A parish website should be the parish’s front door, not its storage room.
That is why BOTH/AND allows selected photographs to be uploaded directly to a parish website while asking parishes to keep larger galleries, PDFs and other documents, audio, and video on appropriate outside services.
The practical benefits matter, but they are not the primary reason for this approach.
Public media can reach people beyond the website
The primary reason is evangelism.
We do not want the life and teaching of a parish to be sealed inside its website. Someone may never visit the parish website but may search YouTube for a question about the Orthodox faith, discover a sermon through a recommendation, or encounter parish content while using another platform.
YouTube has its own search and recommendation systems designed to help viewers discover relevant videos. Its search considers relevance, engagement, and quality, while its recommendations connect viewers with videos that may interest them. YouTube’s explanation of search and discovery
A sermon uploaded only as a file inside a parish website can generally be found only after someone reaches that site. A sermon published on an appropriate public media platform can still appear on the parish website through an embed, but it also has the opportunity to reach people elsewhere.
This does not mean every external service provides the same opportunity for discovery. A public video or podcast may reach people through search and recommendations. A PDF stored on a file service or a shared photo gallery may not be independently discoverable. In those cases, outside hosting is primarily about responsible storage, parish ownership, and keeping the website manageable.
The principle is to place each resource where it can best serve its actual purpose.
Responsible hosting keeps the service affordable
Our managed shared-hosting model is one reason we can provide a complete parish website service at an accessible annual price. It works best when the website is used to publish parish information rather than as an unlimited file archive.
Every file stored in WordPress becomes part of the website’s hosting, backups, maintenance, security, and any future transfer of the site. A few carefully selected photographs are appropriate. A growing collection of videos, audio recordings, bulletins, PDFs, and hundreds of photographs is something different.
Large media collections use considerably more storage and make backups, maintenance, and transfers heavier. We could build those additional costs into every parish’s annual price, but most parishes do not need that. Services created specifically for video, audio, documents, and photo galleries can usually store and deliver those files more effectively.
Using the right service for each type of media helps us keep the website reliable without passing unnecessary hosting costs on to every parish.
The parish should retain ownership
WordPress should not be the parish’s only copy of an important photograph, document, sermon, or recording.
The parish should retain its original files and maintain control of the accounts where its media is stored. If the website is redesigned, transferred, or temporarily unavailable, those original files and media accounts still belong to the parish.
This separation makes responsibilities clearer. The parish controls its long-term media library. The website presents that material and helps people understand why it matters.
The private Google Drive folder BOTH/AND provides during a website build is different. That folder is a temporary working location for gathering project materials. It is not the parish’s permanent archive or public media host.
The website still brings everything together
Hosting media elsewhere does not mean sending visitors away unnecessarily.
A YouTube video can be embedded directly into a sermon or page. An audio recording can appear through a player or clear link. A bulletin can be linked from the appropriate page. A public photo collection can be introduced with selected photographs and a link to the complete gallery.
The visitor can still encounter the material through the parish website. The large file is simply being stored and delivered by a service designed for that kind of media.
The website remains the central place that explains what the resource is, why it matters, and what the visitor might do next.
What this means for the parish
Our general approach is:
- Selected photographs used on website pages, articles, sermons, events, and curated photo entries may be uploaded to WordPress.
- Large photo collections should remain on an approved gallery service.
- Videos should be published through an approved video platform, such as YouTube or Vimeo, and embedded when appropriate.
- Audio should remain on a stable podcast or audio-hosting service.
- PDFs, bulletins, and other documents should remain on an approved parish-controlled file service and be linked from the website.
- The parish should retain its original files and maintain the outside accounts.
The parish uploads the media to an approved account it controls, chooses the appropriate public or private sharing settings, and supplies the public link. BOTH/AND can then link or embed the resource on the website as appropriate.
Not every parish file should be public. Private pastoral information, internal records, restricted directories, and other sensitive material do not belong on a public website or publicly shared media account. The parish remains responsible for deciding what may be published and confirming that it has permission to share it.
This is a form of stewardship
This approach is not about providing less. It is about using each system for what it does well.
Most importantly, it gives the public teaching and life of a parish more opportunities to be encountered beyond the website. It also helps BOTH/AND keep managed parish websites reliable and affordable, helps parishes retain control of their original media, and keeps the website from becoming an unorganized file archive.
Each piece of media should be kept responsibly, shared appropriately, and placed where it can reach the people it is meant to serve. The parish website then brings those resources together without becoming the only place they exist.
If you are building or refreshing the parish’s photo library, see How to Photograph the Life of Your Parish for a practical shot list and guidance about permission, liturgical reverence, and taking usable images.