Privacy Policy

Last updated: 25 June 2026

Church of the Ascension (“Ascension”, “we”, “us”) respects your privacy. This page explains what personal information we collect through this website, why we collect it, and how it’s handled. This policy is written to comply with the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020.

If you have any questions about this policy, or about how your information is handled, contact us at admin@ascensionchurch.nz.

What information we collect

We collect personal information in the following ways:

  • Contact form — when you send us a message, we collect your name, email address, and the content of your message, along with any other details you choose to include.
  • E-news sign-up — when you subscribe, we collect your name and email address so we can send you church updates.
  • Website analytics — we use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use our site (see Third-party services below).

We do not knowingly collect sensitive personal information (such as health information) through this website.

Why we collect it

We use this information to:

  • Respond to enquiries made through the contact form
  • Send e-news updates to people who have subscribed
  • Understand how our website is used, so we can improve it

We don’t use your information for any purpose beyond what it was collected for, and we don’t sell or rent personal information to third parties.

Third-party services

This website uses the following third-party services, each of which may collect or process some information independently of us:

  • Google Analytics — collects anonymised data about site visits (such as pages viewed and general location) to help us understand site usage. Read Google’s Privacy Policy.
  • Google Maps — our contact page embeds a Google Map. Interacting with the map may allow Google to collect data per their own privacy policy.
  • YouTube — some pages embed YouTube videos. Playing an embedded video may allow YouTube/Google to collect data per their own privacy policy.

These services are operated by Google and governed by Google’s own privacy terms, not ours. We don’t control what data they collect.

How we store and protect your information

Information submitted through our forms is stored securely and is only accessible to authorised people involved in running the church and its communications (for example, church staff or volunteers handling enquiries and e-news). We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from loss, misuse, or unauthorised access.

How long we keep it

We keep contact form enquiries and e-news subscriber details for as long as needed for the purpose they were collected for, or until you ask us to remove them.

Your rights

Under the Privacy Act 2020, you have the right to:

  • Ask what personal information we hold about you
  • Ask us to correct any information that’s wrong
  • Ask us to delete information we hold about you (e.g. unsubscribe from e-news, or request your enquiry details be removed)

To make any of these requests, contact us at admin@ascensionchurch.nz.

If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your personal information, you can also contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner at privacy.org.nz.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated date at the top.

Contact us

Church of the Ascension
admin@ascensionchurch.nz