Privacy Policy

Last updated: July 2026

The Saint Tabernacle Ministries (“TSTM”, “the Ministry”, “we”, “us”, and “our”) is strictly committed to protecting the privacy, dignity, and personal data of our congregants, website visitors, and donors. This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, process, utilize, and secure your personal data in strict compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act, No. 4 of 2013 (POPIA). This policy operates concurrently with our Website Terms & Conditions.

1. The Processing of Special Personal Information (Section 26 POPIA)

- 1.1 Legal Warning: Section 26 of POPIA strictly prohibits public or private entities from processing personal data concerning a data subject’s religious beliefs unless an explicit statutory exemption or explicit consent applies.
- 1.2 Explicit User Consent: By voluntarily completing church membership forms, submitting spiritual prayer requests, requesting pastoral counselling, or joining cell groups via our Website, you give your explicit, unequivocal, and voluntary consent for TSTM to process your personal data regarding your religious affiliations, spiritual needs, and faith records.

2. What Specific Information We Collect

When you interact with our ministry platforms, we may collect the following categories of data:

- Identity Information: Full names, surnames, identity numbers, dates of birth, and gender.
- Contact Information: Telephone numbers, mobile numbers, and active email addresses.
- Spiritual Data: Personal testimonies, intercessory prayer requests, pastoral counselling appointment backgrounds, and ministry group affiliations.
- Financial Data: Reference names, payment transaction metadata, and bank account parameters collected during voluntary tithing or donation tracks.

3. Absolute Protection of Minor Children (Section 34 POPIA)

- 3.1 Children’s Privacy Guard: TSTM maintains a zero-tolerance policy for un-managed processing of minors’ personal information. Under Section 34 of POPIA, data concerning children under 18 is subject to absolute protection.
- 3.2 Sunday School and Youth Registry Rules: No spiritual tracking, nursery attendance lists, or youth event registries involving minor children will ever be captured or processed via this Website without the explicit, written consent of a parent or authorized legal guardian.

4. Direct Operational Purposes for Processing Your Data

We process your personal information strictly for legitimate, non-commercial ministerial purposes, including:

- Responding directly to your website prayer requests, testimonies, and counselling inquiries.
- Maintaining accurate, secure congregant registries and church membership records.
- Issuing donation acknowledgments, tax certificates, and tithing summaries.
- Distributing church newsletters, upcoming ministry event notifications, and service time updates via secure electronic streams.

5. Third-Party Sharing and Data Retention Restrictions

- 5.1 Zero Commercialization: TSTM will never sell, rent, trade, lease, or distribute our congregant rolls or personal data directories to any external commercial third parties or marketing platforms.
- 5.2 Essential Sharing: We may only share data with external parties if required to fulfill a financial transaction (e.g., passing banking details securely to integrated South African payment clearing networks) or if legally mandated by South African law enforcement or SARS.
- 5.3 Retention Limits: Personal data will only be retained for as long as necessary to fulfill the spiritual and operational records of the church, or as mandated by South African non-profit bookkeeping laws.

6. Your Rights as a Data Subject Under POPIA

You hold absolute rights over your personal profile. At any stage, you may approach our leadership team to:

- Request confirmation of what personal details we hold about you.
- Request immediate corrections or updates to inaccurate, outdated information.
- Formally object to processing or request the absolute destruction of your data records from our church directories.

For detailed, step-by-step instructions on our formal information access frameworks, please consult our standalone PAIA Manual. To exercise any of your privacy rights, please address your request to our Designated Information Officer at info@tstm.co.za.