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Frequently Asked Questions

How to I register for a Free Website?

Use our Free Website Sign-up Form, you need to read our Terms of Service and Qualifications before completing the sign up form. Also, keep in mind, our sign up process is a multi-step process:

1. User requests Free Website with Sign-up form
2. Email Verification email is sent for email confirmation
3. User clicks on Verification Email, which helps verify the user has a valid email account
4. ChurchServe reviews verified registration to determine validity of request
5. If ChurchServe determines the request is valid, ChurchServe sets up an account and emails user with login information.

What is my website address?

http://users.churchserve.com/region/website-name/
region = your region or state's abbreviation
website-name = your website name you chose while setup

How do I put my pages on my site?

All free websites are given FTP accounts. Connect to ftp.churchserve.com and use the chosen username and password. For more information about FTP, please see our FTP and Free Website page or the FTP Support pages.

What happened to the Account Manager?

Currently, it is not available, see our Account Manager page for more details.

What is my username/password?

When you signed up, you gave us a username and password to setup your account, most of the time, we used those suggestions. Your account is not setup until we email the account information to you. If you never recieve this information, then either your account was rejected.

I uploaded my files but some of my pages/images don't work properly?

Filenames on the server are case-sensitive -- which means index.html and Index.html and INDEX.HTML are all completely different files. Since most people build their pages on a Windows computer, filenames are case insensitive (index.html and Index.html are the same file).

How much space are free websites given?

15 megabytes is the limit, however it is possible to upload more. Please respect this policy. We do monitor website size and run periodic scans to find accounts violating this policy.

My username and password are not the same as I requested, what happened?

Usernames are often changed because the requested username already exists on our system, or there are invalid characters in the username. As far as passwords go, ChurchServe often changes the requested password to be more secure than the originally requested password. We recommend people request passwords that are at least 5 characters long, and contain letters and numbers and are not based on easy dictionary terms or religious names/places.

Do you support FrontPage on free websites?

Yes and No. We do NOT support the special FrontPage extensions required for special components (webbots) on free websites. However, we have tested FrontPage's FTP abilities -- which seem to work fine. FrontPage's first choice is to publish to a FrontPage enabled website, but will allow you to publish via FTP if the extensions are not available. With that in mind, the special components in FrontPage will not function on the free websites. Please see our page on FrontPage and Free Websites. ChurchServe has written an online tutorial (web pages and Flash-based) on instructions how to publish to a Free Website Account using FrontPage 2003.

Do you require Ads to be placed on pages hosted by you?

No. In fact, we prefer that you do no place Ads of any sort on your pages. We believe this ultimately distracts from the overall purpose of your website -- to promote Jesus Christ -- not some casino or other products. We ask that you place a reference back to our main page as a "thank you" for your space.

Can I setup a shorter URL or domain name to point to my free account?

We do offer a service to "upgrade" free accounts to the Almost Free Website which allows a domain name or subdomain to be associated with your domain. ChurchServe will not support any free account that registers a domain name and uses a third party to "forward" or "redirect" to your free account -- this violates our terms of service.

I paid for a domain name in good faith yet ChurchServe is not giving me support. Why?

Probaby because you failed to read our Terms of Service and several of our support pages that explain that:

• Free website do not come with domain names
• Using third party companies to forward your domain name to your free service on ChurchServe is not allowed
• We don't know what you are referring to, we have no record of service for the domain name in question.
• The company you paid was not ChurchServe unless you upgraded to one of our paid services like the Almost Free Website or the Basic Website. You most likely paid a "Domain Registrar" for your domain name registration.

Furthermore, any account in violation of our Terms of Service can be subject to account termination and/or non-support.

Why do you disallow domain name and short-url forwarding from third parties?

There are several reasons:

• Any organization that is able to afford a domain registration, should also be able to afford the trivial upgrade fee to at least the Almost Free Website account.
• We don't provide any other way to make money to sustain the free services other than service upgrades from those churches/ministries financially able to pay for additional services and upgrades. We are providing a low-cost alternative to violating our Terms of Service (ie, Almost Free Website service).
• Organizations that don't mind the URL assigned to them and/or cannot afford a domain name or shorter URL, can use their free account as long as they desire. We do not force people into upgrading, nor do we force advertising on the websites either.
• ChurchServe desires to have control over domain name entries for administrative reasons. Accounts setup with third party registrars are less flexible and may become broken without notice.
• Most folks refer to their account by their domain name, thus when you request support and provide a domain name that we have no record of, we are unable to help.
• We are unable to control how Third Party companies operate, conduct business, and/or implement any forwarding technology. With truly registered domain names with proper Name Server entries pointing to ChurchServe's DNS servers, we are able to provide a predictable and reliable ability to use such domain names on your account with ChurchServe.
• Not all Domain Registrars are the same. With our services we can register your account with a fully ICANN certified Registrar or at least provide advice on which Domain Registrars have the best reputations and required certifications.

How are the services of ChurchServe paid for?

As we all found out in the "Dot-com" bomb -- "free services" can't always remain free. In fact, we have had many new registrations because services that used to be "free" are now forced to charge for their services. Customers using our paid services help offset the cost involved in running the free websites. We encourage people or organizations that need web hosting services, to use our services so that we may continue to provide free services to those who need it. For more information about ChurchServe and our services, please visit our primary website at http://www.churchserve.com.