Info Sheet

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WHAT’S INSIDE
MAKING A WISE
INVESTMENT
Our heart is to see healthy and
thriving churches across Canada.
Compare the most popular
strategies of how to build
your church website.
OVERCOMING
HURDLES
We answer the most common
website questions.
Look inside to hear our story and
learn why
got started
“95% of newcomers have spent substantial time on our
website before they ever walk through the front door.”
In 2 years, Crossridge Church has grown from a church plant of 70, to over 260 people.
Meeting out of The Clova Theatre in Cloverdale, BC,
Crossridge Church held their first service in the autumn of
2011. When they launched, the church had 70 people in their
community. It's been incredible to watch that in just over 2
years, Crossridge is now holding 2 Sunday gatherings,
attended by over 200 adults and 60 kids. Andy Frew, the
Associate Pastor at Crossridge, was kind enough to sit down
for a few minutes with us and give insight into the growth of
their community.
To start, Andy was very clear about the key reason for their
growth. “From the start, it’s been a matter of God wanting to
http://crossridgechurch.ca
make a difference in this community that He’s planted us in.
It’s people coming with an openness to the gospel and what
the gospel is really about.”
“The area we have seen the most growth is with people who
haven’t been to church in 10 or 20 years. Maybe they work
with someone who is part of our church or they walk by our
Continued on Page 2
The New Front Door: Your website is the first
impression for newcomers to your church and
ultimately will influence whether or not a family will
choose to come visit.
Equipping your church with the resources you need to communicate effectively.
www.churchos.ca 604.988.8500 1.877.988.8580 info@churchos.ca
Continued from Page 1
office. Perhaps they find us on Google and decide to give church another chance
after visiting our website.”
We asked Andy if he could elaborate on what effect their
website has had in people trying out Crossridge. “It’s
amazing. I’d estimate that about 95% of newcomers
have spent substantial time on our website before
they ever walk through the front door. They come
because they’ve read all about us and even
watched our services online.”
Double Showing: In the autumn
of 2013, Crossridge Church
expanded to 2 Sunday morning
services. They meet at The
Clova Theatre in Cloverdale, BC.
“They use the website as a chance to see who we
are and what we have to say. We’ve had people on their
Andy Frew
Associate Pastor
first visit tell us that Crossridge is their home church. It will turn
out that they’ve been following along for weeks, listening to sermons and staying up
to date through our website." Andy continued, “Apart from people connecting
through word of mouth, I can safely say that our website has been the most
effective tool in getting the word out and growing our church.”
Questions
Answers to 3 common questions from church leaders
Our website is difficult to update. How do we find a better solution?
It is essential that your website be easy to update. As you know, a website that
is kept current provides more relevant information to website visitors. Before
getting started with your next website developer, make sure you’ve had the
chance to try editing one of their websites first hand. If your tests show that
updates to your website will be easy and intuitive, you’re on the right track.
Our web volunteer is great, but we don’t always get help when we
need it. Do we really need to pay money to get proper support?
Volunteers are such a crucial part of helping any church run. However, given
the day-to-day attention needed and sometimes urgent matters that arise, the
website may be one area where a volunteer isn’t quite enough. The website
is a key part of your church communication and so it may be worthwhile to
budget a small amount of money each month to have a professional available
when you need them.
We think our website is pretty good, but how will we know when it’s
time for an upgrade?
Let’s set a simple criteria for this question: If new people are coming to your
church regularly thanks to their experience on your website, you’re in good
shape. Otherwise, it’s time to start exploring the effectiveness of your website.
We saw churches struggling with limited time and budgets.
was created to help solve that problem.
We started Church OS based on our own experience as church
tech volunteers. There were so many things we wanted to do at
the church, but didn’t have the time or budget for.
Then, as we connected with pastors and other church
volunteers in our city, we noticed that so many of the needs of
other churches were the same as ours. Given that our
background is in website development and graphic design, we
decided to shift gears and started a company to specifically
help churches. This is how Church OS was born.
Our primary focus from the start came out of our belief that
every church deserves an amazing website. So we created a
Luke Cowell and Matt Morrison launched Church OS in
2010 and are now helping over 150 churches in Canada.
platform that would allow churches to have a website that looks
good, is easy to update, and best of all, fits their budget.
The team at Church OS has developed a user-friendly, clean
website for us that continues to get better all the time.
Taya Vantol
Administrative Coordinator
Easy-to-Use Church Websites
The search is over. The user-friendly church
website you’ve been waiting for is here.
Beautiful site designs + church-specific features
Work 1-on-1 with a dedicated team member
Regular website improvements + feature upgrades
Friendly + dependable customer support
Setup
for just
$995
Ongoing
Support
$39 /month
Each website is built with all the features that your church needs.
News + Blog Posts
Events
Video Player
Photo Galleries
Ministry Pages
Banners
Staff Profiles
Mobile-friendly
View our website at www.churchos.ca to see additional Church OS add-ons.
A side-by-side comparison chart
To help breakdown the options for developing your next website, and to show why we believe
the Church OS platform to be the strongest solution for churches, the chart below compares a
few common church website development options.
Volunteer
+
Custom
Website
BUILT-IN FEATURES
Basic Page Editing
News + Blog Posting
Multiple User Accounts
Church Events Calendar
Phone + Tablet Friendly
Powerful, Ministry Pages &
User Permission Levels
Sermon Audio/Video Player
More Church-Specific
Features Available
ONGOING SUPPORT
Reliable Phone + Email Support
Website Bug Fixes
Improvements + New Features
Website + Server Security Upgrades
Website Lifespan (approximate)
2 Years
Unlimited
4 Years
Monthly Support + Hosting Costs
$0 - $25
$39
$10 - $50+
$0 - $500
$995
$1,500 - $10,000+
1 - 3 Months
2 - 4 Weeks
3 - 6 Months
SETUP
One-Time Setup Cost
Development Time (approximate)
Free Demo Site Available
Always Included
Development Time / Plug-ins Required
Additional Costs
If you have any questions, or would like to discuss this chart in more detail, we’d love to chat with you. If you are
considering a website option not listed, let us know and we’d be happy to show you how our service compares.
We understand that churches have specific needs
and would love to discuss how we can help you.
Proudly Canadian
www.churchos.ca 604.988.8500 1.877.988.8580 info@churchos.ca