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Have a FaithLife Website?
We Have Created This Checklist To Help You.
As a reminder, FaithLife is discontinuing their website hosting service (FaithLife Sites) on June 30, 2023. Any existing FaithLife Sites church website not migrated to a new platform by July 1 will be taken offline.
As seen below (steps 3 & 4) it can take up to 10 days to get everything into place. This is NOT due to ChurchWebsite.com but to get all of the “Internet plumbing” to work properly. Time is of the essence.
1. Sign up to begin the Migration Process
We will convert your existing website from the FaithLife Sites platform to the ChurchWebsite platform. While this usually takes 1-2 days, there are other steps you must take (see below) – which can take up to a week, based on feedback we have received – to make certain your church website will continue to work on July 1, 2023.
2. Verify Your Domain Ownership
We have discovered from working with many FaithLife churches that the church is not the Primary Registrar for the church website domain name (ie, churchname.org). FaithLife helped register the domain name so FaithLife is the registered account holder.
While there are many ways you can check this, we recommend using the ICANN tool, since they control all domain names. Click the button to go to the ICANN website. Once there, just enter your domain name and scroll down to the Registrar Information section. If it shows TUCOWS then FaithLife is the registered owner. Proceed to Step #3.
3. Contact FaithLife Support (optional)
If TUCOWS is the Registrar, and Faithlife is the Reseller, you will need to contact Faithlife and request that they transfer the domain ownership to you.
Once you have begun the process with FaithLife, you will need to:
- Create an account with a Domain Registrar.
- Request that your church website domain name (ie, mychurchname.org) be transferred to you.
- WAIT for the transfer to go through – about 3-7 days.
We realize this can be technical and a pain. We are happy to help you with this step once you have begun the process with FaithLife.
Please note: This 7-day delay has nothing to do with us (or with FaithLife). That’s just how long it takes. The sooner you start the happier the ending.
4. Update the DNS records
This is another technical step, but we are happy to help you. This will allow your new website, on the ChurchWebsite platform, to be your new presence in the Internet.
It can take 24-48 hours for this process to finalize. Again, this has nothing to do with us. That’s just the way the Internet is set up to operate.
5. Get a New SSL Certificate
Because your church website has moved from one webserver to another, a new SSL certificate must be obtained. We handle this for you. We do not charge for SSL certificates and we keep them up-to-date for you.
6. Add "Migrating Websites" to your resume
Now that you have successfully migrated to the ChurchWebsite platform you can expect people to look at you with more awe and respect. There have even been reports of prime parking spots at the shopping center suddenly opening up for our successful clients.
