Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy explains how THE LIGHT CHURCH AUCKLAND ("we", "us", or "our") collects, uses, and protects information in connection with our website lightchurchnz.org and the LIGHT CHURCH Social Feed application (the "App").

The App integrates with the Meta Instagram API solely to display public posts from our own Instagram account @lightchurchnz on our website.

2. Data We Collect and Process

When you use our contact form, we collect the information you provide, including your name, email address, optional phone number, and enquiry message.

Through the Instagram integration, we access only the following data from our own Instagram account:

• Public post images and media
• Post captions
• Post publication dates
• Post permalink URLs

We do not:

• Collect or access any visitor's personal Instagram account data
• Request visitors to log in with their Instagram credentials
• Collect or store visitor information through the Instagram integration
• Track or profile visitors based on their Instagram activity

3. Purpose of Data Use

Contact form information is used only to receive, review, and respond to your enquiry. Instagram public post data is used exclusively to display our church's recent Instagram posts on our website.

4. Access Token Storage

The Instagram API access token required to retrieve our posts is stored securely as a server-side environment variable. It is never exposed to website visitors, included in client-side code, or shared with any third party.

5. Third-Party Sharing

We do not sell or trade your personal information. Contact form submissions are processed by FormSubmit so they can be delivered to our church email inbox. FormSubmit processes the submitted information only to provide this delivery service, subject to its own privacy terms.

6. Data Retention

FormSubmit states that form submissions are retained for up to 30 days. We retain enquiry emails only for as long as reasonably necessary to respond and keep appropriate church records. Instagram post data displayed on the website is cached temporarily and refreshed regularly.

7. Analytics and Cookies

This Site uses Google Analytics 4 to understand how visitors find and use the Site, so that we can improve our visitor information pages. Google Analytics sets cookies and collects information such as the pages you view, the approximate region you visit from, your device and browser type, and the referring website or search advertisement. We have enabled IP anonymisation, and we do not send names, email addresses or other directly identifying information to Google Analytics. Aggregated results may be linked to our Google Ad Grants account to measure how many visitors reach our worship and visitor guides. You can prevent this collection by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on or by blocking cookies in your browser settings.

This Site does not display advertising. We do not run Google AdSense or any other third-party advertising network, and we do not use advertising cookies or serve personalised ads. The only cookies set on this Site are the Google Analytics cookies described above. You can learn how Google uses information from sites that use its services at How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services.

8. Consent Where Required

Where applicable law requires consent before analytics cookies are set, we will use an appropriate consent mechanism. Visitors in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland may be shown a consent message before Google Analytics cookies are placed. You can also decline these cookies at any time through your browser settings or the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on linked above.

9. Your Rights

You may ask us to access, correct, or delete personal information you submitted through the contact form, subject to any information we are required to retain by law. Please contact us at the email address below.

If you are the owner of content displayed from our Instagram account and wish to have it removed from this website, please contact us and we will address your request promptly.

10. Relationship with Meta and Instagram

This website and the LIGHT CHURCH Social Feed app are not endorsed, certified, or otherwise approved by Meta Platforms, Inc. or Instagram. Instagram™ is a trademark of Meta Platforms, Inc. We use the Instagram API in accordance with Meta's Platform Terms and Developer Policies.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at: