Vision/Mission statements | Testimony - Share your Testimony with the world

Ref	Objectives	Summary of how the vision will be achieved	Target(s) in numbers	Resources needed	Impact & Status
I	Testimonies and prayers that change lives.	Work with ministry partners, volunteers, country coordinators and online resources to source for testimonies from all around the world. The testimonies collected are written, audio or video and are posted on our website and our social media platforms and subsequently verified where possible. The testimonies are also shared with our e- mail subscribers to encourage and grow them in faith. We receive and attend to prayers from around the world (through the ministry prayer lines), from our brothers and sisters who seek hope and answers from God.	58,500 testimonies 60 testimonies per year over 5 years, from each of the 195 countries in the world. 117,000 prayers 120 prayers requests per year over 5 years, from each of the 195 countries in the world.	195 coordinators - at least 1 coordinator per country. Funding to cover transport, communication, and gadgets for the country coordinators and volunteers. Verification team members in every country to verify the testimony stories. A 24/7hr prayer and counselling team for our brothers and sisters who seek divine counsel.	Impact Evangelism from the voice of the saints. Evidence of the word being alive in everyday people’s lives. Faith and assurance about what the saints believe. Status In progress. We are daily adding more testimonies and coordinators. We often receive prayers requests from our brothers and sisters in the world.
II	A network of believers/subscribers operating like an army of the Lord.	Using a variety of methods including short videos, adverts, ministry partners, volunteers and social media to connect with believers/ subscribers including through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Subscription to our newsletter- a connection for believers to receive news about what the King is doing – through the testimonies of others.	60 sermons 12 preaching messages per year over 5 years (e.g., in person or video). 30,000 subscribers 6,000 subscribers per year 500 per month over 5 years.	Access to social media platforms (WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Telegram among others), websites, TVs, Podcasts and sound radio broadcasts. Funding to use search engines and other online platforms to get subscribers. Financial or other support from ministry partners(friends) and volunteers.	Impact Finding God’s direction at every step in life. Seeking divine counsel in every area of life and ministry. Finding God’s answers to all the problems we face – individually and globally. Spiritual maturity. Status In progress. People are joining the network of believers through subscription to the various platforms. We are seeing believers who put God first in their daily lives.
III	Ministering the Love of God.	Work with other ministries, volunteers and country coordinators to identify communities and or individuals to extend our charity works. “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13: 35) Build a network of churches/ministries who we can support (financially, with resources and a platform to share their message with the world. or need). As part of this network, we will build a church eco system APP providing information such as: churches in need of volunteers or equipment; congregants in need of housing, Christian house mates. It will be a mutually beneficial relationship for in return, they will tell their congregation about the great work of God through us. All testimonies on our website, APP and other sources show the name of that ministry and so they get the recognition and God gets the glory for using them and us to do his work.	390 churches/ministry partners Work with at least two (2) churches/ministries per country in the 195 countries. 100,000 impacted by a church eco system app	Churches/ministries moved by the love of God to reach communities. Donation fund to support the ministries we are to work with, to reach communities. Ministry coordinators to work with the churches/ministries in helping them, as they help us. Technology enthusiasts to build the church eco system APP.	Impact Assisting the poor Taking care of the disadvantaged (e.g. orphans, widows and widowers, prisoners, the homeless, the sick, mental health sufferers among others. Providing financial literacy to believers. Growth of the local church and thus global church. Status In progress. We are reaching out to worldwide communities with the good news. We are edifying the body of Christ. We are evangelizing through charitable works. We are doing the work of educating churches/ministries to partner with us and see the mutual benefit of joining with their brothers and sisters around the world. We are refining the church eco – system app prototype.

D E Wasake Esq.

Basics

Until I truly became a Christian in March 2017 and then became baptised in May 2017, you could call me the KING OF “BACKSLIDERS”. You see over a 20 year period since I had first come to know Christ at the age of 13, I had been “hot and cold” for God (hence “backsliding), for example:

Secret secular things (secondary school): The 2-year period from when I was 13-15 years in boarding school in Africa. I claimed I loved the Lord and in about 3 months even read the entire New Testament. On the weekend, as a “good Christian” I attended Christian fellowship when the SINNERS were enjoying “secular” movie entertainment - the very same movies I used to watch during school holidays, away from their prying eyes.

Also the “worldly” music I hated, I secretly followed it (also during school holidays).

Scary book (university): The perhaps 6 month period after I read a scary book “He came to set the captives free” about a doctor working in a hospital that belonged to Satan. I thereafter “feared the wrath of God” (or was it Satan?) and subsequently dumped my girlfriend who was “holding me back from knowing Christ”. I was hot again and this time moved about in my pocket with a blue Gideon’s bible. I regularly preached to my neighbour best friend about God. Soon we were partying together!

Drug heist part 1(Bahamas): The night when a friend asked me to try “Hush Brownies”. I didn’t realise or perhaps after a night of drinking, didn’t care that they were a cake baked with Marijuana (ganja we called it). I woke up at 5 am and thought the ceiling fan was going to chop my head off! Next it was that I would slip in the shower (I tried to shower at 5.00 am). Then it was the turn of the leftover chicken to choke me. Eventually, I knew, I was done for and my drug overdose body was going to be shipped back to my poor mother in Africa. So I grabbed my Bible and slept while holding it.

I have not mentioned the times I had heard a Christian message, cried, repented and asked Jesus to forgive me and promptly forgotten it, when the danger was past. I had tried Christianity many times and it hadn’t worked. So what was going to be different this time?

Examples from the bible

The bible says that we should be careful not to build on any other foundation, other than Jesus.

You see this Christ is the Foundation of Christian life, the Rock on which you are to build your life because as he explained himself in a famous story (called a parable), if you don’t your house will come crushing down – like mine had many times.

He explains the parable thus:

Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

It would seem that Christianity had “failed” to take a firm hold of me over the 20 year period as I have narrated, because my life wasn’t built on the rock…. BUT there is something Beautiful about the Holy Spirit and this is a revelation that came to me, just recently:

In Genesis 1: 1-2, the bible says:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

In the beginning, the Holy Spirit (who you will get to know), was hovering. Some say, this means He was Brooding, Thinking, Pondering while he looked at the chaos. After a while, He decided to put an end to the chaos. He commanded light to flood in. And there was light!

That is what happened to me and this is how it happened.

What happened next…

About 3 months before my conversion, at the start of 2017, a Christian friend of mine asked me that we should read the bible together over one year. She didn’t think I would do it, she later told me, knowing of my hot and cold journey.. but she tried anyway. I said yes (to her surprise) and then I started. I downloaded a bible reading app. You see the Spirit of God had been preparing me for this firm foundation and this is how it unfolded.

Bible reading.. but no results. I started reading the bible daily. Starting with Genesis 1 (with that passage above). Nothing really happened (as I thought). My life didn’t really change. I continued with my partying and my former lifestyle. A Christian girl I had recently met at this time (I later married her) even offered to pray with me daily and I REFUSED. I wasn’t ready.

The one thing that was different this time though - I refused to stop reading the bible. I would read, promptly forget the stuff I was reading and go about my day. What I didn’t realise is that God was working in the 2 months plus that I read. I know this because on 8 March 2017, I wrote down my first bible lesson in a notepad on my phone. It seems the word was finally taking root firmly and I had even by this point developed the habit of writing down what I was learning.

Breakthrough. By around 26 March 2017, I eventually couldn’t live with the double lifestyle, It was tearing me apart! I on my knees, with tears in my eyes basically told God he had won. I surrendered my life to him. I confessed my sins and asked him to become my Lord and Saviour.

Church and other material. As soon as I became a Christian. I also realised something had to change if I was not to fall into old patterns (of backsliding).

I asked 2 friends of mine which church they attended and the very next Sunday, I went to Church for the first time in perhaps 8 years.

I bought a book written by the author of the Alpha course. This was to help me understand the basics of Christianity.
I started reading a book called Purpose Driven life by an author called Rick Warren. It’s a 40 day journey in the Christian life. As part of the reading, I daily (at lunch) listened to his daily audio messages to accompany the book.

Baptism and Holy Spirit filling. During my daily reading of the bible as well as these supplementary Christian books, I was reading, it became obvious to me that I needed to do all the things necessary to fully become a Christian. This is therefore what needed to happen next.

Baptism

In May 2017 I became baptised when the pastor at Church announced a baptism. From my reading the bible for myself I clearly saw that childhood baptism commonly practiced in some churches and the model in the bible were not the same. In the bible, baptism took place after someone believed in Jesus. These were in all cases, adults who understood the meaning of salvation. A child can’t do that.

Holy Spirit Filling

A few months later, the Pastor again announced that those who wanted to be filled with the Holy Spirit should go to the front. I didn’t go because by then, the same Holy Spirit who was already in full force by now in my life was in the habit of “embarrassing a grown man”. I would often cry so hard I needed to carry tissue with me almost permanently! So No, I wasn’t going to be filled in public – I knew what would happen. I however did this privately with the pastor (cry I surely did).

Learning Spiritual disciplines… and the voice of God

If I was to really live the Christian lifestyle, then I needed to walk the journey and not talk it, otherwise, I would fool myself as in past times. There is a bible verse which explains it like this:

“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.”

Meditate on God’s word. This meant I couldn’t abandon my daily bible reading and bible study BUT I didn’t rush as I did when I was younger. Instead I took my time, read, thought about it, revised it, and tried to practice it. The bible promises if you do this, you are like a tree planted by a river. Your leaves never wither.
Learning how to praise (and controlling rebellious thoughts). When I started, I really had some rebellious streaks or thoughts in me – “Why should I lift my voice to praise God?” I was arrogant! These invasive thoughts often came violently in my mind but slowly by slowly Jesus renewed my mind and now they are fewer and fewer and I have learnt to make every thought subject to Jesus.
Learn how to pray. I realised all my 20 years of hot and cold, I really didn’t know how to pray! I therefore prayed to God to teach me how to pray and He responded by telling me to read the psalms. This is how I started knowing how to worship him and praying better.
Fasting. I was living apart from my new wife and it was critical that I remain faithful. I needed to learn self-control, particularly given my previous hedonistic lifestyle. God taught me how to fast and he revealed to me a fasting mystery. If you can control your hunger for food, you can control other “fleshly” things e.g – anger, sexual urges, your tongue, jealousy.
Giving. This was one of the hardest lessons I had to learn. One day in doing my bible reading, God interrupted me to remind me that I had to give. I had never tithed before in my life. I grudgingly had to learn to stop letting money control me, as it had for virtually all my working life. Tithing teaches you that all belongs to God and money is just HIS loan to you.

God’s voice really? If you are wondering at this stage how “God interrupted me” or “Spoke to me”. It is primarily through reading the bible and other material. I noticed a “strange thing”. As I would read the bible, a verse would stand out to me. Then I switch on TV for example, and right on cue, the preacher is speaking about the same thing. Then I listen to an audio sermon – and AGAIN I hear the same thing.

I now know that God often confirms things through two or three witnesses.

And now?

Slowly by slowly over this time, I have built my knowledge of God and this has moved on to not only the bible and spiritual books but I am now learning bible theology through a FREE online bible school. This training enables me to be able to know how to defend what I believe in.

Does all this make me “Holy” or “Perfect”? Oh no, far from it! I have found a biblical truth taking hold of me:

My mind is daily renewed by the Word. It is almost like a river washing me clean every day and I find that, it is not that I am sinless. What I however find is that by the power of the Holy Spirit – I sin less and where I sin, I feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit who tells me I need to repent. Having been forgiven, I then get up and start crawling, then walking, then running again forward to the high calling of Christ Jesus. Towards the prize which he had laid hold of me. Amen!

Please note, sinning is not the same as living a lifestyle of sin, what is often seen as:

I am saved so it’s okay to continue in this [bad] habit?
Christians who become saved BUT continue as a “practice” (something they do as a matter of lifestyle) to do the very same things they were saved from are at risk. The bible says the following about such:

“Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were…”

It is often clear to us from the bible that those who do evil will not inherit the kingdom but the verse above adds – “Neither (meaning in addition) …” as he lists people who practice these things will ALSO not inherit it. This as you can see includes a Christian (including one who has become saved) who continues to practice these things, so we need to be careful! So please note, sinning and repenting of something is not the same as practicing it daily or regularly – as a life style.

Take up your cross every day to follow him.
Discipleship is not a matter of Sunday or whenever you are around other Christians. It is a daily walk, one where you surrender your life to Jesus and are willing to die for him daily. Jesus says so as follows:“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Joy– even when I am in the midst of unbelievable pain and suffering (I went through this in the first few months).
Controlling the tongue/Humility – Learning not to say something, even when the old me would.
Giving – Becoming more tuned to the needs of those around us. Family, friends, those in the wider community. God’s heart is always for the downtrodden. I couldn’t claim to be a Christian if I wasn’t sensitive to people’s needs.

I have documented the rest of my spiritual journey to date through the website including how Jesus eventually gave me a message for People Like Me – Prodigals. This is my story, what will yours be?

Your turn

Find a church to attend. Meeting other Christians is critical for your walk.
Keep a journal – for your bible reading and prayers. God speaks through this.
Developing a list of spiritual resources (e.g audio, video, book) which you can use during your devotional time. Other Christians will give you invaluable tips.
Important: How will you make reading the bible (or listening to audio of bible readings) part of your normal daily routine?

1 Corinthians 3: 11 (NIV)
Matthew 7: 24-27 (NKJV)
The number of days/hours you can commit to
James 1: 22-25 (NLT)
Psalms 1: 1-3 (NKJV)
1 John 5: 7-8 (NJKV)
Romans 12: 2 (paraphrase)
Philippians 3: 14 (KJV) (paraphrase)
1 Corinthians 6: 9 – 11 (NIV)
Matthew 16: 24 – 26 (ESV)

God bless you. D E Wasake, a bondservant of Jesus.

Statement of Faith

The Bible is the infallible Word of God (the supreme rule for faith and practice), inspired by the Holy Spirit, and contains every answer to man's problems.

The sixty-six books (66) of the Old and New Testament came from the very mouth of God and are without error in the originals. Scripture is therefore the unique and supreme guide for all it affirms, including both belief and behaviour. 2 Timothy 3:16,17; 2 Peter 1:20,21

There is one God, existing eternally in three persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit - equal in essence and divine perfection, all three uncreated, executing distinct but harmonious offices.

God the Son is fully God and fully human, without confusion or mixture, the unique and only Son. He existed before time, was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, died on the cross as the sacrifice for our sins, was physically raised from the dead as prophesied, ascended into heaven, and is now exalted, sitting at the right hand of God the Father, interceding for the saints as the sole mediator. He will return to earth, and ultimately every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. John 10:30; John 14:26; Philippians 2:5-7

God is Love and He loves all people. It is His desire to reach out to those who are poor, oppressed, widowed or orphaned, and to heal the broken-hearted. Psalm 68:5,6; 1 John 4:16

Man is created in the image of God but separated from God by sin. Without Jesus we cannot have a relationship with God. In conversion, the believer is drawn by God to Himself, repents and turns from his sins, is redeemed, declared wholly righteous, born again, made alive in Christ as a new creature, reconciled to God, becomes a child of God, and is filled with the fullness of the Holy Spirit through whom he is empowered for a life of obedience. The cross is sufficient to cover the sins of all who believe. Genesis 1:26; 1 Timothy 2:5

We can have a personal relationship with God through salvation, God's free gift to man. It is not a result of what we do, but it is only available through God's unearned favour. By admitting we have sinned and believing in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, and accepting Him as Lord, we can spend eternity with God. Ephesians 2:8,9; Romans 5:1; Romans 3:24

We believe in water baptism, as taught and demonstrated by Jesus, as the way for believers to identify with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Matthew 28:19; Romans 6:4; Matthew 3:13-17

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is a gift from God. God the Spirit is sent to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He fully indwells every true believer as a guarantee of his inheritance, guides and empowers them, gifts them for ministry, interceding in accordance with the will of God, witnessing to Jesus. Matthew 3:11; Acts 2:4

God gives all believers spiritual gifts. They are for the strengthening of God's people (the Church) and proof of God's existence and power to unbelievers. The gifts of the Spirit are active and relevant today. 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; 1 Peter 4:10

Sanctification is the ongoing process of allowing God's character to be developed in us.

Through the work of the Spirit, believers are called and enabled to live lives of holiness, “in” but not “of” the world (being different) being fully dedicated disciples of Jesus Christ, persevering to the end.

The teachings of the Bible are sufficient for salvation and sanctification. While there are questions of meaning and application over which we may agree to disagree, there is nothing for which we are responsible to God in terms of our salvation and sanctification that is not expressed in Scripture, either in precept or principle.

Romans 6:19; Galatians 5:22-25

Divine healing is active in the lives of people today through Jesus, who is the Healer. Healing includes physical, mental, emotional and spiritual restoration. Luke 9:11; Matthew 9:35; Acts 10:38; Matthew 10:1

The Bible describes hell as a real place. It is a place of suffering and a place of permanent separation from God for those who die without accepting Christ. God's desire is that no one be separated from Him for eternity, which is why He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to earth. Hebrews 9:27; Revelation 20:12-15; John 3:16-18

The church consists of all true disciples of Jesus Christ. All things exist under the supremacy of Christ, and therefore Christ and Christ alone is the head of the church.

Jesus will return (Personally, visibly to all, suddenly — and all disciples living and dead will be bodily caught up to meet Him) and take all those who have accepted Him as Saviour (his church) to be with Him for eternity. This is the hope for which we long, which helps to motivate us now toward godly living.

Acts 1:11; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17; Hebrews 9:28

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Privacy policy

Introduction

Ourtestimony.org Ministries is strongly committed to privacy issues, and this privacy statement details our approach on such issues. By using this site and submitting any personal data, you agree to the use by us of such data in accordance with this privacy statement. If you have questions on privacy issues, please email us at dwasake@ourtestimony.org.

The data protection officer is D E Wasake who may be contacted at the above address

Understanding your rights

It is important that you understand your legal rights around your personal data and how we may use it.

Right to be informed

This Privacy Policy ensures that you are informed about how we will process your personal data. You might also see messages on some of our forms (or otherwise when we collect personal data from you) that explain why we ask for specific pieces of information from you.

Right of access

You have the right to access a copy of your personal data and receive certain information about what the data is and how and why we are processing it. Please note that we will require you to prove your identity before we disclose any information.

Right to rectification

If you feel that any of the information that we hold about you is incorrect, do let us know so that we can look into it.

Right to object

You have the right to object to the processing that we have outlined in this policy.

Right to erasure / to be forgotten

You have the right to request that we delete your information and can discuss this with us at any time. You should know that there are some circumstances where we may need to keep your details, for example, if it is necessary to comply with a legal obligation on us. If this situation occurs, then we will explain and discuss these circumstances with you.

Right to restrict processing

You can request that we restrict processing of your data, as an alternative to deleting it – this means that we will keep the data but stop processing for most purposes. You may want to exercise this right if you feel that the data is inaccurate, that our processing of it is unlawful, whilst we progress a request from you to object to processing, or if we have no further need of the data, but you require us to keep it in relation to the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal claim.

Rights related to automated decision making

You have rights to avoid being subject to decisions based solely on automated processing (including profiling) which has a significant effect on you. We do not carry out any such processing.

Right to data portability

You have the right to request a copy of certain personal data to have it transferred to another organisation in certain circumstances.

You should know that there are some circumstances where these rights may not apply, but where this is the case we will always explain this to you. Please do contact us if you have any questions or concerns on how we collect and use your personal data, or on your rights, as we are always happy to speak to you.

You also have the right to make a complaint direct to the appropriate privacy body such as your State’s Attorney General.

Why we collect and use personal data

We collect personal data to help us to process your requests, keep in touch with you and to help us to interact with you in the most effective way.

Examples of why we process your personal data include:

To keep you updated on our work and the impact of your support;
To make sure you know about events that you can participate in as a
supporter;
To invite you to participate in campaigns;
To send you fundraising appeals;
To support you as a volunteer;
To process donations or other payments, and verify financial transactions to protect you from fraud;
To process Aid donations and Aid Declarations with the tax authorities;
To process a legacy or gift that you leave in your will;
To provide services, products or information you have requested;
To check with you on how you want us to contact you, and record these preferences;
To keep notes of conversations that you have with our team, as a reference if you want to revisit the conversation later;
To notify you of changes to our policies when these affect you;
To ensure that content from our site is presented in the most effective way for you and your computer;
If we need to do so to comply with a law, process or regulatory requirement;
If we need to do so to comply with a law, process or regulatory requirement;
To process a job application you may make with us.
to allow you to participate in interactive features of our websites when you choose to do so;
to provide customer support;
to provide and maintain our website
to gather analysis or valuable information so that we can improve our website;
to monitor the usage of our website;
to detect, prevent and address technical issue;
to fulfil any other purpose for which you provide it;
to carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us;
to provide you with notices about your account and/or subscription, including expiration and renewal notices, email-instructions, etc.;
to provide you with news and general information about our website;
in any other way we may describe when you provide the information;
for any other purpose with your consent.

The information that we collect

The personal data that we collect about you will be based on how you interact with us, but we collect the following information from many of our supporters:

Your name;
Your postal and email addresses;
Your telephone number or numbers;
Details of any correspondence that we have had with you. For example, if you call our team, they may make a note of the conversation, in case you need anything else on that matter;
How you would like to hear from us, and when you told us this;
Details of any donations that you have made to us;
Your date of birth;
Any fundraising appeals that you may have responded to;
Events that you have taken part in or enquired about.

There is also other information that we may collect and hold in specific circumstances. For example:

Your bank account details if you set up a direct debit with us;
Health information that you give us if you are participating in an event, to help us to ensure your safety;
Campaigning actions that you have taken on our behalf;
If you are a volunteer or part of our local organiser campaigner network and have told us that you have a specific area of interest to receive training on;
Our telephone system lists the numbers that have recently called or been dialled, but we do not link these to any supporter records;
Information to support our work with high-net-worth individuals, to understand their philanthropic interests, and complete any necessary due diligence.

Sensitive data

Some personal data is legally considered to be sensitive, and so is subject to additional safeguards – in data protection law this is known as” special category” data. Data on the following matters is classed in this way:

Race;
Ethnic origin;
Political opinions;
Religion or philosophical beliefs;
Trade union membership;
Genetics;
Biometrics (where this is used for identification purposes;
Health;
An individual’s sex life; or
Sexual orientation

Similar protections apply to personal data relating to criminal convictions and offences.

We will only collect or use this type of data if there is a specific reason for doing so. We will always explain this reason to you when we ask for the data and will usually ask for your explicit consent to use it. We wouldn’t ask for consent if it is information that you have clearly made public, for example, your religion if you are working with us because you represent a faith group such as our church.

Age is not legally considered as a special category of data, but we will always treat it sensitively.

How and when we collect information about you

There are a number of ways that we collect information; most often this will be directly from you, for example, if you fill out a form on our website, or directly with one of our team. Whenever we ask for information from you we will explain why we are asking for it (including by reference to this policy), and you will always be given a choice about how we communicate with you.

In some very specific circumstances, we will gather data from publicly available sources. We may use data from third parties to keep our records up to date or to enhance the information that we hold. Sometimes you will also provide data to third parties who then pass it to us with your permission. For example, you may be raising money on fundraising platforms, or you may have signed up to one of our campaigns through a 3rd party website.

We do not buy lists of data to use for our marketing purposes or share data with other charities for them to use in their marketing purposes.

Anonymous information: cookies

Like most websites, our site uses cookies; small data files that are downloaded when you use a website, to make the site easier to use. The information that is gathered is totally anonymous to us, but it helps us to see how people use our site, so that we can provide a better user experience.

Technical data that we collect automatically, including cookies and similar technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our website. Cookies are files with a small amount of data which may include an anonymous unique identifier.

Cookies are sent to your browser from a website and stored on your device. Other tracking technologies are also used such as beacons, tags and scripts to collect and track information and to improve and analyze our website.

We will automatically collect, store, and use the following categories of data when you browse and search our site:

technical information, for example, the type of device (and its unique device identifier) you use to access our site, the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your device to the Internet, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system, mobile network information and platform; and

information about your visit to our site including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL), clickstream to, through and from the website (including date and time), pages you viewed, page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), and methods used to browse away from the page.

Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them please visit https://www.allaboutcookies.org/.

Our legal basis for processing your information

We will always make sure that we consider why we are processing your personal

data and identify our legal basis for doing so. Often this will be because you have given us your consent. We may also process your data where we are furthering our legitimate aims and have assessed that the processing is not likely to be too intrusive, or to unduly infringe on your rights and freedoms. In legal terms, this is called the “legitimate interests” basis.

In some cases, we have a legal or statutory duty to process information, and we will always comply with any legal requirement.

We may also process your personal data where it is necessary to carry out the terms of a contract which we have with you (or when we are in the process of forming that contract with you).

Marketing communications

We will make it easy for you to tell us if you would like to receive “marketing” communications from us and hear more about our work, and the ways in which you would like to receive this information (post, email, SMS and phone). In every communication, we will always make it clear how you can tell us if you choose not to receive further marketing communications, either at all, on certain topics or by certain methods.

If you tell us that you do not want to receive marketing communications, we will remove you from our list and will then not send you any further marketing materials.

Processing your data on the basis of your consent:

There are a number of circumstances where we only process your data on the basis of your consent. Examples of this are:

To send you marketing by email.
To send you marketing by SMS (text message).
To send you direct messages through social media.
To process health information that you give us if you are participating in an event or travelling overseas.

When you give your consent for us to contact you, we do not treat this as valid indefinitely. However, we understand that our supporters want to continue to hear from us whilst they have an active relationship with us, and for a period afterwards.

Here are some examples of what we mean by an active relationship:

If you make a donation or sponsorship payment to us, including regular monthly gifts or sponsorship donations
If you participate in an event on our behalf (for example a prayer meeting)
If you tell us that you have left us a gift in your Will
If you take a campaigns action for us, such as signing a petition

We will consider your consent to be valid whilst you take these actions, and then for 24 months afterwards, to enable us to keep you up to date with our work and to offer you other ways you might choose to support us. At the end of this time period then we will get in touch with you to re-confirm that you are happy to continue to hear from us.

You can withdraw your consent at any time. If you wish to do so, or have any questions on this, please do just get in touch with our team at any time and they’ll be happy to help.

The Legitimate Interests basis

We have a duty to promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ: to promote ourselves and our work; to responsibly raise as much money as possible to further our charitable aims; to update our supporters and the general public on our progress; and to operate in an effective way. We always pursue these interests in a respectful manner, with our purpose and supporters at the heart of what we do.

We might further our legitimate interests in the following ways:

To communicate with you about marketing and fundraising materials or products:

To respond to requests for information, such as where you have asked for an information pack.
To send you mail relating to activity that we think you may be interested in (unless you have told us you do not want this). We will always consider how much mail you receive from us, and what the topic is, to ensure that it is appropriate.
To fulfil gift requests if you have ordered either for yourself or to send them to a gift recipient.
To use social media so that you see our adverts on your newsfeed.

To ensure that we understand our supporters and so can contact them in a way that is relevant for them, and to make sure that we are using our marketing budgets effectively:

To segment and analyse our data that we hold so that we can understand who our supporters are and contact them about specific activity.
To manage our everyday business needs
To work with third party suppliers, where we can make use of their expertise in a specialist field, or where they can provide services at a more cost-effective rate than we could manage internally.
To update our database records to keep them accurate, for example, to amend an address where we receive returned mail.
To contact former job applicants who have been placed in our Talent Bank.

You have the right to object to us processing your data on the grounds of our legitimate interests. If you would like us to stop using your data on this basis, please do get in touch with our Team. You may also see a ‘please do not contact me by post’ box on our communications where we are using the legitimate interest basis, and you can also tick this to ask us to stop sending these.

Administrative messages

There are some administrative messages that we legally must share with you, which are not affected by how you have told us you would like us to contact you for marketing purposes.

Examples of these include:

Confirming subscription to a newsletter;
Confirming the details of any direct debit that you set up with us, including your bank account and payment details; and
Confirming where you have made an Aid Declaration orally, so that we can give you the information on the tax implications of this.

How we work with third parties in processing personal data

We sometimes work with third parties. It’s important that you understand the circumstances where this might happen, and who we work with.

We never sell or swap your details with any other organisation for their marketing purposes.

These are some examples of how we work with third parties:

Analytics and other third-party tools. We employ third-party tools to monitor and analyze the use of our website, and to automate certain processes related to the development and operation of our website.
For payments. We use third parties for payment, analytics, and other business services. Such providers will collect identifying information about the devices that connect to their services. They use this information to operate and improve the services they provide to us, including for fraud detection.
Where we work with other offices, subsidiaries or affiliates.
Where we sign a contract with a third-party supplier to carry out services for us. These contracts will always hold a supplier to our own high standards of data protection, to ensure that they treat your information with the same care as we do.
Where you register to take part in an event, and we have to provide your details to the event organiser to secure your place.
Where a company sends us data because you have given permission for them to share it.
Where we use companies who can help us to enhance the information that we hold about you.
Where we might use your phone number or email address to communicate with you on social media. This won’t be through direct, personal messages, but updates about our work and stories that we think you might be interested in, which might appear in the form of content on your newsfeed.
Where we legally have to share information. For example, if you make an Aid declaration to enable us to claim Aid on donations that you make, we have to share your name and address with US tax authorities so that they can audit our claim.

External websites

Our website contains links to and from various third-party sites. If you follow a link to any of these external sites, please note that these sites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these third-party sites.

We may use companies to provide services and process your personal data on our behalf, where they have a specific expertise or can offer the most cost-effective solution for us. Some of the activities that third-party companies carry out for us are:

Packing and delivering postal mail;
Making telephone calls to our supporters;
Signing up new supporters for us in door to door, street or private site campaigns;
Sending emails;
Processing credit card payments;

Whenever we work with a company in this way, we will always have a contract with them, to be certain that they treat your data with the same level of care and respect as we do. We will only send them the data that they need to carry out their specific service, and they are required to delete it or return it to us once they have completed this. Your data will only ever be passed to them for the services that they carry out on our behalf, it is never shared for their marketing purposes.

Event organisers

Some events require us to pass your personal information to the event organisers to secure your place. We will always make this clear to you at the point of your registration, so you understand the information that we will transfer, and who will receive it.

Third Parties who send us data

Some third-party organisations collect data on our behalf, and share it with us, in accordance with their policies and procedures for data protection compliance. Some of these organisations are Data Management companies, which we use to ensure that data you have provided us with is up to date. We do not use this to add new contact data; so if we already have your address, we may update this, but if we do not have your telephone number we will not use one of these companies to find and record it.

Whenever you give your data to any organisation, you should always make yourself aware of their Data Protection and Privacy Policies.

Companies who provide us with additional information

Understanding our supporters helps us to provide them with a really personalised experience and makes sure that we use our marketing budgets in the most efficient way. We may collect the following additional information about our supporters:

Information on the size and composition of your household
Information about your interests and hobbies
The age band that you fall into.

Social media

Using social media is a great way for us to update you on our work, and let you know the difference your support is making. As an example, when we upload a file to Facebook which is ‘locally hashed’; a highly secure encryption method. This file is used to find our supporters on Facebook and Instagram by matching email or phone number data to Facebook and Instagram accounts. In addition to this, we may use your data to create ‘lookalike’ audiences on Facebook and Instagram. This means that Facebook and Instagram will match interests, behaviour and demographics to create a new audience which closely matches our existing supporters. Using this method is the most efficient way for us to reach more people who are likely to take an interest in our work.

Where we have a legal requirement

We will always share data where we have a legal requirement to do so. Examples of this include providing audit information to the US tax authorities for our Aid claims or if we are required to do so by law enforcement officials. If we were to merge with another charity or restructure, we may also share your personal details with other entities involved in the merger/restructure for that purpose.

How long we keep your data for

We want to make sure that we have up to date records for as long as you are actively supporting us, so for as long as you take actions on our behalf or to engage with us, such as participate in our campaigns, donate to us or correspond with us. Once you are no longer an active supporter, we will keep your data for a set period of time, which we calculate depending on the information that you originally provided, and why you gave it to us. At the end of this time period, we will remove any personal details from our records of you, to ensure that any information is entirely anonymous.

In general, we will keep records of financial donors for at least seven years, to meet our requirements for any Aid audit from US tax authorities. If we have asked for sensitive personal data specific to an event, we will dispose of this data within a month after the event.

You can find more detailed information on how long we keep your data for, and other timescales that might apply below.

In most cases we will keep records for seven years after you last make a donation to us. This ensures that we keep the information we need for any financial audit (including Aid audits).

The seven-year time period applies to most people, but you should be aware of the exceptions, which we will communicate as applicable.

What happens at the end of this time period?

At the end of this time period, we will remove your personal details from our records, to ensure that they are entirely anonymous. We keep records on how our supporters have interacted with us, but not of who those supporters are.

Your right to be forgotten

You have a right to be forgotten, which means that you can ask us to delete your personal details before the end of the time limits we’ve listed in the table above. You should know that there are some circumstances where we may need to keep your details, for example, in order to comply with a legal obligation. If this situation occurs then we will explain and discuss these circumstances with you.

If you would like to discuss or exercise this right, please do get in touch with our Team.

How we keep your information secure

We take the care of your data very seriously and we use a combination of organisational and technological security measures to protect your personal information to the highest possible standards. This includes the use of secure servers, firewalls, virus & malware protection, secure socket layer (SSL) encryption and secure file transfer protocol for our work with third parties. We follow payment card industry (PCI) security compliance guidelines when processing credit card payments.

Access to all data is protected by complex passwords, including letters, numbers and characters: in some cases more than one method of authentication is used. We make sure that only staff who need to access your personal data can do so. Any member of our staff who has access to your personal data is given training to make sure that they understand the importance of keeping your information safe and secure at all times.

Whilst we take all of the measures that we’ve outlined above, unfortunately, the transmission of information using the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data sent to us this way, we cannot guarantee the security of data transmitted to our site.

In the extremely unlikely event that we experience a data breach, our Data Protection Officer would immediately work with our Information Security Officer and the relevant State Attorney General if necessary.

Where we keep your information and when it might be transferred outside of the US

We are aware that countries other than the US have differing standards of data privacy. Much of our data is kept within our systems in the US, but there are a number of exceptions that you should be aware of: If you are a sponsor or volunteer, your name and address will be added to our international database. This can be accessed by an international team (including those from affiliates) in other parts of the world.

Your data may also leave the US if you travel with us, for example by signing up to one of our missionary trips. This will only be information specifically related to your trip, for example to book your travel, or to arrange your visit to one of our sites with our overseas colleagues.

Some countries (but not every country in which we work) have been determined by the US to have “adequate” standards of data protection compliance.

Transfer of Personal Data Outside of the European Economic Area (“EEA”) and International Users:

We are headquartered in the United States. Your Personal Data may be accessed by us or transferred to us in the United States or to our affiliates, partners, merchants, or service providers who are located worldwide. If you are visiting our Site from outside the United States, be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the Country where our servers are located, and our central dataset is operated. Any transfer of Personal Data from the EEA to the U.S. or any other country will utilize one or more of the approved data transfer mechanisms which may include Privacy Shield, Model Contractual Clauses or Binding Corporate Rules. By using our Service, you consent to any transfer of this information.

How we use your information if you apply for a role

We collect information from anyone who applies to work or volunteer. We only use this information for our recruitment or employment purposes and it is entirely separate to our supporter data. As an applicant or employee, you are entitled to the same rights as our supporters, and these are outlined in our Rights section.

Applicants

When you apply to work or volunteer we will ask for information about you and your work history to understand how your skills and past experience matches the requirements of a role.

There are two circumstances where we might disclose details outside of our organisation as we process your application:

1. We will ask for details of referees, and we will contact them to verify the information that you have given us – when we contact them, we will share your name and the role that you have applied for. We contact referees on the basis of our legitimate interests as an organisation to understand applicants and their suitability for the roles they apply for.

2. Some roles also require us to obtain a disclosure from a disclosure & barring (or equivalent) service. This will be clearly marked in the advertisement, and so we will not give you further notice before we apply for this disclosure.

All candidates applying to work or to volunteer will automatically have their application details saved and retained on our secure recruitment portal and in our Talent Bank for 7 years. We use our Talent Bank to identify candidates who were unsuccessful in their application, but who we feel may have an interest in and suitability for another role.

If you would like for us to remove your personal details from our system at any time before that, please let us know.

You should know that we always keep anonymous statistical information about applicants to develop our recruitment processes and for equality and diversity monitoring, but this does not contain any information that could be used to identify individual job applicants.

Employees

If you begin employment with us, we will put together a staff file, which will contain your information. We keep this information in this file secure and will only use it for matters that apply directly to your employment with us.

We provide all of our employees with an internal privacy notice, which explains exactly how we process their data as an employee, including how we use their personal data in case of emergency, and how long we retain all of this information for.

Changes to this Policy

This policy was last updated on November 6, 2023.

From time to time, we may make changes to this Policy and you will always be able to see here when it was last updated. If we make significant changes, such as in how or why we process your personal data, we may also publicise these changes on our website or may contact you directly with more information.

Please do revisit this policy each time you consider giving your personal data to www.ourtestimony.org.

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