Privacy policy
Privacy policy
This explains which data is processed when you visit the website or write to us.
1. Who is responsible for processing data
Ukrainian Evangelical Church in Schwäbisch Gmünd
Represented by Pastor Viacheslav Melnytskyi
Goethestraße 3, 73525 Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany
Email: erstekircheua@gmail.com
2. Website visits and hosting
The website is hosted as a static site on Cloudflare Pages (Cloudflare, Inc.). When you open a page, Cloudflare processes connection data, including the IP address and request details, to deliver and protect the website.
Our legal basis for using the hosting service is our legitimate interest in the stable and secure operation of the website under Article 6(1)(f) GDPR. For details of Cloudflare’s processing, including transfers and retention, see its privacy policy.
3. Email contact
When you email us, for example via the “Write” button, we process your email address, your name if provided, the content of your message and any other details you choose to include. We use this data only to review and answer your inquiry, on the basis of Article 6(1)(f) GDPR.
Our mailbox is provided by Google (Gmail). Google also processes messages under its own terms, and data may be transferred to the United States. Google LLC is certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework.
Please send only the information needed for your request and avoid sharing particularly sensitive data, such as health information, unless it is necessary.
4. Contact via Telegram
The “Write in Telegram” and “Join a group” buttons lead to our Telegram bot @EliGmuendBot. When you write to the bot, people responsible in our church see your message and the profile details Telegram transmits (for example name and username) and reply personally. We use this data only to answer your inquiry, on the basis of Article 6(1)(f) GDPR.
Messages are transmitted and stored by the Telegram service, which processes data under its own terms, including outside the EU. If you do not want this, please email us instead.
5. Retention of inquiries
We keep emails and Telegram messages only as long as needed to respond and complete the conversation. They are generally deleted no later than 12 months after the last correspondence, unless the law requires longer retention. You can ask us to delete your messages earlier.
6. External links
The website contains ordinary links to Telegram, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and Google Maps, including groups and pages of individual ministries of our church. Data is sent to the respective service only when you follow a link. Further processing is governed by that service’s policies.
7. Analytics and cookies
We do not use any site-owned analytics service or set analytics or advertising cookies.
As the hosting provider, Cloudflare processes technical request data to deliver and protect the website, as described in the hosting section above.
8. Your rights
You may request access to, correction or deletion of your data, request restriction of processing, object to processing based on our legitimate interest and, where provided by law, receive a copy of your data. Please email erstekircheua@gmail.com.
You may also lodge a complaint with the State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information in Baden-Württemberg.
9. Whether you must provide data
You are not obliged to provide us with personal data. Without the technically necessary connection data, however, the website cannot be displayed, and without your contact details we cannot reply to you. We do not use automated decision-making, including profiling.
10. Updates to this document
Last updated: 15 October 2026. We will update this document if the website’s features or the way data is processed change.