Data at Barton:

We keep records of attenders for contact purposes, which is freely available to members either by email or through the secure area in the church web site. Apart form contact information we only hold the nature of a person’s affiliation to Barton. On a separate database we record who is involved in what ministry.

Formal Minutes are taken from Church Business Meetings and meetings of the elders, deacons and international missions team. In each of these cases, where personal matters are discussed, there is a policy of simply recording the names of individuals who are mentioned in discussion. No record of personal circumstances or issues is made other than financial commitments made by the church to relevant individuals or groups.

The pastoral team does not take minutes and in general adheres to a policy of confidentiality surrounding personal circumstances so that meetings avoid discussion of individuals’ situations. The meetings are primarily aimed at enabling the team members to work more effectively.

The financial team keeps a record of all donations made to and by the church but does not record the circumstances of donors or recipients. All personal transactions are treated in confidence within the team alone.

Personal information may be discussed in emails and letters that are stored electronically on staff’s personal computers or the office network. Access to these are, in all cases, password-protected. Paper records of correspondence are not kept as a matter of course