What if your congregation already has a WordPress site? You can apply the UUA Theme to the site, adding the features that the theme provides. You’ll need to adjust the configuration settings for your site after you apply the new theme.

We can’t provide step by step instructions, because your tasks will depend on what theme and plugins you are already using. Here are some resources:

• How to switch to a new theme and What happens when you switch WordPress themes – from WPBeginner.com
• Moving WordPress to a new server – You might want to copy your existing site to a new server, apply the UUA theme, configure it until it looks right, and then make your new site live.

The Cutover to the New Site

One thing to keep in mind is the timing of DNS (domain name service) changes, which controls what site is served at a particular web address. If continuity of service, and consistency of your database are important to you, you want to minimize the time period when there are some DNS records pointing to the old server, and some to the new.

When you are ready to switch from the old site to the new one, the process should be something like this:

• set the TTL (Time to Live) for the DNS for your domain name to a small time, like one hour
• set the old site to standby mode
• copy the code, files, and database to the new site
• bring up the new site and test that it’s working right
• put a redirect on the old site (with logging if you can)
• change the DNS records so your domain name points to the new site

After a while (days or weeks, watch the logs):

• turn off the old site, or put a redirect from the old site to the new one
• set the TTL on the DNS records to normal

(Thanks to Miles Fidelman for this process.)