PCCWeb

Free website hosting

For ministries and congregations in
The Presbyterian Church in Canada

If you provide ministry under the auspices of The Presbyterian Church in Canada and you are accountable to a court of the PCC, you qualify for a site! INCLUDING…

Congregations 100%
Synods and Presbyteries 100%
Camps 100%
Specialized Ministries 100%

PCCWeb is…

Easy

PCCWeb can give your congregation/ministry an easily-maintainable web presence with a backend administration interface that is intuitive and clear.

Creative

Build a unique and engaging website—from the simple to the stunning. It’s up to you how much time you want to put into it, but the process is always straightforward and easy.

Educational

Even with the simple, back-end administration, there’s plenty of opportunity to learn. You’ll have access to an online learning guide and several video tutorials.

Supportive

PCCWeb uses the WordPress platform which powers over 40% of the internet. So you’re only an internet search away from answers to your questions. The Communications Office administrators are always accessible if you find yourself in a bind.

Why PCCWeb Hosting?

We provide you with an effective web presence.

PCCWeb was conceived to provide a simple, free web presence for congregations and ministries that don’t have web expertise (or funding for it) at their disposal. The tools necessary for creating a modern website are out there, and we bring them to you in a neat package.

The websites provided through PCCWeb are completely free of charge and are funded through gifts to Presbyterians Sharing.

Supported by Presbyterians Sharing

Sign Up!

Use this online form to send us basic information that we can use to get your new website up and running.

Sign Up!

Learn How to Use Your Website

Once your website is up and running, you will be able to make changes to it and add information yourself.

Video tutorials

View video tutorials that cover a few basic admin operations, like creating a new page, editing a page, and creating a Calendar/Events page.

Click here

Easy guide

Use this easy WordPress guide to help you with better understanding the WordPress environment.
Click here

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, you can purchase a custom domain name for your website through a domain name registrar. There are many different registrars out there, but to make this process as easy as possible for you we recommend Hover.com. All of our domains are registered through them simply for the following reasons. They have:

  • An easy to use interface
  • Great customer support
  • Real personnel to speak to

Save $2 on your first purchase with Hover.com by clicking here

Once you’ve registered your new custom domain name for your PCCWeb website, contact us to get the information required to point your new domain name to our hosting server.

Yes, all the current themes available in PCCWeb are responsive, which means they’re made to change their layout to whatever screen size they’re being viewed on (computer, tablet, phone, etc.).

Yes, Google Analytics is integrated into the network. You can see your individual website stats on the admin dashboard by connecting your own Google Analytics account.

1GB of storage space is allotted to each website on the PCCWeb. To best manage your website storage it’s advised to optimize file sizes of photos and documents uploaded to your website. Also, posting videos to YouTube and embedding them in your website page or post instead of uploading them to your website is best for three reasons: You conserve your storage space, take advantage of YouTube’s steaming servers for better user playback and benefit from SEO (Search Engine Optimization) by creating more links back to your website, boosting traffic.

  • No access to the backend code of the website to customize the layout and functionality, aside from the ability to add HTML in the main content area and some custom CSS.
  • No FTP access to server files, but you can upload files (PDF’s, Word.doc’s, audio, images, etc.) through the WordPress media upload functionality.
  • Themes and plugins are limited to those made available to the network. All currently available themes are modern, responsive themes that are kept up-to-date eliminating security issues. New themes will be added in the future.
  • No email services are provided, so you will need to use generic email such as gmail or outlook or purchase email services such as Google Gmail for Business or Microsoft Office 365 Business if you own a domain name and would like to use it in coordination with your website.
  • Transfer of existing websites and code onto our network is prohibited. Starting with PCCWeb means you’re starting from scratch, building your website using the available themes.

Website Accessibility

Ensure your website is accessible for people with disabilities

Who must comply

By law, you must make new and significantly refreshed public websites accessible if you are:

  • a private or non-profit organization with 50+ employees; or
  • a public sector organization

Compliance deadline

  • Beginning January 1, 2014: new public websites, significantly refreshed websites and any web content posted after January 1, 2012 must meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines WCAG 2.1 Level A
  • Beginning January 1, 2021: all public websites and web content posted after January 1, 2012 must meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA other than criteria 1.2.4 (live captions) and 1.2.5 (pre-recorded audio descriptions)

Is my website accessible?

You can use an online tool to check if your website is accessible. Using an online accessibility checker does not guarantee that you will find all accessibility issues with your website. Some issues that appear are outside of your ability to fix within PCCWeb as they are a result of plugins or our Web Application Firewall (WAF) that are maintained by third party developers.

This is an example of an online accessibility checker that can help you find accessibility issues with your new or refreshed website. As well as a list of tools for evaluating accessibility:

Additional Resources

Looking for a trusted company to help you with your church website?

it4worship.com can guide you through managing your PCCWeb WordPress website, either helping to customize your site within the PCCWeb network, or assist with setting up your site outside of PCCWeb. An independent full-service technical consulting and implementation firm, it4worship.com understands the limitations of the church budget.

Tithe.ly Sites is a new church website builder you can use to create high-quality sites in minutes.

Note: This site is not directly affiliated with The Presbyterian Church in Canada.

Any questions or comments regarding PCCWeb can be emailed to the Communications Team or call 1-800-619-7301 ext. 268.