No hostage websites
Ownership & Portability
Your ministry shouldn't lose its digital home because you change providers. Here is exactly what your church keeps, and what we hand over.
The principle
Your Church Owns Its Digital Home
Many churches do not realise how dependent they have become on a provider until they try to leave one.
It is common for a church to discover that its domain is registered in a vendor's name, that nobody else has administrator access to the website, or that the content cannot be exported in any useful form. At that point the church has lost negotiating power it should never have given away.
We work the other way around. Your church owns and controls its content and digital assets as defined in the service agreement, and where practical your domain and third-party accounts belong directly to your church rather than to us.
This is not a favour we are doing you. It is what a responsible provider should do by default.
The specifics
What You Keep
Where practical, these belong directly to your church from the beginning rather than being transferred later.
Belongs to your church
Your domain name, registered and administered in your church's name wherever possible.
Your website content — text, images, teaching articles, event pages, ministry information.
Your Google accounts and profiles, including your Google Business Profile.
Your analytics and search data.
Your email lists and contacts, with your church as the account holder.
Your giving account, held with the giving provider you choose.
Your social media accounts and channels.
Any books, songs or resources produced for your church, subject to the terms of the specific service.
Depends on the platform
Some platforms allow complete content and data export; others do not. That is a limitation of the platform, not a decision we make — and we will tell you which situations apply to you.
Where a platform limits export, we still provide what can be provided: content, images, assets, data exports and, where reasonable, a working copy.
Custom code and site structure we built may not transfer to an entirely different platform without rebuilding. The content inside it does.
If you ever leave
A Responsible Handover
Churches change direction, merge, or find a provider closer to home. That is a normal thing and we handle it like adults.
- 1
Tell us
You tell us you are moving on. No notice period argument, no withholding, no obligation to explain your reasons.
- 2
We assemble your materials
Backups, content, images, assets, exports and any documentation that helps someone else take over.
- 3
We transfer what transfers
Where practical, domain and account access is moved into your church's name or to your new provider.
- 4
We document what cannot move
If a platform limits export, we tell you plainly what can and cannot be carried across.
- 5
We answer reasonable questions
Your new provider may need to understand how something was built. We will help with that.
- 6
We stop
Associated recurring services end, and we do not keep charging for a relationship that has ended.
Why we structure it this way
Holding a church's website or domain hostage is a way to keep revenue. It is also a fast way to damage the ministry you claim to serve.
We would rather earn another month of your trust by doing good work than keep you locked in by holding the keys to your own front door.
It also keeps us honest. If a relationship is only continuing because leaving would be painful, it is not really a relationship.
Both ways
What We Ask of Your Church
Ownership comes with responsibility. Your church is responsible for keeping its own account access secure, maintaining accurate recovery details, and ensuring the right people at your church retain administrative access.
If your church loses access to accounts because credentials were not maintained on your side, we will help you recover them where we reasonably can — but we cannot guarantee recovery of an account neither of us controls.
We will document what your church owns and who holds access, so that a change of staff or leadership does not become a crisis.
Questions
Questions About Ownership
Who owns our domain name?
Your church, wherever practical, registered and administered in your church's name. We will help you set that up correctly rather than registering it ourselves.
Can we take our website to another provider?
Yes. We provide appropriate backups, content, assets and exports. Some platforms limit what can be exported and custom code may need rebuilding elsewhere, but we will tell you exactly what applies to you.
Do we have to give notice or pay a fee to leave?
There is no exit fee and we do not withhold your materials. Any notice terms are set out in your service agreement, and we will confirm them plainly rather than relying on fine print.
Who owns books and songs produced from our sermons?
The pastor remains the author of their own books, and songs are produced for your church. Specific terms are set out in the agreement for each production service — we will state them clearly before work begins.
Want to make sure your church isn't locked in?
Tell us how your domain, website and accounts are currently set up. We will tell you honestly whether your church actually controls its own digital home.
Last reviewed September 30, 2026.