised Last updated date. Where changes are material we may also notify you through the application or another appropriate channel.
18. Contact us
- Believers Discipleship Chapel
- P.O. Box 47943–00100, Nairobi, Kenya
- info@bdchapel.org
- +254 733 235715
- www.bdchapel.org