Privacy Policy

Overview

Lilongwe Congregation (com.worketech.lilongwecongregation) is the official mobile app of CCAP Livingstonia Synod Lilongwe Congregation, developed and maintained by Worketech Limited. The app gives members access to congregation news, service times, events, devotional and sermon content, and — for members who choose to sign in — their own membership profile and giving records.

This Privacy Policy explains what personal information the app collects, why we collect it, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and the rights you have over it. By creating an account or using the app, you agree to the practices described here.

Who is responsible for your data

CCAP Livingstonia Synod Lilongwe Congregation is the controller of the membership and giving information held in the app. Worketech Limited builds, hosts, and maintains the app on the congregation's behalf, and processes that information only on their instructions.

For any privacy question about the app, write to Worketech Limited at info@worketech.co.mw and we will respond, involving the congregation office where the request concerns church records.

Information we collect

You can browse public content — service times, announcements, events, and devotional material — without an account, and without giving us any personal information.

If you create an account or sign in, we collect the information you provide and the information needed to run the account:

• Account details — your name, email address, phone number, and password (stored only as a secure one-way hash, never in readable form)
• Profile details you choose to add, such as a profile photo
• Membership details recorded by the congregation, such as your congregation, prayer house or zone, and membership status
• Giving and contribution records, where you make or record a contribution through the app
• Content you submit — prayer requests, event registrations, forms, and messages you send to the congregation office
• Push notification tokens, if you allow notifications, so we can deliver announcements to your device
• Basic technical and diagnostic information — app version, device model, operating system version, and crash logs — used to keep the app working

How we use your information

We use the information above only to:

• Create and secure your account, and sign you in
• Show you your membership profile and your own giving history
• Process and receipt contributions you choose to make
• Send you congregation announcements, service reminders, and event information
• Respond to prayer requests, enquiries, and forms you submit
• Keep the congregation's membership and financial records accurate
• Diagnose crashes, fix bugs, and improve the app

We do not sell your personal information, we do not rent or trade it, and we do not use it for third-party advertising. The app contains no advertising SDKs.

Who we share it with

Your information is shared only where it is necessary to run the app or the congregation's records:

• Congregation leadership and office staff, who can see membership and giving records as part of their pastoral and administrative duties
• Worketech Limited, as the developer and operator of the app
• Service providers that host the app's database, deliver push notifications, and process payments — each acting under contract, only on our instructions, and only with the data they need
• Authorities or regulators, where we are legally required to disclose information

Other members cannot see your profile, your contact details, or your giving records. Prayer requests are visible only to the people in the congregation responsible for handling them.

Some of our service providers store data on servers outside Malawi. Where that happens, we use providers that apply recognised security and data protection standards.

Contributions and payments

Where the app lets you give or pay, the transaction is handled by a licensed payment provider — for example a mobile money or card processor. Your full card or mobile money credentials are entered with that provider and are never stored by us.

What we keep is the record of the contribution itself: the amount, the date, the purpose, and the reference returned by the payment provider, linked to your member record so the congregation can account for it and issue you a receipt.

Device permissions

The app asks only for the permissions it needs, and each one is optional to grant:

• Notifications — to send congregation announcements and reminders
• Photos or camera — only if you choose to set a profile photo or attach an image to a form
• Storage — to save downloaded content such as sermon audio or documents for offline use

The app does not collect your contacts, your precise location, or your microphone input.

How we protect your information

Data travels between the app and our servers over encrypted HTTPS connections, and is stored on managed infrastructure with encryption at rest. Passwords are stored only as salted one-way hashes.

Access to membership and giving records is restricted to authorised congregation staff and a small number of Worketech engineers who need it to maintain the system.

No system is perfectly secure. If a breach ever affected your personal information, we would notify you and the relevant authorities as required by law.

How long we keep it

We keep your account and profile information for as long as your account exists. If you delete your account, that information is removed as described on our account deletion page.

Contribution and financial records are kept for the period required by Malawian accounting and tax law, even after an account is closed, and are then deleted. Crash and diagnostic logs are kept for a short period and then discarded.

Your rights

Under the Malawi Data Protection Act and equivalent legislation elsewhere, you have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you
• Correct information that is inaccurate or out of date
• Request deletion of your account and personal data
• Withdraw consent for notifications, at any time, from your device settings or in the app
• Object to a particular use of your information, or ask us to restrict it
• Complain to the relevant data protection authority

To exercise any of these rights, email info@worketech.co.mw. We respond within 5 working days and complete verified requests within 30 days.

Children's privacy

The app is intended for use by congregation members and their families. We do not knowingly create accounts for children under 13 without the involvement of a parent or guardian.

Where a child's details appear in congregation records — for example in Sunday school or youth programmes — they are entered by the congregation office or by a parent, not collected directly from the child through the app. If you believe a child has provided personal information without consent, contact us and we will delete it promptly.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The date at the top of this page always shows the current version, and material changes — for example a new category of data collection — will be announced in the app as well as here.

Continued use of the app after a change takes effect constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

Deleting your account

You can delete your Lilongwe Congregation account and its personal data at any time — from inside the app, or by emailing us. Our account deletion page sets out both routes, what is deleted, what the congregation must retain by law, and how long it takes.