Privacy Policy

1. About this service

Bible Study Assistant, also known as AdventShare or Adventist Share, helps Media Evangelists share Christian Bible-study courses and supports people who choose to study through WhatsApp. The service includes its website, administration and Media Evangelist interfaces, Android companion application, and connected Bible-study messaging functions.

This Privacy Policy explains what information we handle, why we handle it, who may access it, and how to request access, correction or deletion. Participation in Bible studies is voluntary.

2. Information we handle

Media Evangelists and administrators. When you register or use an authorised account, we handle your name, telephone number, role, account status, phone-verification records, sign-in or access tokens, courses shared, associated referrals, and activity needed to manage your account or secure the service. The app does not require access to your phone's address book to create an invitation. If you personalise an invitation with someone's name, that name may appear in the message you choose to share through another application.

Bible-study learners. When you start or continue a study on WhatsApp, we may handle your WhatsApp telephone number, your selected reading or listening preference, the course and topic version shared with you, the referring Media Evangelist where applicable, study progress and completion dates, responses to lesson questions, Bible questions you submit, and messages needed to conduct the study. If you request a certificate or personal follow-up, we may also handle the name and contact details you provide, your certificate information, and the question or concern you choose to share.

Technical and operational information. We handle information needed to deliver and troubleshoot messages, prevent misuse, verify access and maintain security. This may include message identifiers and delivery status, time stamps, limited network or IP information, error logs and security records.

The Teens, Young Adults and Adults categories identify the intended audience of study content. They do not, by themselves, verify or establish a learner's actual age.

Bible-study participation and some questions or follow-up requests can reveal religious interests or beliefs. We treat this as sensitive personal information and use it for the purposes described in this Policy.

3. How information is used

We use information to deliver requested lessons and audio, remember where learners stopped, respond to study choices, issue certificates when applicable, support voluntary follow-up requests, attribute a study invitation to the Media Evangelist who shared it, administer accounts, provide appropriate progress reporting, maintain service security, and send account-verification or enabled service notifications.

Authorised administrators may use aggregated study statistics to understand how the ministry is functioning. We do not sell personal information or use learners' study responses for advertising.

4. WhatsApp and optional AI features

WhatsApp messages are exchanged through services provided by Meta/WhatsApp. Those services process information under their own terms and privacy policies. Messaging delivery depends on WhatsApp and the user's connectivity.

Where enabled, optional AI-assisted Bible answers may send a learner's submitted question and relevant approved study material to an external AI service, including OpenAI, to generate a response. Optional audio-generation tools may also process lesson text with such a service. AI features are not required for every lesson or interaction. Administrators may also use AI to analyse aggregated report figures rather than individual learner answers.

Please avoid sending passwords, financial details, medical records or other unnecessary highly sensitive information in study messages or follow-up requests.

5. Who may access or process information

Authorised administrators may access information required to operate the service and respond to legitimate follow-up or support needs. A Media Evangelist can access permitted progress information about learners connected with their invitations, subject to access controls. The Android companion view is designed to show limited learner progress rather than detailed answers to individual study questions.

We use necessary service providers for website hosting, WhatsApp message delivery, phone/SMS verification and, when configured, AI processing. These providers process information in connection with delivering their services. Some processing or storage may take place outside your country.

We do not give Media Evangelists unrestricted access to learners' conversations, and they must keep any learner information they are authorised to see confidential.

6. Your choices and privacy requests

You may decide not to begin a study, stop participating, decline follow-up requests, or ask us to review information associated with your account or WhatsApp number. Depending on applicable law, you may request access, correction, deletion, restriction of use, or other available privacy rights.

Media Evangelists can initiate account deletion using the app or the account-deletion page. Learners who wish to request deletion of their WhatsApp study records should contact us, as described in the separate Data Deletion Instructions. Deleting a Media Evangelist account does not automatically delete independent learner study records.

Privacy contact: bsa@uu-adventist.org

Deletion instructions: https://bsa.uu-adventist.org/data-deletion.php

7. Children and younger learners

Some study content is written for teenagers. We do not use the chosen course category as proof of age. Where applicable law requires permission from a parent or guardian for a younger learner's participation or processing of personal information, that permission should be obtained. Parents or guardians may contact us about a minor's information; we may take reasonable steps to verify their authority before acting.

8. Retention and security

We retain account and study information while it is needed to operate the service, maintain study continuity, provide requested follow-up, protect the system, or meet applicable obligations. Some technical message and verification records are subject to periodic cleanup. When information is no longer needed, or a valid deletion request is approved, we delete or de-identify it unless retention is required or permitted by law. This also applies to information available in our operational systems; a service provider may follow its own applicable retention rules.

We use access controls, phone verification, encrypted connections and other reasonable safeguards. No digital system can guarantee absolute security.

9. Changes and contact

We may revise this Policy as the service changes and will update the effective date when a revised version is published. For questions, concerns or privacy requests, contact bsa@uu-adventist.org.

Terms of Service: https://bsa.uu-adventist.org/terms-of-service.php