Last updated: 5 October 2026
This policy explains how Awaken Church handles personal information when you use awakenchurch.xyz. We aim to use personal information respectfully, only for clear church and website purposes, and in line with South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).
Who is responsible for this website
This website is operated by Awaken Church in Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. For privacy questions or requests, email scott@awakenchurch.co.za or call 083 225 7774.
Information you choose to send us
The contact form may collect your first and last name, email address, optional mobile number, your selected enquiry topic, your message, and your consent to be contacted about that enquiry. Please avoid sharing sensitive personal information.
Form submissions are emailed to the church team so that we can respond to general enquiries, help plan a visit, or assist with the next step you selected. The website does not save the form submission in its WordPress database. The resulting email may be retained only for as long as reasonably needed to respond, maintain appropriate church records, or meet a legal obligation.
Security and anti-bot information
To protect the form from automated abuse, the website uses brief rate limits derived from a visitor’s IP address. An attempted submission creates a one-way IP-derived key for about 10 seconds; a successfully delivered submission creates one for about one minute.
The form also uses Cloudflare Turnstile. Turnstile may process security signals such as the visitor’s IP address, browser and device characteristics, TLS information, the site key, and the website origin to distinguish people from bots. The website sends the Turnstile token and, when available, the visitor’s IP address to Cloudflare for server-side verification. Awaken Church does not send the form’s names, contact details, or message to Cloudflare. See Cloudflare’s Turnstile Privacy Addendum.
Embedded recordings
Message pages contain Spotify’s embedded player, which loads when you press Play. When the player loads or you interact with it, Spotify may use cookies or similar technologies and process information such as your IP address, device and browser information, and player activity. Spotify handles that information under its Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. You can control or remove cookies through your browser settings, although this may affect the player.
Hosting and technical logs
The website and its hosting provider may create routine security and access logs containing information such as IP address, browser type, requested page, date, and time. These logs are used to operate, troubleshoot, and secure the website.
How and why we use information
- To respond to a request that you asked us to receive.
- To contact you where you gave consent.
- To provide visit, community, baptism, youth, or children’s-ministry information relevant to your enquiry.
- To keep the website secure, prevent spam, and diagnose technical problems.
- To meet legal or safeguarding duties where applicable.
Sharing and international processing
We do not sell personal information. Information is available only to church team members who need it and to service providers that help operate the website, email, security, hosting, or embedded media. Cloudflare, Spotify, and hosting or email providers may process technical information outside South Africa under their own privacy terms and safeguards.
Your choices and rights
Subject to applicable law, you may ask whether we hold personal information about you, request access or correction, ask us to delete information that is no longer needed, or object to certain processing. Contact us using the details above. If you believe your POPIA rights have not been respected, you may also contact or lodge a complaint with South Africa’s Information Regulator.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy when the website, its services, or legal requirements change. The current version and its update date will remain on this page.