Privacy policy

This English translation is provided for convenience. If it differs from the Korean original, the Korean version prevails.

Watercourse Church (the “Church”) establishes and discloses this Privacy Policy as follows, in accordance with Article 30 of the Personal Information Protection Act, in order to protect the personal information of data subjects and to handle related grievances promptly.

Article 1 (Purposes of Processing Personal Information)

The Church processes personal information for the following purposes and does not use it for any purpose other than these.

• Member verification and account management — verifying that a person is a registered member of the Church, giving notice of whether a sign-up has been approved, and identifying the person
• Providing members-only services — operating features available only to signed-in members, such as picking up where you left off
• Operating the photo albums — storing photos uploaded by members and making them visible only to signed-in members
• Your own record and small-group totals — showing each member their own record of sermons watched and “Good Seed” read, and adding up totals for each small group
• Prayer sharing — sharing members’ prayer requests with signed-in members
• Analysis of website use — compiling statistics on which pages are read and how much, in order to keep improving the website

Viewing sermons and reading “Good Seed” does not require signing up or providing any personal information. However, simply opening the website causes the items in Article 2(5) to be collected automatically.

Article 2 (Items of Personal Information Processed)

(1) Items provided by Kakao, with the data subject’s consent, when signing in with Kakao

• Required — Kakao member number, nickname, email address

(2) Items entered directly by the data subject on the Membership request page

• Required — name, phone number, email address
• Optional — a few words of introduction (“Note”)

Items entered directly by the data subject on the “Feedback” page (the “Feedback box”)

• Optional — comments you send about the website

The Feedback box does not separately collect your name or phone number. When you send it with your name, what you send and the date you sent it are stored linked to your signed-in account, and are read only in the Church’s admin screens.

If you choose “Send without my name,” who sent it is not stored; only what you sent and the date are kept, and the sender does not appear in the Church’s admin screens either.

Items entered directly by the data subject on the “Prayer” page under “Fellowship”

• Optional — prayer requests you post asking others to pray with you

Prayer requests are visible to signed-in members. Because a prayer request may include sensitive matters such as health or family circumstances, please write only as much as you are comfortable sharing. The Church does not edit what you write, but it may delete a request that is not suitable for sharing. Prayer requests older than 8 weeks are folded away from the list: other members no longer see them, while the member who posted them still can. Requests marked “Answered” move to “Thanksgiving” and fold away at the same time.

If you choose “Post without my name,” your name is not shown to other members or to the pastors, and it is not shown in the Church’s admin screens either. However, the posting account is kept on the Church’s server so that you can edit or delete the request and mark it “Answered.”

When you press “I prayed too,” the account that pressed it is kept so that the same prayer is not counted twice; others see only the number of people who pressed it.

(3) Items the data subject uploads to the photo albums

• Photos — photo files uploaded by the data subject
• Information recorded in photos — date and time taken
• Optional — captions added to photos

Photos you upload are kept resized to 2560 pixels on the long side, and in the process the location and device information recorded in the photo file is removed. Only the date and time taken is kept separately, to show photos in the order they were taken.

(4) Items generated automatically while using the services

• Viewing position in sermons and books
• The date on which a sermon or book was watched or read to the end
• Highlights and bookmarks you make in books (the passage you select and a short piece of the text before and after it, the color you choose, the date you made it, and the date you removed it)
• The times Mulbeot asked whether it had been helpful
• Time spent watching sermon videos (amount per day and per sermon)
• Chapters of “Good Seed” you read to the end for the first time, and the date

Sermon watching time and chapters read are counted only for members linked to the Church’s membership roll, and only while signed in. Per-person numbers can be seen only by you, on “My Page.” They are not shown to other members or to small-group leaders, and per-person numbers do not appear in the Church’s admin screens either. The small-group page shows them only as the total of the small group you belonged to on that day, and if fewer than three people have records in that period, even the total is not shown. This record is separate from the anonymous statistics described below.

Highlights and bookmarks can be used without signing in; in that case they stay only in the browser you are using and are not sent to the Church. Once you sign in, they are stored with your account from then on and carry over to your other devices. No one but you sees which passages you selected, and they are not counted in any statistics either.

Mulbeot (the website’s chatbot) occasionally asks, after giving an answer, whether it was helpful. The only thing the Church stores with your account is when you were asked, so that the same person is not asked again and again. Which button you pressed is not recorded together with who pressed it; it is counted only in daily totals. Being asked has nothing to do with the content of the answer, and you do not have to press anything.

The Church does not collect profile photos, dates of birth, or gender.

The statistics the Church counts itself do not use cookies. Website visit statistics are compiled only anonymously, without cookies, and no information that could identify an individual is collected in the process. Mulbeot usage statistics likewise record only daily counts and the average response time, and conversation content is not kept. Visits by signed-in members are also compiled only as daily numbers of people and page views; who viewed which page is not kept (the personal record described in (4) is separate). However, so that the same person is not counted twice, duplicates are filtered out for that one day by account number only, and those numbers are deleted when the day changes — only the counts remain.

Reading in the Library is also counted without telling people apart. For each book, only the number of times chapters were opened, the number of times they were read to the end, and the average time spent on a chapter are counted, by day and by month; who read which book is not kept. Readers who are not signed in are counted as well, and in either case no value that tells people apart is stored. Daily totals are deleted after one year, while monthly totals, being numbers from which no individual can be identified, are kept and not deleted — so that the Church can see which books are read over the years. (Storing how far a member has read, and the chapters they first read to the end, in that member’s account is a separate matter, and it is deleted when you delete your account, as stated in (4) above and in Article 3.)

(5) Items collected automatically through Google Analytics

• IP address (used by Google to determine the region of access; the Church does not receive it)
• Type of device and browser, screen size, and language settings
• Region of access (only down to the city level; precise location is not collected)
• Address and title of the pages visited, time spent, and how you arrived
• Search terms you enter in the website’s search
• How far you scrolled, whether you clicked external links, and whether you downloaded files
• A random visitor identifier held in a cookie stored in your browser

The Church uses Google Analytics to understand how the website is used. The items above are sent to Google LLC, not to the Church’s server. The Church does not send names or phone numbers as collected items. However, because the identifier held in the cookie makes it possible to link visits from the same browser, the Church treats it as personal information and sets it out in this Policy. If you do not want cookies, you can refuse them in the ways described in Article 6, and refusing them does not affect your use of the website.

Members-only pages are not sent to Google Analytics. On the members’ pages under “Fellowship,” including the photo albums, on news posted for members only, and on “My Page,” album names or post titles appear in page addresses and titles, and these may include people’s names, so Analytics is not turned on at all on these pages. Page views of members-only pages are counted only within the Church’s server.

Article 3 (Processing and Retention Periods of Personal Information)

(1) The Church processes and retains personal information within the retention and use period set by law, or within the retention and use period to which the data subject consented when the personal information was collected.

(2) The retention period for each item is as follows.

• Personal information of approved members — until the account is deleted
• Personal information of applicants who have not been approved — 1 year from the date of application
• Viewing positions and completion dates — until the account is deleted
• Prayer requests and “I prayed too” — until you delete them, and at the latest until the account is deleted. Requests posted without your name are deleted as well
• Sermon watching time and chapters read — until the account is deleted. However, the small-group totals fixed when a year’s small-group records are closed (only for small groups where three or more people have records) remain as numbers not broken down by person
• Highlights and bookmarks — until the account is deleted. For highlights you remove, only a record that they were removed is kept, for up to 1 year — this is so that removed highlights do not reappear when you use several devices. The text before and after the passage you selected, and its color, are deleted as soon as you remove the highlight
• Comments you send (Feedback box) — until the account is deleted. Comments sent without your name do not store who sent them, so they cannot be singled out and deleted when you delete your account; they remain until the Church disposes of them
• When Mulbeot asked — until the account is deleted
• Photos and the information recorded in them — until the Church destroys them. Even if a member deletes their account, the photos remain as part of the Church’s records, and only the uploader’s name is removed
• Items collected by Google Analytics — the periods stated in Article 5(3) and Article 7

(3) Where a law sets a separate retention period, that period applies.

Article 4 (Provision of Personal Information to Third Parties)

The Church processes the personal information of data subjects only within the scope specified in Article 1, and provides it to third parties only in cases falling under Articles 17 and 18 of the Personal Information Protection Act, such as with the data subject’s consent or under a special provision of law.

The Church does not currently provide any personal information to third parties.

Information sent to Google Analytics for the analysis of website use is not provided to a third party; it is processing that the Church entrusts to Google, and the details are set out in Articles 5 and 7.

Article 5 (Entrustment of Personal Information Processing)

To provide its services smoothly, the Church entrusts the processing of personal information as follows.

(1) Sending notification emails

• Entrusted party — Google LLC
• Entrusted work — sending notification emails
• Retention and use period — until the entrustment contract ends

(2) Storing photos

• Entrusted party — Cloudflare, Inc.
• Entrusted work — storing photo files uploaded to the photo albums
• Storage region — Asia-Pacific
• Retention and use period — until the entrustment contract ends

(3) Analysis of website use

• Entrusted party — Google LLC
• Entrusted work — compiling and analyzing website use through Google Analytics
• Retention and use period — 14 months, under the data retention setting of Google Analytics. After this period, Google deletes visitor-level records, and statistics that remain only as daily totals are kept as they are

When entering into entrustment contracts, the Church sets out the matters necessary to ensure that personal information is managed safely, and if an entrusted party changes, the Church will disclose it through this Policy.

Article 6 (Installation, Operation, and Refusal of Cookies)

(1) The Church uses the cookies set by Google Analytics to understand how the website is used. A cookie is a very small record that the website sends to your browser, and it is used to link and count visits from the same browser.

(2) You can refuse them. You can block cookies in your browser settings, or install the “Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on” provided by Google. Refusing them does not affect your viewing of the website in any way.

(3) However, there are a few cookies that the Church’s server itself uses for signing in and moving between pages. If you refuse these, you will be signed out or some pages will not work properly. These cookies are used only by the Church’s server and are not sent to any outside party.

(4) Sermon videos and the map on the Directions page are embedded directly from YouTube and Google Maps. When you open such a page, requests to fetch the video or map go to Google, and your IP address and the page from which you opened it are sent with them. The Church uses an address that leaves fewer cookies (youtube-nocookie.com) so that no cookies for ad tracking are left.

(5) When you open the Kakao sign-in page on a phone, a script for signing in directly with the KakaoTalk app is fetched from Kakao’s server (t1.kakaocdn.net). At that time, your IP address and browser type are sent to Kakao. Which page you are viewing is not sent, and no cookies are sent with this request. This request does not happen anywhere other than the sign-in page, nor on a computer.

Article 7 (Transfer of Personal Information Overseas)

The Church transfers personal information overseas as follows for the analysis of website use.

• Recipient — Google LLC (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA · privacy inquiries can be made through the contact channels in Google’s Privacy Policy)
• Destination country — United States. Google may also process the information in its own data centers located in other countries
• Date, time, and method of transfer — sent automatically through the browser when you open a page on the website
• Items transferred — the items listed in Article 2(5), and, when you open sermon videos or the map, also the items in Article 6(4)
• Recipient’s purpose of use — compiling and analyzing website use
• Retention and use period — the period stated in Article 5(3)

If you do not want your information transferred overseas, you can refuse in the ways described in Article 6. Refusing does not affect your use of the website.

Article 8 (Procedures and Methods for Destroying Personal Information)

(1) When personal information is no longer needed, such as when the retention period has passed or the purpose of processing has been achieved, the Church destroys that personal information without delay.

(2) The methods of destruction are as follows.

• Information in electronic file form: permanently deleted by a method that makes recovery or reproduction impossible
• Paper documents: shredded or incinerated

Article 9 (Rights and Obligations of Data Subjects and Legal Representatives, and How to Exercise Them)

(1) Data subjects may at any time request the Church to give access to, correct, delete, or suspend the processing of their personal information.

(2) These rights may be exercised in writing or by email to the Privacy Officer named in Article 11, and the Church will act on such requests without delay.

(3) Once your sign-up has been approved, you can correct your name, phone number, and email address yourself. Go to “My Page,” which opens when you select your name at the top of the screen, and select “My info” → “Edit details.”

(4) While your sign-up is awaiting approval, you cannot make changes yourself on screen. If you entered something incorrectly in your application, please tell the Privacy Officer named in Article 11.

(5) You can delete your account yourself under “Delete account” at the bottom of the “My Page → My info” page. When you delete your account, the information listed in Article 3 as kept “until the account is deleted” is destroyed without delay. However, Feedback sent without your name, and the small-group totals fixed when a year is closed, remain.

(6) However, even if you delete your account, the photos you uploaded and the albums you created remain on the website. Other church members appear in those photos, and albums hold other people’s photos as well, so deleting them because one person has deleted their account would erase the records of everyone else too. Your name as the uploader is removed from the photos and albums. If you would like a particular photo or album deleted, please tell the Privacy Officer named in Article 11.

(7) Your name, church office, and group as recorded in the Church’s membership roll, and your small-group membership for each year, remain even after you delete your account. This is not website account information but a roll that the Church keeps separately; the website only reads it to confirm whether someone is a church member. If you would like to be removed from the roll, please tell the Privacy Officer named in Article 11.

(8) If you signed up with a Kakao account, the Church disconnects the Kakao link when it processes your account deletion. If the link cannot be disconnected, the screen shown once your account has been deleted will tell you so, and in that case you will need to disconnect it yourself in KakaoTalk → Settings → Kakao Account → Connected Services.

(9) A legal representative may exercise these rights with respect to the personal information of a child under the age of 14.

Article 10 (Measures to Ensure the Security of Personal Information)

The Church takes the following measures to ensure the security of personal information.

• Administrative measures — The number of people who handle personal information is kept to a minimum, and only those with administrator privileges can view personal information.
• Technical measures — All communication with the website is encrypted (HTTPS), and data containing personal information is backed up regularly.
• Protection of photos — Photos are kept in storage that is not open to the public and are shown only to signed-in members, through links that work only for a short time.
• Physical measures — Access to the systems where personal information is stored is controlled.

Article 11 (Privacy Officer)

The Church designates a Privacy Officer, as below, to take overall responsibility for work related to the processing of personal information and to handle data subjects’ complaints, remedies for damage, and the like related to the processing of personal information.

• Privacy Officer — Harry Oh
• Email — master@watercourse.org

Data subjects may direct any inquiries, complaints, requests for remedies, and other matters concerning the protection of personal information that arise while using the Church’s services to the contact above.

Article 12 (Remedies for Infringement of Rights)

To obtain remedies for infringement of their personal information, data subjects may apply to the organizations below for dispute resolution, counseling, and the like.

• Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee — 1833-6972 (www.kopico.go.kr)
• Personal Information Infringement Report Center — 118, no area code (privacy.kisa.or.kr)
• Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, Cyber Investigation Division — 1301, no area code (www.spo.go.kr)
• Korean National Police Agency, Cyber Investigation Bureau — 182, no area code (ecrm.police.go.kr)

Article 13 (Changes to the Privacy Policy)

This Privacy Policy applies from its effective date. If its contents are added to, deleted, or corrected because of changes in laws or policies, the Church will post a notice on the website beginning 7 days before the changes take effect.

Effective date: Oct 16, 2026