Privacy Policy

At St James Swansea we collect different types of information about our users for the following main reasons:

To provide a useful resource in the form of an online directory of users.
To provide an interactive website where email is used to communicate with the users.
To provide a security mechanism whereby we can restrict content to certain groups of users.
To enable the purchase and delivery of goods through our online shop.
To help us to improve the service we offer.

Our principles

We are absolutely committed to protecting your privacy. Our policy can be summarised in one sentence: we will not share your information with others without your consent.

We have established the following two principles:

We will respect your email privacy. You will only receive email from St James Swansea in relation to areas you have expressly signed up for.
We will not share any individual user details (including your email address) to any third party without your consent.

What information do we collect?

We collect information on our users through registration.

The minimum information we need to register a user is your first and last name and a password. We also ask for some further, voluntary information so we can provide a richer, more useful address book.

We collect information on our customers when you make a purchase through our shop.

We will collect your name, postal and email addresses, payment information and information about your order. Payment information is then transmitted and processed securely and is NOT held on our servers.

Who will have access to your information?

You have control over who is able to access specific items of information. By default your personal information will be visible to other authenticated users of the site. You can change these settings from your personal profile page. Your information will be used to build the online address book and show your birthday in the St James Swansea calendar.

What else you should know about privacy

Remember to close your browser when you have finished your user session. This is to ensure that others cannot access your personal information and correspondence if you share a device with someone else or are using a device in a public place like a library or internet cafe. You as an individual are responsible for the security of, and access to, your own device.

Please be aware that whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information over the internet that this information can be collected and used by others. In short, if you post personal information in publicly accessible online forums, you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return. Ultimately, you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your usernames and passwords and any account information. Please be careful and responsible whenever you are using the internet.

Our pages may contain links to other websites, and you should be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices on other websites.

We use Stripe for payment, analytics, and other business services. Stripe collects identifying information about the devices that connect to its services. Stripe uses this information to operate and improve the services it provides to us, including for fraud detection. You can learn more about Stripe and read its privacy policy at https://stripe.com/privacy.

Any Questions?

Hello and welcome to our church. If you are a new visitor, we have a page for you to get to know us and learn more about planning a visit.
Click here to see more.

Visitors click here.

Planning your Visit

A Warm Hello

The following information is specifically for those planning a visit, so that you know, beforehand, what to expect on a Sunday morning.

Where and When

We meet at the Church Building (details here) for our Sunday Service starting at 10:30am. For your first visit, we recommend arriving 10-15 minutes early to ensure you get a parking space and find somewhere to sit before the service begins. When you arrive, you should be greeted by someone on our Welcome Team who will be wearing a Welcome lanyard.

We serve tea, coffee and biscuits after the service in the church centre next door. It is a great way to meet people. All refreshments are free.

Accessibility: There is wheelchair access at the rear of the church, and a sound loop for anyone who needs it. Please let one of the Welcome Team know on your arrival and they will help you to get set up. There are toilets in the church centre next door.

Our Service

We hope that whether you've never been to church, or you've been coming for decades, you'll be at home and you can experience God's presence. The main service begins at 10:30am with a warm welcome and notices about what's coming up. Our services are a mix of old and new - contemporary songs led by a good music group. alongside traditional hymns and prayers which have sustained generations of Christians around the world. Preaching is designed to make the bible come alive and be relevant for our daily lives. Every Sunday morning we join in Holy Communion, which keeps our worship anchored in what God has done for us in Jesus. So our services are about both a personal encounter with God, and about establishing our faith in deep biblical wisdom, prayers and traditions of the wider church.

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What about children?

We have a popular children's programme, led by Sherry, our Child and Family worker and a team of helpers. If you're bringing children, have a chat with a member of the team when you arrive - our welcomers will direct you.

Children stay with their parent or grown-up at the start of the service for the welcome, first hymn and prayers. During a second song children leave for the church centre.

The children's group activities vary depending on the age but usually there is a friendly welcome, bible stories, praying, and a mix of music, craft, drama, fun games and free play. Our Eco Church group occasionally take sessions in the church grounds, and the vicar Ian leads some sessions too. Children come back into the service for communion and either sit with parents or with each other. We sometimes have all age services where children take a leading role, particularly on special days.

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Other activities

Growing in faith

We have a programme through the year of different types of courses and groups. In the last year, we have done the Prayer Course, had in-depth teaching sessions on the Cross, and Salvation & Life after Death; spiritual gifts; and books of Daniel and 1 John. We have an annual lecture series, which in recent years has looked at literature and faith and science and faith. We're looking to do the Start course for those wanting an introduction to faith, and later in the year the Bible course. These are usually on Thursday evenings at 7pm in the church centre, sometimes you can join on Zoom. And there's a prayer group at 9.15am on Thursday mornings.

Serving and Volunteering

If you want to get involved in the life of the church and help us make Sundays run smoothly, you can sign up to serve on a team.

Other Ministries

We also run the following ministries:

After school club
Healing ministry
We host and actively support Swansea Asylum Seeker Support

Get in touch with us to plan your visit

If you would like to come and visit the church beforehand you are more than welcome! Get in touch and we can arrange a time that suits you.

Name:

Telephone:

Email Address:
Comments / Questions or anything you would like to say?

Next, we will contact you by email to say hello and help arrange anything necessary for your visit.

Leadership


Rev Ian Folks, Vicar		Sherry Tanagho
Ian has been at St James since 2021, and has lived in the Uplands area since 1993. He's married to Vanessa, and they have children Daisy and Amelie. He's passionate about developing healing ministry and children's ministry. He loves walking on the Gower, playing guitar and is afflicted with a love of cricket and Tottenham Hotspur.		Sherry is our Children and Family worker. Originally from Egypt, Sherry is married to Ramon and their daughter is Rossanda. Sherry has been at St James since November 2022.

We hope that whoever you are, you will feel at home at our church.

Best Wishes
Ian, Sherry and the team