Grace Community Church

Introduction

The Grace Community Church of Greensboro, NC (GCC) maintains a website to provide church members and the general public with a convenient source of information about the ministries of GCC. Information posted to the website can come from a variety of sources within the congregation, but principally the information comes from the ministries themselves, either by action of the associated church staff or by ministry members directly.

Goal of the Policy

Since the website is publicly accessible, this policy seeks to guide two groups: 1) those who are preparing information to be posted to the website, and 2) those staff, members, guests, friends and visitors who attend worship services, special events, tours, concerts, Sunday School Classes, fellowship meetings, ministry meetings or other gatherings taking place in the life of this Congregation. For both groups, this policy is to provide guidance as to what information is appropriate for posting to the site, and to set the expectation as to what information is likely to be posted. Special care has been given to create a balance between the utility of the website, and the privacy of individuals.

Administration of the Policy

Every individual or ministry who plans to post to the site is responsible for the content they post. To assist in the administration, the Director of Ministries, along with the Web Administrator, will make periodic reviews of the contents of the website, to ensure that this policy is being followed. All elders, deacons, ministries and staff will be given copies of this policy, and will be expected to familiarize themselves with the policy’s objectives and provisions.

POLICY

1. GCC does not guarantee the confidentiality of information that is placed on the website, but will make reasonable efforts to restrict its use to GCC-related activities and staff.
2. GCC will not sell, trade or release any personal information that an individual provides us, with the exception of situations where GCC is required to comply with governmental, court and law enforcement requests.

The following information can be posted without prior written permission of the person depicted or described:

1. Names, office phone numbers, extensions and GCC email addresses of staff persons (e.g. janedoe@gracecommunitychurch.org).
2. Photographs of staff members leading or attending a GCC event.
3. Narrative descriptions of events which contain the names of staff persons.
4. Staff biographical information.
5. First and/or last names of adult members and contact information when those members are designated as a contact person for a GCC event or activity.
6. Photographs of adults attending a GCC-sponsored event or activity, with accompanying first name identification.
7. Photographs and full names of officers (elders & deacons) of the church currently serving.
8. Calendar dates and locations of congregational meetings, and the names of GCC officers and staff who will be attending.
9. Descriptive announcements of scheduled events which contain the names of persons in a leadership role, for example, a visiting speaker, clinician, musician, author or local dignitary.

The following information must not be posted without prior written permission of the person described or depicted, using the release form. If the person is a minor, written permission must be received from the parent or legal guardian, and placed on file with the church youth or children’s office.

1. Personal e-mail addresses of GCC staff persons, members, visitors, friends or anyone unrelated to the congregation, i.e., First.Last@yahoo.com.
2. Personal home phone numbers of GCC staff persons, members, visitors, friends or anyone unrelated to the congregation.
3. Narrative descriptions of events which include the last names of persons.
4. Photographs of adults with accompanying last names.

Whenever photographs of minors attending GCC events is published on the website, the following criteria must be observed:

1. No identifying captions will be used with any picture. In other words, no child’s name will be published with its picture.
2. Parent notification will be on file for all students shown in pictures.

Information concerning individual birthdays, any individual’s age, wedding anniversaries, illnesses, deaths, marriages, prayer requests or praises are not appropriate for posting.

Any person discovering that information about themselves or family members has been posted on the GCC website that they do not wish to remain there should contact the church’s Director of Ministries via our web form (choose “Director of Ministries” from drop-down “subject” menu) or by telephone at 336-379-1936.