Getting Started

The Web-Empowered Church (WEC) software runs on a web server on the public Internet. It allows you to create and maintain your church website, and to add powerful ministry features. The software has special web pages that allow you to do all this from a standard web browser on your PC. No special software is required on your PC. With a proper username and password, you can make updates to your website from any computer connected to the Internet. In fact, multiple people from your church can help maintain your website.

The WEC software uses a powerful Content Management System called TYPO3. A Content Management System is the special software that allows you to use a web browser to update your website by logging into special web pages. It does all the work of storing the content, appearance, and functionality of your web pages. Based on the information you entered, the CMS automatically generates the web pages for people visiting your church website.

Installing and running TYPO3, and the extra church-ministry features WEC provides, requires access to a web server computer connected to the public Internet. You can get access to a public web server from a web hosting company. Some hosting companies provide WEC "Turn-Key" hosting which allows you to get started right away because the hosting company installs TYPO3 and WEC for you. Learn about hosting and see a list of hosting providers on the Hosting Page.  You also have the option of installing TYPO3 and WEC together using the WEC Starter Package. The Installing Page provides instructions and a link to download the software. Installing the WEC Starter Package requires access and knowledge to install software on a web server.

The WEC software, documentation, and training are all free. We encourage you to use these resources to create and maintain your internet ministry using people from your ministry. However, these people are often very busy and creating a web ministry is time consuming and requires additional computer skills. If you would prefer to hire assistance then we recommend Vine Hosting. Vine Hosting, working with its many partners, can provide a wide range of services tailored to your unique needs including installation, template building, moving your old website to WEC, website creation, maintenance, adding features, extension development, server administration, private training, and, of course, hosting. Vine Hosting is a ministry too. So, Vine Hosting profits go right back into ministry providing better services and more WEC development.

WEC offers exciting new opportunities for your ministry website. At the same time, use of new technology can be a challenge to learn and use. In WEC, we are attempting to minimize the technology challenges in order to maximize the ministry impact. In this section we offer the following support to help get you started. 

Deciding

Helps you to go through the process of deciding whether or not WEC is right for your ministry.

Licensing

Addresses who owns this software, who can use it, and a WEC request.

Hosting

Explains the various hosting options for the WEC software.

Installing

Provides instructions for installing the main WEC software.

Templates

Has information about various WEC templates you can use to establish the look and feel of your website.

Using TYPO3

Includes links to resources to help you learn how to use the TYPO3 content management system. TYPO3 is the software WEC is built upon.