What we keep, and what we never keep

The Next Gen Jesus-Following Index (“the Index”) is a survey that churches and ministries run with young people aged 13 to 30, under their own name. This page explains what happens to the answers.

It covers the people who answer the survey (“respondents”) and the staff of organisations who use the dashboard. The two are kept completely apart.

We never ask for your name, email address or phone number. We store your answers, your age group (never your birthday), the country you say you live in, and — only if you choose to give it — your city or area.

We do not store your internet (IP) address with your answers. Like every website, the companies that host the Index (Netlify and Supabase) see it briefly to deliver the page, and keep it only in short-lived technical logs.

If you type something in a free-text answer, email addresses, phone numbers, web addresses and social-media handles are removed automatically before it is saved. Please don't type your name or anyone else's.

The survey is for people aged 13 and over. If you tell us you are 12 or younger, the survey ends straight away and nothing you chose is kept.

If you lose signal, your answers wait on your phone and are sent when it reconnects, then deleted from the phone.

The organisation that gave you the link only ever sees grouped results — averages and counts across many people — never one person's answers. A group that is too small to hide an individual (fewer than ten people, by default) shows a count but no result.

Results for a place are only shown once enough people there have taken part: at least 400 by default, and at least 2,000 before a whole country is named. We only ever describe “those who have completed the Index” — never a whole population.

Each organisation is responsible for getting the consent its context requires before sharing its link — including a parent's or guardian's consent for under-18s wherever that is required. Organisations confirm they have done this before their survey can accept answers. They keep their consent records themselves; the Index never holds them.

Anonymous answers are kept so that results can be recalculated when the method improves and compared year to year. A fixed retention period is being decided by the Collab's researchers; until it is, nothing is deleted automatically, and this page will be updated when it is.

Organisation staff sign in with a work email address. We store that address, your name if you give it, your role, and a log of actions such as creating a survey link or confirming consent. We use it only to run the Index and to contact you about it.

Because answers are anonymous, we cannot find, show or delete one person's answers — there is nothing linking them to you. Questions about this page can go to the organisation that gave you the survey, or to the Next Gen Global Collab.