1. Who operates this service
Lighthouse Church Monaragala operates this private, non-commercial church ministry service for Sunday School administration. It is not an open public registration platform or a commercial service. The public homepage and policy pages are informational; student records and management tools require Google sign-in, administrator approval, and role-based permission. In this policy, “we” and “our” mean the church ministry team responsible for this service.
2. Information we collect and access
- Google account information: Google sign-in requests basic identity, email, and profile permissions (openid, email, profile). We receive your name, email address, email-verification status, Google account identifier, and profile image if Google provides one. Your name and email identify your team account and changes you make. Basic profile information may also be present in your sign-in session. We do not receive your Google password.
- Team administration: account approval status, assigned role, group responsibilities, permissions, and an audit history of actions and their dates.
- Student and family records: information entered by authorized team members, including student names, dates of birth, group and enrollment details, guardian names and contact details, relationships, emergency contacts, and configured registration fields.
- Ministry activities: Sunday attendance, absence notes and approval decisions, event programs and assignments, practice dates, attendance and hours, and related notes and reports. Absence explanations can contain sensitive information; enter only what is necessary.
- Technical information: essential session and security cookies, and operational information such as request times, browser/network information, IP addresses, or errors that our hosting and infrastructure providers may process to deliver and protect the service.
Ordinary teacher sign-in does not request access to Gmail, Google Contacts, Google Calendar, or the teacher’s personal Google Drive files.
3. Why we use information
We use information to authenticate and approve team members, manage student and guardian records, keep attendance, coordinate events and practices, review absence notes, generate ministry reports, protect access, investigate errors, maintain an audit history, and recover records from backups. We do not sell personal information or use Google user data for advertising, data brokerage, or training general-purpose AI or machine-learning models.
4. Google Sheets, Drive, and backup permissions
Application records are stored in a church-designated Google spreadsheet. The server accesses this spreadsheet through a service account with access to the configured ministry files; teachers do not need to share their own Drive with the app.
For backups to a personal Google Drive folder, the designated backup owner separately authorizes Google Drive access during administrator setup. That setup currently requests the broad Google Drive permission (https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive), which can technically permit access to all Drive files accessible to that owner. The implemented backup functions use it to verify access to the configured source spreadsheet and destination folder and create backup copies there. The permission is not requested from ordinary team members as part of sign-in.
The backup owner’s refresh token and service-account credentials are kept in server-side configuration, not exposed to the browser or included in application exports. These credentials permit the configured operations until they expire, are revoked, or are removed from the server. Removing backup authorization can stop future backups without deleting copies already created.
Our use and transfer of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
5. Who can access or receive information
Authorized church administrators, pastors, teachers, and volunteers receive access according to their assigned permissions and responsibilities. All approved active roles can view basic student rosters and birthday month/day reminders. Full birth dates, guardian contacts, private registration details, practice history, absence-note visibility, and reporting are controlled by permissions. Teachers without wider note access can see their own absence-note submissions; authorized reviewers can review submissions.
Google processes authentication, spreadsheet storage, and Drive backups. Vercel provides application hosting and scheduled execution. These providers may process data on infrastructure outside your country under their own terms and privacy practices. Their policies include Google’s Privacy Policy and Vercel’s Privacy Policy.
Authorized users can download CSV/PDF reports or print records for legitimate ministry purposes. Those copies must be protected by the recipient. We may disclose information when required by applicable law or necessary to address a safeguarding or security concern. Public website visitors do not receive student records.
6. Children and family information
The management tools are for authorized church team members, not for children to create accounts or sign in themselves. Children’s records are entered by the authorized ministry team for Sunday School care and administration, with appropriate parent/guardian authorization and any other basis required by applicable law. Parents and guardians may contact us to ask about, correct, or request removal of a child’s information. Avoid entering detailed medical, safeguarding, or other sensitive information unless necessary and appropriately authorized.
7. Cookies and external links
We use essential authentication and security cookies to maintain sessions and protect sign-in. The application’s configured sign-in session lasts up to eight hours; signing out ends the browser session, and cookie expiry also limits it. We do not include advertising or third-party analytics trackers in the application. Google and the hosting provider may process technical data for their own service operation.
Scripture references and YouTube links lead to external websites. We do not embed YouTube players automatically. If you follow an external link, that provider’s privacy practices apply.
8. Storage, security, and retention
We use HTTPS on the production domain, server-side credentials, access controls, account approval, and audited changes to reduce unauthorized access. No online service can guarantee complete security. Access to the underlying spreadsheet, backup folder, downloaded reports, and hosting account must also be controlled by the church.
We retain records while needed for ministry administration, accountability, security, and recovery, and as required by applicable law. The application uses an append-only change history. Archiving a student, event, program, or note deactivates it; it does not permanently erase the original information, audit history, or backup copies. There is no automatic fixed-period deletion or backup-retention cleanup. A deletion request therefore requires administrator review and coordinated handling of live records, change history, backups, and any authorized exports. Some records may need to be retained for a legitimate or legal reason, which we will explain when responding.
9. Your choices and requests
You can sign out, ask an administrator to disable your team account, and request access, corrections, or deletion through the contacts below. We will assess requests according to your authority and applicable requirements. Revoking Google access does not itself remove ministry records already stored.
You can review or remove app access through Google Account connections. The backup owner can use the same controls to revoke Drive authorization and should notify the administrator so backup configuration can be updated. Losing authorization may prevent sign-in or future backups.
10. Policy changes and contact
We will update the date on this page when the policy changes. Material changes to Google data use will be communicated and, where required, separately consented to before the new use begins. See also our Terms of Service.
For privacy requests, account support, corrections, or concerns about these terms, contact Lighthouse Church Monaragala at monaragalalhc@gmail.com. Pastoral contact: prabulhc@gmail.com.
Parents and guardians can contact us even if they do not have an account. Describe the request and your relationship to the record; do not email passwords, access tokens, or unnecessary information about a child. We may verify your identity and authority before disclosing or changing records.