Privacy Policy

Effective date: September 3, 2026

Emmaus Road Fellowship (“Emmaus Road,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) respects your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect information when you visit walkingemmausroad.org (the “Website”), contact us through the Website, subscribe to our communications, or use online services linked from the Website.

This Privacy Policy applies to information collected through the Website and related communications that we control. Some services available through or linked from the Website are operated by other organizations, including Constant Contact, ACS Technologies/Realm, Google, YouTube, Microsoft, Cloudflare, and other service providers. Those organizations may process information under their own privacy policies.

1. Information We Collect

Information You Provide

We may collect information that you voluntarily provide, including:

Contact information, such as your first and last name, email address, and optional mobile telephone number and SMS consent preferences;
Messages and correspondence submitted through our contact form or sent to us by email;
Newsletter information, such as your name, email address, and communication preferences;
Event, ministry, or volunteer information that you provide through a registration or inquiry; and
Other information you choose to provide to us.

Because we are a religious organization, information you provide may sometimes reveal or imply religious beliefs or affiliations. A message may also contain pastoral, family, health, or other sensitive information. We use such information only as reasonably necessary to respond to the request or provide the ministry or service for which it was submitted.

Please do not use the Website contact form to submit highly confidential information, detailed medical information, information about minors, or emergency pastoral-care requests. Website forms and email are not guaranteed to be secure or monitored continuously. If there is an immediate threat to life or safety, call 911 or the appropriate emergency service.

Information Collected Automatically

When you use the Website, we and our service providers may automatically collect limited technical and usage information, including:

Internet Protocol (IP) address and approximate geographic location;
Browser type, device type, operating system, language, and similar technical information;
The referring website or page;
Pages viewed, links selected, files downloaded, and interactions with Website content;
Date, time, and duration of visits;
Cookie and privacy preferences; and
Security, error, and diagnostic information.

This information may be collected through server logs, cookies, scripts, embedded content, security technologies, and similar technologies.

2. How We Use Information

We may use information to:

Respond to questions, messages, and requests;
Provide information about services, events, ministries, and congregational activities;
Send newsletters and other communications requested by subscribers;
Administer event registrations, volunteer activities, and ministry participation;
Operate, maintain, secure, troubleshoot, and improve the Website;
Understand Website traffic and how visitors use our content when analytics consent has been provided;
Prevent spam, fraud, misuse, bots, and automated submissions;
Maintain appropriate congregational, financial, and administrative records;
Comply with applicable legal obligations; and
Protect the rights, property, safety, and security of Emmaus Road, our congregation, Website visitors, and others.

3. Cookies, Analytics, and Similar Technologies

The Website uses cookies and similar technologies for essential Website functions, security, remembering privacy preferences, and—when you consent—Website analytics.

We use WPConsent to manage cookie preferences.

Essential and security technologies may operate without optional analytics consent because they are necessary to remember your privacy choices, protect the Website, prevent automated abuse, or provide requested Website functionality.

Optional Analytics

We use Google Analytics, implemented through MonsterInsights, to understand Website traffic and usage. Google Analytics may process information such as pages viewed, visit timing, referring pages, approximate location, browser and device information, and interactions with Website content.

Google Analytics is classified as an optional Statistics service.

Google Analytics is blocked by default and does not run or set its analytics cookies unless you consent to Statistics cookies through our cookie-preferences control.

The Google Analytics cookies currently observed on the Website include _ga and a property-specific _ga_<ID> cookie.

We may also use Jetpack Stats, provided by Automattic, to understand aggregate Website traffic and content usage. Jetpack may use scripts or similar analytics technologies depending on its configuration. We treat optional analytics technologies as subject to the visitor’s Statistics-cookie choice.

You may accept or reject Statistics technologies through the Website’s cookie-consent interface and may return to the cookie-preferences control later to change your selection.

For details about the cookies and similar technologies currently used on the Website, including their purposes and retention periods, please review our Cookie Policy.

4. Website Security and Spam Prevention

We use Cloudflare security technologies to help protect the Website against malicious traffic, automated activity, spam, and abuse.

Cloudflare may process technical information such as IP address, browser and device information, network information, and interaction signals for security and bot-detection purposes.

The Website currently uses the Cloudflare __cf_bm cookie as an essential security cookie. This cookie helps distinguish legitimate traffic from automated traffic and is not used by Emmaus Road for advertising.

We may also use Cloudflare Turnstile or similar Website-security technology on forms to help distinguish human visitors from automated submissions.

Security technologies are classified as essential where they are necessary to protect the Website or process a requested Website function.

5. Contact Forms and Email

Our contact form is provided through WPForms.

Contact-form submissions are delivered to Emmaus Road by email and are not stored in the Website’s WordPress database.

Website-generated email may be transmitted through SMTP2GO, our transactional email-delivery provider, and delivered to organizational email accounts hosted through Microsoft 365. Accordingly, information submitted through a Website form may be processed by these service providers as necessary to transmit, deliver, secure, and store the resulting email communication.

Authorized Emmaus Road staff members, ministry leaders, or volunteers may have access to a message when reasonably necessary to respond to the request or perform an appropriate ministry or administrative function.

We use Constant Contact to operate our newsletter signup process and distribute email communications.

When you subscribe, Constant Contact processes the information you submit on our behalf. This may include your name, email address, subscription status, and information associated with delivery or interaction with newsletter messages.

Newsletter emails include an unsubscribe link that you may use at any time.

Unsubscribing from newsletters does not prevent us from responding individually to a message you send us or sending another non-promotional communication when appropriate.

7. SMS and Text Messaging

We may maintain text-messaging capability on certain organizational telephone numbers for administrative and communications purposes, including receiving inbound text messages and verification messages.

Emmaus Road does not use its office telephone number to operate a marketing or promotional SMS program. Ministry-related mass text communications, when offered, may be provided through separate services such as Realm or Constant Contact and are subject to the consent and privacy practices applicable to those services.

No mobile information will be shared with third parties/affiliates for marketing/promotional purposes. All the above categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.

We may use telecommunications and technology service providers as necessary to transmit, receive, secure, and operate text-messaging services on our behalf.

8. Giving and Realm Connect

Online giving, text-to-give, member accounts, and certain congregational services are provided through ACS Technologies and Realm.

When you follow a link to Realm or use its services, information submitted directly through Realm is collected and processed under ACS Technologies’ privacy practices and terms.

Emmaus Road may receive donor information and transaction records from Realm, such as:

donor name;
contact information;
contribution amount;
fund or contribution designation; and
transaction date.

We may use this information for contribution acknowledgments, accounting, tax reporting, financial administration, and other legitimate congregational recordkeeping purposes.

Payment-card and bank-account information is processed by the applicable payment provider. Emmaus Road does not collect or store complete payment-card or bank-account numbers through this Website.

9. Embedded Content and External Links

The Website may include or link to content and services provided by third parties, including:

YouTube videos;
Google Maps;
podcast platforms;
social-media services;
Realm;
newsletter services; and
other external websites or resources.

When embedded third-party content loads or you select an external link, the provider may receive technical information such as your IP address, browser or device information, referring page, and information about your interaction with its service.

If you are signed in to an account with that provider, the provider may associate the interaction with your account.

Cookies or other technologies used after you leave our Website or interact directly with a third-party service are generally controlled by that provider and governed by its privacy practices.

Emmaus Road does not control the privacy, security, or content practices of third-party websites and services. We encourage you to review their privacy policies.

10. How We Disclose Information

We may disclose information in the following circumstances:

Service providers. We may provide information to vendors that help us host and maintain the Website, deliver email, provide organizational email services, provide analytics, manage cookie consent, prevent spam and automated abuse, process contributions, distribute newsletters, support Realm services, or perform other functions on our behalf.
Authorized workers. Staff members, ministry leaders, and authorized volunteers may have access to information when reasonably necessary to respond to a request or carry out an appropriate ministry or administrative function.
Legal and safety reasons. We may disclose information when we reasonably believe disclosure is required by law or necessary to respond to lawful process, prevent harm, investigate wrongdoing, protect safety, or defend the rights and property of Emmaus Road or others.
Organizational changes. If Emmaus Road undergoes a reorganization, consolidation, or transfer of ministry operations, relevant records may be transferred subject to appropriate privacy protections.
At your direction. We may disclose information when you request or authorize us to do so.

Emmaus Road does not sell personal information or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.

11. Data Retention

We retain information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, subject to legal, safety, financial, and legitimate organizational recordkeeping requirements.

Contact Messages

We generally retain contact-form messages and related correspondence for up to two years after the matter is resolved.

Spam, advertisements, and obvious unsolicited commercial messages may be deleted sooner.

If information from a message becomes part of another congregational, pastoral, safety, financial, or administrative record, the relevant information may be transferred to an appropriately restricted system and retained according to the practices applicable to that record.

We retain subscription information while you remain subscribed.

If you unsubscribe, Constant Contact or Emmaus Road may retain limited suppression information so that your unsubscribe request can continue to be honored.

Analytics Information

Analytics information is retained according to our configured settings and the applicable analytics provider’s retention practices.

Optional analytics data is not collected through Google Analytics on our Website unless Statistics consent has been provided.

Security and Technical Records

Server logs, security information, and related technical records are generally retained for a limited period unless they are needed to investigate a security incident, prevent abuse, comply with legal requirements, or protect the Website.

Contribution and Administrative Records

Contribution, tax, accounting, legal, safety, and other official organizational records may be retained for the periods required by law or reasonably appropriate for the nature of those records.

12. Your Choices and Privacy Requests

You may:

Unsubscribe from newsletter emails using the unsubscribe link provided in those messages;
Opt out of SMS messages by replying STOP;
Accept or reject optional Statistics cookies;
Change your cookie and analytics preferences through the Website’s cookie-preferences control;
Configure your browser to block or delete cookies;
Ask us to correct inaccurate personal information that we control;
Ask us for information about personal information that we control; or
Ask us to delete personal information that we control.

We may need to verify your identity before completing a privacy request.

Requests are subject to applicable law and legitimate legal, financial, safety, ministry, and organizational recordkeeping requirements.

We cannot control or delete information independently held by a third-party service under that provider’s own account or privacy practices.

13. Children’s Privacy

The Website is intended for a general audience and is not directed to children under 13.

We do not knowingly collect personal information online directly from children under 13.

If you are a parent or legal guardian and believe that a child under 13 has submitted personal information through the Website, please contact us so that we can review and delete the information as appropriate.

Parents or legal guardians should submit registrations or other information concerning their minor children rather than asking children to submit the information themselves.

14. Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures designed to protect personal information.

These measures may include:

limiting access according to role and legitimate need;
Website and bot-protection technologies;
secure email and cloud-service providers;
administrative access controls; and
reasonable technical safeguards appropriate to the systems involved.

However, no website, email transmission, Internet connection, or electronic storage system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

Please use care when deciding what information to submit through the Website or email.

15. Visitors Outside the United States

Emmaus Road is located in the United States.

The Website and our service providers may process and store information in the United States and other countries. Privacy and data-protection laws in those locations may differ from the laws where you live.

By using third-party services available through the Website, information may be processed in locations determined by those service providers and subject to their applicable privacy practices.

16. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy when our Website, services, vendors, information practices, or legal obligations change.

When we make changes, we will post the revised Privacy Policy on this page and update the effective date at the top.

If a change materially affects how we use information already collected, we will provide additional notice when reasonably appropriate.