In today's world where digital technology like AI is in the spotlight, church remains a significant tradition. With 20% of Americans attending weekly church services, a church website serves as a vital tool for attracting potential worshipers and spreading your community’s message online. It can also help your church thrive by encouraging attendance, engagement and online giving.
In this article, we’ll show you how to make a website for your church that will reflect your church’s values, resonate with visitors and embolden them to connect. With the right website builder, our step-by-step guide, and a little bit of faith—you’ll learn how to make a church website on your own in no time.
Building a website for your business, passion project or side hustle should be easy and exciting. With Wix, you can customize and launch a professional website in minutes, no coding needed. We’re all about simplifying the process so you can focus on what matters most–bringing your ideas to life. So why wait? Let’s get started on creating the website you’ve always wanted.
What is a church website?
A church website is a platform that inspires its community and facilitates engagement with current members. It also serves as a means to attract prospective members interested in learning more about the church's services.
With a church website, your members can access information such as worship schedules, special events and donation options, while prospective members can explore the church's mission and find details on how to join. This type of website often operates as a website for non profit or community, highlighting the organization's mission and providing pages for service details and events, as well as serving as a platform for collecting donations.
Making a church website is a valuable opportunity to connect more people and spread your church's message effectively. It establishes an online presence for your religious community, keeping members excited and encouraging growth and activity.
Learn more: What is a church website?
How to make a church website in 8 steps
01. Establish goals for your church website
Before you start building your site, think about its purpose. Some common goals of having a church website include:
Bringing in new members
Inspiring existing members
Collecting donations
Keeping church goers up-to-date
Increasing attendance at events
With a clear list of goals at hand, you can decide which pages you and features you want to include on your website. This will help you pick a website template and will continuously guide how you craft your website content.
It's also beneficial to create a plan with time-oriented goals and deadlines. Building a website can take anywhere from one day to several months, so setting expectations upfront is crucial. Consider how long it will take to build a website for your church and plan accordingly.
02. Select a domain name and website host
A domain name is the web address people will use to get to your site. To keep it relevant and professional, should include your church’s name and a relevant top-level domain. A top-level domain (TLD) is the final part of your website’s address (e.g. the “.com” in “Wix.com”). Popular TLDs for church websites include .com, .org, .net, .church, and .faith.
When using a website builder like Wix, a domain name is included in your paid package. It takes only a matter of minutes to search for and register the name. Then, once your website is ready, you’ll connect it without involving a separate domain host, ensuring a streamlined and hassle-free experience.
After securing a domain name, you will need a website host—a service that stores all the files and data for your website and makes it accessible to visitors. When picking your hosting website, keep in mind factors such as website speed, uptime, storage space and customer support.
Learn more: Web hosting cost
03. Choose the right website builder and template
If you don’t have someone in your church with a web design, or the budget to hire a professional designer, a website builder like Wix is a great choice to get started. A website builder is a software that will streamline the website creation process, giving you the tools to make a church website on your own.
Learn more about some of the best AI website builders.
Website builders offer a range of professional features, including drag-and-drop technology and AI website builder assistance. This empowers you to manage your website design and content independently, saving time and money.
When selecting a website builder, be sure to prioritize user experience and performance. Look for a platform with the following key qualities:
Dependable infrastructure: Website infrastructure is the foundation of a site’s performance, security and functionality. It comprises several parts, including web hosting, content management systems and distribution networks, that work together seamlessly. To ensure a smooth user interface, it's essential to choose a platform recognized for its ability to deliver content rapidly and efficiently to visitors.
Cost efficient: How much it costs to build a website depends on what platform you choose and the features you require. It’s important to evaluate the best website platforms and select a plan that aligns with your church’s needs and budget. If it’s in your church’s best interest, you can also make a church website for free. Many website builders like Wix offer free and paid plans which include everything necessary to create and publish a church website. Learn more about website builders in this comparision of Wix vs Squarespace.
High performance: Choose a website builder that optimizes Core Web Vitals for quality performance. This ensures efficient content delivery, enhanced media and ongoing backend optimization. With a website building tool like this, you can focus on enjoying the benefits of creating your website instead of worrying about performance issues.
Professional templates: Website templates will be a valuable tool, providing a pre-designed website layout and integrations that makes it easier to create a website. Religion website templates offer a great starting point for your church website and are fully customizable, allowing for a personalized and unique web presence. Choose a professional church website template that aligns with the goals you outlined in step one. Look for a design that incorporates a user-friendly menu, effortless website navigation and an intuitive user journey. You’ll also want to start with a religion website template that has features and pages you want, such as photo galleries, an event calendar and a donations page. If you can’t find all of these elements in a single template, you can always customize it later by adding new pages or plugins.
Learn more: Wix vs Squarespace, Best church website builders
04. Customize your church website’s visuals
Your church website should be inspiring, uplifting and represent your community. Much of this can be achieved on your website by customizing your site’s visual elements.
At this stage, you should consider adding the following details to your website:
Use your church colors: Use colors that already represent your church, so that members of the church community will recognize it and your design will look cohesive.
Choose an inspiring background: Whether it's a solid background, an image of your church, or an inspiring video of nature, your background is an opportunity to captivate visitors and set the visual tone for your church website.
Add photo galleries: Your church likely hosts many activities outside of Sunday and holiday services. It’s a great idea to capture these moments and add them to your church website to encourage future participation.
Create your own church logo with a church logo maker: If you don’t already have one, a church logo is a great addition to your website. The small symbol can emphasize the values of your church, while adding an official tone that will resonate with community members.
05. Add pages and content
Once you have a template ready, it’s time to start adding relevant pages and content. This is the most time-consuming part of making a website for a church.
Here are some common pages found on church websites that you’ll want to include:
Homepage
The homepage of your church website is the first thing worshippers will see when visitors arrive. Ensure it contains fundamental details about your parish, such as its name, captivating images, a concise introduction, a user-friendly navigation menu, and prominent links to crucial pages.
Making a homepage that is both welcoming and informative is a key objective. It should resonate with visitors, pique their interest to explore further, and provide essential details they might seek, whether that’s upcoming events or the donation page.
About Us page
An About Page is an opportunity to provide more comprehensive information about your church to potential members. While the homepage primarily focuses on attracting visitors, the About page dives deeper into the essence of your church.
This will often include a history of your church and its mission statement. Additionally, the About page may include visual elements such as images, profiles of key parish members, and relevant contact details for those interested in attending services.
Services and events page
Adding a web page that lists your services and events is a great way to keep the community together and updated. Some elements you should consider adding include:
Services and workshop times: List the various church services offered, along with their respective times.
Calendar of events: Maintain a calendar showcasing upcoming church events, keeping the community informed and allowing members to plan their schedules accordingly.
Google Calendar integration: Offer a convenient integration with Google Calendar, enabling easy synchronization and reminders for upcoming events.
Showcase of activities: Highlight the diverse activities and programs offered within the church community, attracting interested churchgoers.
Sign-up Forms: Include online sign-up forms for events, allowing individuals to directly register from the church's website.
Online donation page
A dedicated donations page is a perfect way to encourage support for your church. This will make it easier for church members to learn about and support your cause, while offering a secure and efficient donation process. With Wix, apps like Stripe and PayPal allow contributors to donate directly online into your church’s bank account.
Learn more: How to make a donation website
Contact page
This simple addition will make it easier for potential members to get in touch with you. Be sure your church’s contact page includes the following:
A well-designed contact form for visitors who want to get in touch quickly.
Your church’s email address
A current phone number
Links to your relevant social media accounts
A church blog
Incorporating a blog into your church website is a great way to connect with your community and inspire potential new members.
Whether with transcripts of your latest sermons or unique articles about religion, spirituality and prayer—or both—this can provide an additional avenue for your community to engage with your church. With an blog SEO strategy in place it may also increase your site’s traffic and increase donations, too.
Learn more: How to start a nonprofit blog
06. Optimize your church website for mobile devices and SEO
Believe it or not, more people will view your website on their mobile device rather than on a desktop or laptop screen. so it’s incredibly important to make sure your mobile website looks and functions just as good. With Wix, you'll benefit from an automated mobile-friendly version and an adaptive gallery for your images. While this simplifies the process, regularly checking the mobile editor is crucial to ensure the mobile site generated accurately reflects your design vision.
Additionally, optimize your website for search engines (SEO) to reach potential members and grow your church community. Include relevant keywords like “church websites” or “best church websites” in your content and meta tags. Create unique and engaging page titles, and regularly update your site with fresh content. Optimizing your website with SEO features can help improve your chances of appearing higher in search engine results.
07. Review and publish your church website
Before you publish, run through our website launch checklist and make sure your church site has all of the essentials covered.
Put your site in “preview mode,” looking out for a smooth user experience, clean written copy and a cohesive design. We recommend passing your website to other church stakeholders to review the site’s design and functionality, too. Be sure to fix any errors, glitches and bugs you discover.
Now’s also the time to do a basic SEO check, making sure your content includes details like meta descriptions, alt text and optimized headings where it matters. With strong SEO foundations, your site will perform better in local search results.
Last but not least, run a web accessibility audit to make sure people with disabilities can interact with your site. Making your site accessible supports inclusion and diversity on the web, and can enhance performance while minimizing legal risks.
Once you’re satisfied with the overall quality of your church website, it’s time to press “publish.”
08. Promote your church website
Now that your site is live, you can start promoting it to gain new visitors from your church community and beyond. There are a few ways you can do this. First, start with good old word-of-mouth at your next Sunday service and encourage church-goers to share it.
If your church already has active social media accounts, that’s a great strategy for spreading the word. You dedicated posts or ads that lead to your new site, and include the link in your profile details, too.
Another great idea is to set up an email marketing campaign announcing your new website. On Wix, an integrated email marketing tool makes it easy to build your mailing list with member details, create optimized emails, automate campaigns and track your results on your website.
How do I maintain my church website after publishing?
This process includes:
Tracking website performance to ensure high speed and functionality. This may involve checking your website’s speed and making necessary changes for optimization.
Security updates to make sure your site is protected from any threats. Wix websites are managed by website security experts who monitor threat prevention, detection and rapid response.
Content updates to keep your site fresh and relevant, including your latest events, current services hours and new announcements or images. The frequency of these updates will depend on the nature of your church’s activities.
Backups to prevent loss of data, depending on how often you update your church website’s content.
What are the benefits of a church website?
As a place for members to connect online, your website will provide many benefits for your community. Its accessible format means you can provide meaningful interactions beyond the church walls.
By following the steps of how to make a website listed above, you can provide the following benefits to your church:
Engage members by uploading past sermons or inspirational blog posts.
Encourage sign-ups for events and volunteering
Keep members up-to-date
Provide service details, such as church location and times
Practically speaking, a church website can help your organization grow. 97% of consumers search for local organizations online, and over time your parish may be discovered by spiritual seekers who want to join your community.
Church website examples
We’ve rounded up some inspiring church website examples for you to get a visual picture of what this process can achieve. As you go through these examples, take note of what features will be beneficial to your own church community.
Strengthening the Church
Strengthening the Church offers a user-friendly website that serves multiple purposes. The website features a captivating video background of the ocean, a design choice that serves as an inspirational element, immersing visitors in imagery and enhancing the overall user experience design.
Bibleway Baptist Church
Members of Bibleway Baptist Church can access information about services on the church's website. The site’s homepage prominently displays the church’s mission statement, and includes a schedule of weekly events with contact details. For an official stamp, the church also created a custom logo that appears in the website header—this further enhances church’s identity making the website recognizable to visitors.
Spring Valley Baptist Church
Spring Valley Baptist Church’s website homepage is a treasure trove of useful information. From service hours and uplifting quotes to strategic calls to action for Sunday School registration and donations, the homepage has it all. To further educate and engage members, the church has its own podcast, which can be easily accessed from the website. On Wix, podcasts are easily integrated by setting up the Wix Podcast Player.
Beckley Church of God
Beckley Church of God has a cohesive and visually appealing church website, using a carefully chosen website color palette and pairing of fonts. The site’s navigation menu is seamlessly integrated into the website header, and ensures a user-friendly experience. Additionally, a prominent call-to-action button labeled "Give Now" effectively draws attention and encourages visitors to support the church.
How to make a church website FAQ
How do I make a free church website?
Many website builders like Wix offer plans which include everything necessary to create and publish a free website. All you have to do is sign up with an email address, choose a free package and start customizing a template. You can always upgrade your package and add new features when it becomes necessary for your church website.