Privacy Policy

1. What Personal Information we collect

To register for our Services, you provide basic information such as your name, email address, and preferred language. When you enroll in a Bible study course, we collect information about your course progress, including lessons completed, quiz scores, timestamps, and study preferences.

You may also choose to provide additional profile information such as your phone number, mailing address, city, state, country, and postal code. If you are connected with a local church or community group through our platform, we may collect the name of that church and the contact person who referred you.

We automatically collect certain technical information when you visit our website, including your IP address, browser type and version, time zone setting, operating system, device type, screen resolution, and referring website address. We also collect information about your interactions with our Services, such as pages visited, links clicked, features used, and the date and time of your visits.

If you contact us directly via email, phone, or through our support channels, we may receive additional personal information about you, such as your name, email address, phone number, the contents of a message or attachments you send to us, and any other information you may choose to provide.

2. What we do with the Personal Information we collect

We use your personal information to provide, maintain, and improve our Services. This includes delivering Bible study content, tracking your learning progress, personalizing your study experience, and communicating with you about courses, new features, and opportunities to connect with local communities.

We may use your information to connect you with local churches and community groups that participate in our follow-up program. When you request follow-up or express interest in connecting with a local community, we share relevant contact information with designated church representatives to facilitate that connection.

We use aggregated, de-identified data to analyze usage trends, measure the effectiveness of our courses, generate reports for our partners and supporting organizations, and improve the overall quality of our educational content.

We may also use your information to send you important notices, such as communications about changes to our terms, conditions, and policies. Because this information is important to your use of our Services, you may not opt out of receiving these communications.

With your consent, we may send you periodic emails about new courses, study resources, events, and other information we think you may find interesting. You can opt out of these communications at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the email or by contacting us directly.

3. When we Disclose Personal Information

We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal identification information to others. We may share generic aggregated demographic information not linked to any personal identification information regarding visitors and users with our organizational partners, affiliated churches, and supporting institutions for the purposes outlined above.

We may share your personal information with trusted third parties who assist us in operating our website, conducting our mission, or servicing you, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. These third-party service providers include cloud hosting providers, email delivery services, analytics platforms, and customer support tools.

As part of our follow-up ministry, we may share your name, contact information, and study progress with local church representatives who have been vetted and approved through our partnership program. This sharing occurs only when you have expressed interest in being contacted or when you have been assigned to a church community through our interest delivery system.

We may also release your personal information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect our or others' rights, property, or safety. However, non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses.

4. How we use cookies and collect information using technology

Our website uses cookies to enhance your experience. A cookie is a small file that is placed on your device when you visit a website. It enables the website to remember your actions and preferences (such as login credentials, language, font size, and other display preferences) over a period of time, so you do not have to keep re-entering them whenever you come back to the site.

We use essential cookies that are strictly necessary for the operation of our website. These include cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our platform, maintain your session while studying, and save your course progress. Without these cookies, the Services you have asked for cannot be provided.

We also use analytics cookies that allow us to recognize and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website. This helps us improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily. We use Google Analytics for this purpose, which collects information anonymously and reports website trends without identifying individual visitors.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website and Services. You can also delete cookies that have already been set. Please note that if you do delete cookies, any preferences or settings you have selected will need to be re-entered.

5. Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

All data transmitted between your browser and our servers is encrypted using industry-standard TLS (Transport Layer Security) encryption. User passwords are hashed using bcrypt and are never stored in plain text. We implement multi-factor authentication for administrative accounts and conduct regular security audits of our systems.

Our application infrastructure is hosted on industry-leading cloud platforms that maintain SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, and other security certifications. We employ firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and automated monitoring to detect and prevent unauthorized access.

However, please be aware that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. We recommend that you take steps to protect your personal information, such as choosing a strong password and keeping it confidential.

6. We may Transfer Personal Information to Other Countries

GIDS operates globally, and our Services are available to users worldwide. As a result, your personal information may be transferred to and processed in countries other than the country in which you reside. These countries may have data protection laws that are different from the laws of your country.

Specifically, our servers are located in the United States, and our partner churches and organizations operate in various countries around the world. When we transfer personal information to our partners for the purpose of local follow-up, the information may be processed in the country where the receiving church or organization is located.

By using our Services, you acknowledge and consent to the transfer and processing of your personal information in countries outside of your country of residence. We take appropriate safeguards to require that your personal information will remain protected in accordance with this Privacy Policy, including entering into data processing agreements with our partners where appropriate.

7. Links to other websites

Our website and Services may contain links to other websites of interest, including websites of our partner organizations, churches, educational institutions, and content providers. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website.

Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites, and such sites are not governed by this Privacy Policy. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question before providing any personal information.

8. Your Choices

You have several choices regarding the use of information on our Services. You may choose not to provide certain personal information, but this may limit your ability to use certain features of our platform, such as enrolling in courses or receiving follow-up from local communities.

Email Communications: You can opt out of receiving promotional emails from us by clicking the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of any promotional email. Please note that even after you opt out, we may still send you non-promotional messages, such as those about your account, your course progress, or our ongoing service-related communications.

Church Follow-up: If you have been connected with a local church through our platform and no longer wish to be contacted, you may request to be removed from the church's follow-up list by contacting us directly or by updating your preferences in your account settings.

Cookies: As described above, you can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of the website may then be inaccessible or may not function properly.

9. Accessing and Correcting your Personal Information

You have the right to access the personal information we hold about you. If you would like a copy of some or all of your personal information, please contact us using the information provided below. We will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe, and in any event within the timeframe required by applicable law.

We want to make sure that your personal information is accurate and up to date. You may ask us to correct or remove information you think is inaccurate. If you have an account on our platform, you can review and update certain personal information through your account settings.

You also have the right to request the deletion of your personal information. Upon receiving a verified request, we will delete your personal information from our records, unless we are required to retain it for legal or operational reasons. Please note that deleting your information may result in the loss of your course progress and study history, and this action cannot be undone.

If your personal information has been shared with a church or partner organization as part of our follow-up program, we will make reasonable efforts to notify them of your deletion request. However, we cannot guarantee that all copies of your information will be removed from their systems, and you may need to contact them directly.

10. Children

Our Services are not directed to children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we will take steps to delete such information from our systems promptly.

If you are a parent or guardian and you believe your child has provided us with personal information without your consent, please contact us using the information provided below. We encourage parents and guardians to monitor their children's Internet usage and to help enforce this Privacy Policy by instructing their children never to provide personal information through our platform without their permission.

11. Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you Services. We will retain and use your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, and support our educational mission.

Course progress data and study history are retained for the lifetime of your account to allow you to resume studies at any time and to maintain a record of your learning journey. If you request account deletion, we will delete your personal data within 30 days, though anonymized and aggregated data may be retained for statistical and analytical purposes.

Information shared with church partners as part of our follow-up program is subject to the data retention policies of those organizations. We require our partners to handle personal information responsibly and in accordance with applicable laws, but we are not responsible for their data retention practices.

12. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. When we make changes, we will update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, notify you by email or through a notice on our website.

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we are protecting your information. Your continued use of our Services after any changes to this Privacy Policy constitutes your acceptance of those changes.

13. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of our platform, or your dealings with our Services, please contact us at:

We will make every effort to resolve your concerns in a timely and satisfactory manner. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.