Privacy Policy

Copyright Policy

Open the Bible UK seeks to put the gospel in peoples’ grasp through a broad array of modern media. Our ministry wants to provide visitors to our website with easy access to Pastor Colin Smith’s materials. It is important to us that the integrity of the content is maintained, so please read the following guidelines before distributing content in any way. Audio, Video, and Sermon PDFs You have permission and are encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format you choose, as long as you do not alter or change the wording in any way and do not charge a fee (beyond the cost of reproducing these materials). For posting on the web, a link to our website (www.openthebible.org.uk) is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Open the Bible UK—please call 0300 3358089. This statement must be included on every copy distributed: By Colin S. Smith. © Colin S. Smith. Used with permission.  Website: www.openthebible.org.uk Please contact the ministry directly regarding other requests. Blog Articles and Devotionals We allow reposting of unaltered excerpts (up to 40%) of our articles and devotionals provided that you credit the author and include a backlink to the full resource on our website. Please include this statement when you republish: © Open the Bible by [Author Full Name]. Used with permission. [LINK to original article at www.openthebible.org.uk or openthebible.org if found on the US site]. Please contact us regarding other requests.  ESV Bible Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Text provided by the Crossway Bibles Web Service. 

Privacy Policy

Personal information released willingly to us will be used: 1) For online purchases through our e-commerce platform; 2) For online donations through a third-party platform; 3) For email subscriptions to receive online content; 4) For sample resource requests; 5) For responding to inquiries from our Contact Us page.  Information We Collect Any personal information freely provided to Open the Bible for the processing of donations, purchases, or other requests is considered of utmost value; therefore, we will do everything in our power to ensure that your information stays secure. Your transmitted information is secured through SSL (secure socket layer) encryption.  Your private information will remain confidential and will not be sold or distributed outside the ministry. Remember, there is always the chance that personal information could be leaked over the Internet, and for that reason, if applicable, we ask that you please keep track of your usernames and passwords; log out of our website each time you transact; and make sure you are using a secure Internet connection when you do transact.  Information You Provide to Us It’s probably no surprise that we collect information that you provide to us. The amount and type of information depends on the context and how we use the information. Here are some examples: 
  • Basic Account Information: We ask for basic information from you in order to set up your customer account. For example, those who make a donation through Stewardship, make purchases, or request information and resources related to Open the Bible UK provide a name, organisation name, email address, and/or phone number, and if applicable, a password and/or postal address. 
  • Transaction and Billing Information: If you buy something from us—such as through the online e-commerce platform—or if you make a donation, you will provide additional personal and payment information that is required to process the transaction and your payment, such as your name, credit card information, and contact information.  
  • Communications With Us: You may also provide us with information when you request resource materials, respond to surveys, communicate with our staff about a support question, or post a question using the Contact Us link. 
 Information We Collect Automatically We also collect some information automatically: 
  • Log Information: Like most websites, we collect information that web browsers, mobile devices, and servers typically make available, such as the browser type, IP address, unique device identifiers, language preference, referring site, the date and time of access, operating system, and mobile network information. We collect log information when you use our website. 
  • Location Information: We may determine the approximate location of your device from your IP address. We collect and may use this information to, for example, display a message about upcoming events in your area. 
  • Information from Cookies & Other Technologies: A cookie is a string of information that a website stores on a visitor’s computer, and that the visitor’s browser provides to the website each time the visitor returns. Pixel tags (also called web beacons) are small blocks of code placed on websites and emails. Open the Bible uses cookies and other technologies like pixel tags to help us identify and track visitors, usage, and access preferences for our website and its content, to inform future content creation decisions, as well as track and understand email campaign effectiveness and to deliver targeted ads. 
 Information We Collect from Other Sources We also get information, such as an email address or home address, from Stewardship Giving when you donate money through them to Open the Bible UK. We will only use this information to say thank you for your donation and to ask for permission to contact you with further updates. We might also use your home address to post your free book for a ‘Gift of At Least’, if your donation reaches the required amount to qualify for this offer.   How and Why We Use Information Purposes for Using Information We use information about you as mentioned above and for the purposes listed below: 
  • To process online donations through a secure third-party platform; 
  • To process email subscriptions for you to receive online content; 
  • To fulfil requests for sample resources; 
  • To respond to inquiries sent via our Contact Us page; 
  • To monitor and analyse trends and better understand how users interact with our content; 
  • To measure, gauge, and improve the effectiveness of our correspondence and campaigns, and better understand user retention and attrition  
  • To monitor and prevent any problems with our website and its content, protect its security, detect and prevent fraudulent transactions and other illegal activities, fight spam, and protect the rights and property of Open the Bible and others, which may result in us declining a transaction or the use of various areas of the website; and 
  • To communicate with you – for example, through an email, about offers and promotions offered by Open the Bible UK and others we think may be of interest to you, solicit your feedback, or keep you up to date on events, products, and/or resources at Open the Bible. 
 Legal Bases for Collecting and Using Information This section is for those in the European Union about our legal grounds for processing information about you under EU data protection laws, which is that our use of your information is based on the grounds that: 
  • The use is necessary in order to fulfil our commitments to you under our Terms of Service or other agreements with you or is necessary to administer your account; or 
  • The use is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation; or 
  • The use is necessary in order to protect your vital interests or those of another person; or 
  • We have a legitimate interest in using your information – for example, to provide and update our website and its content, to improve our website and its content so that we can offer you an even better user experience, to safeguard our Services, to communicate with you, to measure, gauge, and improve the effectiveness of our advertising, and better understand user retention and attrition, to monitor and prevent any problems with our Services, and to personalise your experience; or 
  • You have given us your consent –for example, before we place certain cookies on your device and access and analyse them later on. 
 Sharing Information How We Share Information We do not sell our users’ private personal information. We share information about you in the limited circumstances spelled out below and with appropriate safeguards on your privacy: 
  • Subsidiaries, Employees, and Independent Contractors: We may disclose information about you to our subsidiaries, our employees, and individuals who are our independent contractors that need to know the information in order to help us provide our Services or to process the information on our behalf. We require our subsidiaries, employees, and independent contractors to follow this Privacy Policy for personal information that we share with them. 
  • Third-Party Vendors: We may share information about you with third-party vendors who need to know information about you in order to provide their services to us, or to provide their services to you or your site. This group includes vendors that help us provide our Services to you (like payment providers that process your credit and debit card information, fraud prevention services that allow us to analyse fraudulent payment transactions, postal and email delivery services that help us stay in touch with you, customer chat and email support services that help us communicate with you, registrars, registries, those that assist us with our marketing efforts (e.g. by providing tools for identifying a specific marketing target group or improving our marketing campaigns), those that help us understand and enhance our Services (like analytics providers), and companies that make products available on our websites, for example, 10ofthose.com who distribute books to our users on our behalf. We require vendors to agree to privacy commitments in order to share information with them. 
  • Legal Requests: We may disclose information about you in response to a subpoena, court order, or other governmental request. 
  • To Protect Rights, Property, and Others: We may disclose information about you when we believe in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the property or rights of Open the Bible UK, third parties, or the public at large. For example, if we have a good faith belief that there is an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury, we may disclose information related to the emergency without delay. 
  • Organisation Transfers: In connection with any merger, sale of company assets, or acquisition of all or a portion of our organisation by another company, or in the unlikely event that Open the Bible UK goes out of business or enters bankruptcy, user information would likely be one of the assets that is transferred or acquired by a third party. If any of these events were to happen, this Privacy Policy would continue to apply to your information and the party receiving your information may continue to use your information, but only consistent with this Privacy Policy. 
  • With Your Consent: We may share and disclose information with your consent or at your direction. For example, we may share your information with third parties with which you authorise us to do so, such as the social media services that you connect to your site through our Share feature. 
  • Aggregated or De-Identified Information: We may share information that has been aggregated or reasonably de-identified, so that the information could not reasonably be used to identify you. For instance, we may publish aggregate statistics about the use of our services and we may share a hashed version of your email address to facilitate customised ad campaigns on other platforms. 
  • Published Support Requests: And if you send us a request (for example, via a support email or one of our feedback mechanisms), we reserve the right to publish that request in order to help us clarify or respond to your request or to help us support other users. 

Security

While no online service is 100% secure, we work very hard to protect information about you against unauthorised access, use, alteration, or destruction, and take reasonable measures to do so, such as monitoring our Services for potential vulnerabilities and attacks. 

Choices

You have several choices available when it comes to information about you: 
  • Limit the Information that You Provide: If you have an account with us, you can choose not to provide the optional account information, profile information, and transaction and billing information. Please keep in mind that if you do not provide this information, certain features of our services – for example, making a donation or purchasing through our e-commerce platform – may not be accessible. 
  • Limit Access to Information On Your Mobile Device: Your mobile device operating system should provide you with the ability to discontinue our ability to collect stored information or location information via our mobile website and/or mobile apps. If you do so, you may not be able to use certain features (like adding a location to a photograph, for example). 
  • Opt-Out of Electronic Communications: You may opt out of receiving promotional messages from us. Just follow the instructions in those messages. If you opt out of promotional messages, we may still send you other messages, like those about your account and legal notices. 
  • Set Your Browser to Reject Cookies: You can usually choose to set your browser to remove or reject browser cookies before using Open the Bible’s websites, with the drawback that certain features of Open the Bible’s websites may not function properly without the aid of cookies. 
  • Close Your Account: While we would be sorry to see you go, if you no longer want to use our services, you may request your Open the Bible UK account to be closed. Please keep in mind that we may continue to retain your information after closing your account, for example, for legal obligations such as law enforcement requests, or reasonably needed for our legitimate business interests. 

Your Rights

Under Data Protection Legislation you have a right of access to the personal data that we hold about you. To make a request for your personal information contact You also have the right to: 
  • object to processing of personal data that is likely to cause, or is causing, damage or distress 
  • prevent processing for the purpose of direct marketing 
  • object to decisions being taken by automated means 
  • in certain circumstances, have inaccurate personal data rectified, blocked, erased or destroyed 
  • claim compensation for damages caused by a breach of the Data Protection regulations. 
For further information on how your information is used, how we maintain the security of your information and your rights to access information we hold on you please contact If you have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, you should raise your concern with us in the first instance or directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office 

How to Reach Us

If you have a question about this Privacy Policy, or you would like to contact us about any of the rights mentioned in the Your Rights section above, please contact us: 
  • Use the form on the Contact Us page. 
  • Mailing Address: Open the Bible UK, PO Box 1420, Cheltenham, GL50 9PG 
  • Phone: 0330 3358089 

Privacy Policy Changes

Although most changes are likely to be minor, Open the Bible UK may change its Privacy Policy from time to time. Open the Bible encourages visitors to frequently check this page for any changes to its Privacy Policy. If we make changes, we will notify you by revising the change log below, and, in some cases, we may provide additional notice (such as adding a statement to our homepage or sending you a notification through email or your dashboard). Your further use of the website and its features after a change to our Privacy Policy will be subject to the updated policy. 

Change Log

30th January 2024Privacy Policy updated for Open the Bible UK May 25, 2018 — Major updates to reflect the requirements by GDPR.
Creative Commons Sharealike License CreditsPortions of this document were based on the Automattic Privacy Policy under a Creative Commons Sharealike license. You can obtain a copy of a Privacy Policy and other legal documents on Github. You’re more than welcome to copy it, adapt it, and repurpose it for your own use. Just make sure to revise the language so that your policy reflects your actual practices. Also, if you do use the policy, we’d appreciate a credit and link to Automattic somewhere on your site.

Cookie Policy

We use cookies on our website. By using our website you agree to this Policy and you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with the terms of this Policy.

About cookies

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

There are two main kinds of cookies: “session” cookies and “persistent” cookies. Session cookies only last for the duration of users using the website and are deleted from your computer when you close your browser, whereas persistent cookies outlast user sessions and remain stored on your computer until deleted, or until they reach their expiry date.

Cookies on this website

We use both Session Cookie and Persistent Cookies on this website.

Generally, we use cookies to help us administer this website, to improve the website’s usability and for marketing purposes. We may also use cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about webpage traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to user needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not.

Cookies do not contain any information that personally identifies you, a cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

Cookie NameCookie CategoryDescriptionDuration
wordpress_2WordPress cookie for a logged in user.session
wordpress_logged_in_2WordPress cookie for a logged in usersession
wordpress_test_2WordPress cookie for a logged in usersession
wordpress_test_cookie2WordPress test cookiesession
wp-settings-1WordPress also sets a few wp-settings-[UID] cookies. The number on the end is your individual user ID from the users database table. This is used to customize your view of admin interface, and possibly also the main site interface.1 year
wp-settings-time-2WordPress also sets a few wp-settings-{time}-[UID] cookies. The number on the end is your individual user ID from the users database table. This is used to customize your view of admin interface, and possibly also the main site interface.1 year
PHPSESSID1To identify your unique session on the websitesession
SESS1To ensure that you are recognised when you move from page to page within the site and that any information you have entered is remembered.session
__utma2This cookie keeps track of the number of times a visitor has been to the site pertaining to the cookie, when their first visit was, and when their last visit occurred. Google Analytics uses the information from this cookie to calculate things like Days and Visits to purchase.permanent
__utmb2__utmb is a Google Analytics cookie. It takes a timestamp of the exact moment in time when a visitor enters a site.session
__utmc2__utmc takes a timestamp of the exact moment in time when a visitor leaves a site.30 mins
__utmz2Keeps track of where the visitor came from, what search engine you used, what link you clicked on, what keyword you used, and where they were in the world when you accessed a website. This cookie is how Google Analytics knows to whom and to what source / medium / keyword to assign the credit for a Goal Conversion or an Ecommerce Transaction.6 months

Third-party cookies

We also use third party cookies to analyse the use of this website and improve its performance.

For this purpose we use Google Analytics. Google Analytics generates statistical and other information about website use by means of cookies, which are stored on users’ computers. The information generated relating to our website is used to create reports about the use of the website. Google will store and use this information. Read Google’s privacy policy.

Most browsers allow you to reject all cookies, whilst some browsers allow you to reject just third party cookies.

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