Privacy Policy

At Herne Bay Evangelical Free Church we collect different types of information about our users for the following main reasons:

To provide a useful resource in the form of an online directory of users.
To provide an interactive website where email is used to communicate with the users.
To provide a security mechanism whereby we can restrict content to certain groups of users.
To help us to improve the service we offer.

Our principles

We are absolutely committed to protecting your privacy. Our policy can be summarised in one sentence: we will not share your information with others without your consent.

We have established the following two principles:

We will respect your email privacy. You will only receive email from Herne Bay Evangelical Free Church in relation to areas you have expressly signed up for.
We will not share any individual user details (including your email address) to any third party without your consent.

What information do we collect?

We collect information on our users through registration.

The minimum information we need to register a user is your first and last name and a password. We also ask for some further, voluntary information so we can provide a richer, more useful address book.

Who will have access to your information?

You have control over who is able to access specific items of information. By default your personal information will be visible to other authenticated users of the site. You can change these settings from your personal profile page. Your information will be used to build the online address book and show your birthday in the Herne Bay Evangelical Free Church calendar.

What else you should know about privacy

Remember to close your browser when you have finished your user session. This is to ensure that others cannot access your personal information and correspondence if you share a device with someone else or are using a device in a public place like a library or internet cafe. You as an individual are responsible for the security of, and access to, your own device.

Please be aware that whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information over the internet that this information can be collected and used by others. In short, if you post personal information in publicly accessible online forums, you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return. Ultimately, you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your usernames and passwords and any account information. Please be careful and responsible whenever you are using the internet.

Our pages may contain links to other websites, and you should be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices on other websites.

We use Stripe for payment, analytics, and other business services. Stripe collects identifying information about the devices that connect to its services. Stripe uses this information to operate and improve the services it provides to us, including for fraud detection. You can learn more about Stripe and read its privacy policy at https://stripe.com/privacy.

Any Questions?

Hello and welcome to our church. If you are a new visitor, we have a page for you to get to know us and learn more about planning a visit.
Click here to see more.

Visitors click here.

Planning your Visit

Thinking of coming along?

The following information is specifically for those planning a visit, so that you know, beforehand, what to expect at a Sunday service.

Where and When

We meet at the Church Building (details here) for our Sunday Services starting at 10:30am and 6pm. There is free parking on the church site, and the streets around are permit-free. For your first visit, we recommend arriving a few minutes early to ensure you get a parking space and find somewhere to sit before the service begins. When you arrive, you should be greeted by someone on our Welcome Team who will give you a service sheet or hymn book and a Bible.

Please note there is no dress code - please come as you are!

Services are free to attend, and we don't pass around an offering bag or plate during the service.

We serve tea, coffee, squash and biscuits after the service most weeks, which is a great opportunity to meet people, if you'd like to. All refreshments are free.

Accessibility: There is ramp access to the church, and a sound loop for anyone who needs it. There are ambulant accessible toilets in the main foyer, and wheelchair accessible toilets in the rear area of the church.

Our Services

Our services begin with a welcome from one of our church leaders. They will share some church news and notices about what's going on in the life of HBEFC. We are then led through activities which help us do three main things:

listen to God - we hear parts of the Bible read aloud for us, and we hear a sermon - a talk which explains what a Bible passage means and how God wants it to affect our lives;
respond to God - we pray (mostly one person will pray from the front, but sometimes we might say a prayer together, such as the Lord's Prayer); and we sing together, a mixture of traditional and modern hymns and songs. If singing in this way is new to you and you prefer to remain seated and listen, that's OK!
encourage each other - everything in the service is designed to help us in our faith, and that continues as we chat after the service, with refreshments most weeks.

HBEFC LRes-7

What about my kids?

We enjoy welcoming people of all ages to our services, and we stay together for the first 15 minutes or so. After this, children from Reception - Year 8 are invited to go to Sunday Club. The service leader will make it clear when this starts. The activities vary depending on the age but usually there is a friendly welcome, Bible stories, prayer, singing and craft. Of course, if you prefer that your child stays with you for the whole service, they are very welcome to do so!

Young people (school Year 9+) stay in the service.

We also have a Creche Room available throughout the whole service, for children up to Reception age. This room has toys and books, and a speaker relay so that you can hear what is happening in the main service. We're not currently able to offer a full 'creche' facility, so parents and carers are asked to supervise their own children.

HBEFC LRes-4

Getting Connected

Questions?

If you'd like to ask any questions before you visit, or even come and visit the church beforehand, please do get in touch, at office@hbefc.org.uk or 07935471286, or using the form below:

Get in touch with us

Name:

Telephone:

Email Address:
Comments / Questions or anything you would like to say?

Next, we will contact you by email to say hello and help arrange anything necessary for your visit.