Last updated 6 November 2026
This notice explains what personal information Evangelical Times collects, why, who we share it with and what your rights are. It covers our website, our subscriptions and memberships, our emails and the other ways you deal with us.
Who we are. The Evangelical Times Limited, a company registered in England and Wales (number 00941912) and a registered charity (number 258927). Registered office: Valley Lodge, Delaware Road, Gunnislake PL18 9AS. We are the data controller for the information described here and are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (registration ZA096395).
How to contact us. Email communications@evangelical-times.org or write to Evangelical Times, PO Box 104, Gunnislake PL17 0BE.
Contents
- What information we collect
- How we use it
- Our legal grounds
- Who we share it with
- Other websites
- Cookies
- How long we keep it
- How we keep it safe
- Children
- Your rights
- Do-Not-Track signals
- Changes to this notice
- Contacting us
- Seeing, correcting or deleting your information
1. What information we collect
Information you give us
When you subscribe, join as a member, buy something, donate, sign up for emails, comment on an article or contact us, you may give us:
- your name and email address
- your postal address, if we are sending you the paper or an order
- your phone number, if you give it to us
- your church, if you tell us, for example as a church agent
- your contact and newsletter preferences
- for donors, whether you are a UK taxpayer and want us to claim Gift Aid
Payment details. Card and bank details are collected and held by Stripe, our payment provider. We never see or store your full card number. Stripe's privacy notice is at stripe.com/gb/privacy.
Sensitive information. We do not ask for or process special category information such as health, ethnicity or religious belief. Reading ET or being a member does not of itself tell us your beliefs, and we do not record them.
Information we get from other people
- Church agents give us the names, and sometimes addresses, of the people in their church who take the paper through them.
- Gift buyers give us the name and address of the person receiving the gift.
In both cases we use the information only to deliver the subscription and to answer questions about it.
Information collected automatically
Like most websites, ours records technical information about visits: IP address, browser and device type, pages viewed and when, and the page you came from. We use this to keep the site secure and working and to understand what people read. Some of it is collected through cookies, see section 6.
Church finder. The church finder shows only the details each church has given us for publication. We do not publish the name or contact details of the person who submitted the listing.
Location. We do not ask for your location. The church finder lets you use your device's location to centre the map near you if you choose to. That is handled by your device and browser, is optional, and is not sent to us or stored.
2. How we use it
- to set up and run your account, membership or subscription, and to post the paper to you
- to take payment and send receipts
- to send you the emails you have asked for, such as the Friday newsletter and news emails, and to let you stop them
- to send service messages, such as renewal reminders, changes to prices or terms, and replies to your questions
- to claim Gift Aid on donations where you have asked us to
- to run the church agent scheme and keep agents' bundles right
- to publish comments you post on articles, under the name on your account
- to keep the website and our systems secure and to detect misuse
- to understand how the website and our emails are used so we can improve them
- to meet our legal and accounting obligations
We do not sell personal information and we do not use it for automated decisions that have a legal or similar effect on you.
3. Our legal grounds
UK data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for each use. Ours are:
- Contract. Running your subscription, membership or order and taking payment.
- Consent. Marketing emails, and Gift Aid declarations. You can withdraw consent at any time, which does not affect what was done before you withdrew it.
- Legal obligation. Keeping accounting and Gift Aid records, and responding to lawful requests from authorities.
- Legitimate interests. Keeping the site secure, understanding how it is used, running the church agent scheme, and telling existing readers about ET's own products and offers. We only rely on this where our interest is not outweighed by yours.
4. Who we share it with
We share personal information only with the organisations that help us run ET, and only what each one needs:
| Who | What they do for us |
|---|---|
| Ghost | Hosts the website and holds member accounts, email addresses and newsletter preferences |
| Stripe | Takes payments and holds card and bank details |
| Mailchimp | Sends the Friday newsletter and other email campaigns |
| Help Scout | Runs our helpdesk and the chat box on the website |
| Our printer and mailing house | Receive the names and addresses needed to post the paper and orders each month |
| Airtable | Holds our subscriber, agent, church and advertising records |
| Xero | Our accounts, including invoices and receipts |
| Google Analytics | Website usage statistics |
| HMRC | Gift Aid claims, where you have asked us to claim |
Each of these acts on our instructions under a contract that requires them to protect your information. We may also share information where the law requires it, or with professional advisers under a duty of confidence. If ET were ever transferred to another organisation, reader records would go with it on the same terms.
Where your information is held. Our office records are kept in the UK. Several of the services above, including Ghost, Stripe, Mailchimp, Help Scout, Airtable and Google, process information in the United States or elsewhere outside the UK. Where they do, the transfer is covered by the UK–US Data Bridge or by the ICO's international data transfer agreement, which give your information equivalent protection.
5. Other websites
Our site links to other websites and carries advertisements from other organisations. We are not responsible for their privacy practices and this notice does not cover them. Please check their own notices before giving them information.
6. Cookies
We use cookies and similar technologies to keep you signed in, remember your preferences, keep the site secure and measure how it is used. We do not run targeted advertising: the adverts on our site are placed directly by the advertiser and do not track you.
The cookies we set, what each one does, and how to control them are listed in our Cookie policy. You can also opt out of Google Analytics at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
7. How long we keep it
- Subscriptions, memberships and orders: for as long as you are a subscriber or member, and for up to two years afterwards so we can answer queries and offer you a renewal.
- Payment, invoice, donation and Gift Aid records: six years after the end of the financial year they relate to, as HMRC requires.
- Email lists: until you unsubscribe or ask us to remove you. Mailchimp keeps unsubscribed addresses on a suppression list so that we do not email you again, and we clear these out periodically.
- Enquiries and helpdesk messages: up to two years after the matter is closed.
- Comments on articles: for as long as the article is published, unless you ask us to remove them.
When we no longer need information we delete it or anonymise it. Where it survives in a backup for a time, it is not used for anything else.
8. How we keep it safe
Access to personal information is limited to the staff who need it. The website, payments and email systems use encrypted connections and accounts are protected with two-factor authentication where available. No system is perfectly secure, so if you believe your account has been compromised please tell us straight away.
9. Children
Our services are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18 without a parent's or guardian's involvement. If you think a child has given us information, please contact us and we will remove it.
10. Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the right to:
- ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you
- have inaccurate information corrected
- have your information deleted, where there is no good reason for us to keep it
- restrict or object to how we use it, including objecting to marketing at any time
- receive the information you gave us in a portable form
- withdraw consent where we rely on it
To exercise any of these, email communications@evangelical-times.org. We will respond within one month. You can stop marketing emails at any time using the unsubscribe link in any email or by emailing us. We may still send service messages about your subscription or account.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please tell us first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow SK9 5AF, ico.org.uk, 0303 123 1113.
11. Do-Not-Track signals
Some browsers can send a "Do Not Track" signal. There is no agreed standard for responding to it, so our website does not act on it at present. The cookie controls described in our Cookie policy apply regardless.
12. Changes to this notice
We update this notice when our practices or the law change. The date at the top shows when it was last revised. If a change is significant we will tell members by email or by a notice on the website.
13. Contacting us
Questions about this notice or about your information: communications@evangelical-times.org, or by post to The Evangelical Times Limited, PO Box 104, Gunnislake PL17 0BE, United Kingdom.
14. Seeing, correcting or deleting your information
Members can see and change their email address and newsletter choices, and cancel their membership, from the account menu on the website. For anything else, including print subscription details, deletion requests or a copy of your information, email us and we will deal with it.
If you ask us to delete your information we remove it completely from our systems. The only exceptions are anything already published, such as a comment or an article that names you, and the financial records we must keep for tax purposes, which are held privately and shared only with HMRC.
