What Every Church Website Needs: 12 Church Website Musts

Every church needs a website. 

A website acts as a touchpoint for new visitors. A website creates a sense of community for your existing church members. And a website provides a platform for your church to communicate important information. 

But to be effective, church websites need far more than a basic homepage with service times and location address (although those are certainly important–see #4 and #5 below).

A successful website needs compelling visuals, ways for visitors to connect and learn, and enough features and information to leave a powerful impression.

In the following guide, we’ll cover the essential elements of every church website–including what you need to engage website visitors, drive people to action, and communicate mission and vision. 

What's in this guide?

How to Create a Successful Church Website

Who Visits Your Church Website?

12 Things Every Church Website Must Have

Church Website FAQs

How to Create a Successful Church Website

Forget about hiring a developer or designer to build your website. And don't try to shoehorn Wordpress or Wix to meet your unique needs as a church. In 2022, there are specific tools you can use to make the job of building a church website simple and efficient. 

One of these tools is Tithe.ly’s website builder, which makes it super easy to build a customized website for your church. Just pick a template, add your content, and optimize with additional features as needed. 

To learn more about Tithe.ly’s website builder, click here. 

Who Visits Your Church Website?

The next thing to consider is who will actually be visiting your church website. 

There are two types of visitors to consider:

- People who attend your church. These visitors can range from those who come to the occasional Sunday service to those who have been coming for years. In any case, you’ll want to create a website experience that helps existing visitors to engage as part of your church family. This can include an online giving platform, prayer request form, or upcoming event registration. 

- People who don’t attend your church. Remember that many of your site visitors will include people who are checking out your church for the first time. Make it simple for those new visitors to quickly discover who you are, and even more importantly, give them a way to connect quickly. That includes personalized information about your church family (such as a staff page), and ways to check out content online before deciding to come on a Sunday (such as a sermon series page). 

Ultimately, your website is more than just a touchpoint or hub of information. It’s an opportunity to share the Gospel! Every year, 17 million people who don’t regularly go to church visit church websites. Your site probably receives more “unchurched” visitors than you realize. 

12 Things Every Church Website Must Have 

Now that you know how to build your site–and who to build it for–you’ll want to consider the following 12 essential elements for creating an effective website. 

1. Pictures of your church

Showing website visitors what it will look like when they come to your church location can help give them a sense of who you are, and help prepare them for their first visit. 

If you’re able, try to have a couple of professional photos taken of your church–both exterior and interior. Most importantly, make sure that there are friendly faces and real people in these photos! 

For example, Risen Church (located in San Diego) uses a photo taken during a worship service as their banner image across their home page. This immediately helps website visitors get a feel for what Risen Church offers–an intimate, authentic worship experience on a Sunday morning.

2. Online giving software

Online giving software may not be the first thing that comes to mind when considering your church website. However, it’s one of the key features to include on your site. And, at least 30% of churches offer an online giving platform, according to Lifeway Research. 

An online giving platform:

• Gives church members an easy way to tithe or make one-time gifts. 
• Makes it simple for website visitors to respond to special giving campaigns (such as giving to a building fund or mission trip). 
• Shows potential guests that you’re tech-savvy and engaged.

Tithe.ly provides an online giving platform that provides both desktop and mobile giving–along with a variety of ways to give (credit card, check, text-to-give, even cryptocurrency). To learn more about Tithely Giving, click here. 

3. Staff profiles

At the end of the day, your church is really about the people–the members, volunteers, and staff members that make it special. That being said, one of the most important things you can include on your church website are staff profiles, with photos of real people. First-time guests to your church want to see real people behind the titles of “lead pastor” or “church admin.” Include professionally taken photos to show visitors who they can expect to see on a Sunday morning, including the pastoral team, church admin, worship team, and more. 

For example, Action Church (located in Florida) has a staff page that’s simple but effective–showing quality photos of their core staff. And Church of the City (located in Tennessee) shows their leadership team on their homepage, along with short bios.

4. Location

Don’t forget to make the location of your church clear to first-time visitors. Remember that you may have guests that are coming from all over the county (or state) to visit your church. Make it easy for them to find you with a physical address. 

For example, Lifeplace Church (located in Merced, California) has a Google Map feature to help site visitors easily navigate their way to church right from their website. And Church of the City (mentioned above) has a drop-down menu on their homepage that allows visitors to view their different locations. Church of the City’s attention to detail is a great idea for multisite churches.

5. Service times

Oftentimes, your site visitors may be looking for one piece of critical information when they visit your site–like when church starts. Make it clear when your services start, especially if you’ve changed service times. 

Including services times in your meta text (the text that appears under your church in a Google search) makes that information immediately clear to site visitors. To see an example of what that looks like, take a look at the meta text for Irving Bible Church. (Incidentally, Irving Bible Church also has a great, easy-to-navigate homepage).

6. An about page

An about page is your opportunity to tell potential visitors who you are, what you stand for, and even a bit of your church history. For first-time website visitors, this may be one of the most-visited pages on your website. 

Cherry Street Baptist Church in Missouri expands their about page to an “About Us” drop-down menu, where site visitors can learn more about their purpose, leadership team, and beliefs. Cherry Street Baptist Church also does an excellent job of reaching out to non-believers, with a section on answering “Life’s Most Important Questions.”

Similar to Cherry Street Baptist Church’s “about us” toolbar is the “about” menu on the homepage for Compass Christian Church, in Texas. Compass Christian Church does an excellent job of presenting their information clearly to first-time visitors, with pages on their beliefs, their leadership team, prayer, and more.

7. Contact information

Some of your site visitors may want to contact your admin or leadership team. Make it simple for them to find contact details by displaying email addresses or phone numbers somewhere on your website. 

For example, Carefree Church in Arizona provides multiple ways to contact their church at the bottom of their homepage–with contact details such as email, mailing address, and phone number. 

Hill City Church (in Los Angeles), takes a different approach. Hill City provides a chatbot for site visitors to instantaneously contact the church with questions such as “When do Hill City services start?” 

Finally, you may want to use a contact form at the bottom of your church website with basic information such as name, email address, and phone number. 

8. Sermons

Every church website should have an online sermons page for displaying current and past teaching series to potential visitors. This is especially helpful for regular attenders who may need to miss Sunday service occasionally. 

Lansdowne Church–located in the UK–has a drop-down menu on their homepage that gives several options for watching online sermons. For example, you can join Lansdowne Church livestreaming, listen to their podcast, or watch their sermon series right from their website. Crossroads Church in Temecula, CA also has an option for watching online sermons–although clicking on this tab will take you straight to the Crossroads Church YouTube page (which could be improved with a feature for hosting sermons right on the website).

9. Ministries

One of the first things that visitors will want to explore on your website is your range of ministries and how to get involved with them. In addition to a short description of each ministry, provide contact information so that interested visitors can connect, serve, and give. 

For example, Carefree Church in Arizona displays their ministries on a single page, with “call-to-action” buttons that make it simple to learn more and get into contact with ministry leaders.

10. Events

Your website is the perfect place to give information about upcoming church events, including registration details. 

Again, Carefree Church makes it easy to explore different upcoming events on their website. Under their “Events” tab, you can learn important details about event costs, contact information, and registration deadlines.  

11. Opportunities to get involved

Ideally, many of your church website visitors will be looking for opportunities to get involved at your church. Most churches have small groups that help visitors to feel more connected and dive deeper into corporate Bible study. Make sure that information is clear on your website!

Cornerstone Community Church is a church in Wildomar, CA that has a strong emphasis on discipleship and small groups. On their website, they have a clear but detailed page about discipleship groups at their church. For example, visitors who want to be a part of a discipleship group at Cornerstone Community Church can view FAQ’s, express interest in joining, or even download leader’s guides. 

12. Branding

Finally, your website is an opportunity to build your church branding. In the 21st century, your branding is an important part of reaching people who don’t know Jesus, making memorable impression, and even helping people to feel connected to a community. 

But your branding is more than just your church logo or motto displayed at the top of your website. Effective church branding means there’s consistent messaging, visuals, and contemporary design through your whole website. Effective branding gives a sense of identity to your church, and lets visitors know what you’re all about. 

To learn more about church branding, click here.

Bonus recommendations

Bonus points for your church website: 

- Great SEO. Strategic search engine optimization through keyword placement makes it easier for potential church visitors to find you. You can use SEO tools to help you improve your search engine optimization and increase internet traffic and mobile traffic. 

- Event banner. If you've got a major event coming up, you might want to display event information in a church website slider on your homepage. You can also do a rotating banner with dedicated events.

- Social media accounts. Make it simple for site visitors to find your social media accounts. This is especially key for reaching teenagers or college student-aged visitors who might be more likely to connect with you Instagram or TikTok than on your website. 

- Responsive design. Responsive design means that your site adjusts accordingly to screen size. Make sure you use a platform that offers responsive design, so that your site visitors have a good experience, regardless of what device they use to access your site. 

- A blog. Finally, a church blog can be an added bonus for encouraging the congregation, adding depth to a sermon series, or keeping people informed and updated on the leadership team. 

Church Website FAQs

How do I make a church website?

What is the purpose of a church website?

What is the best website builder for a church?

Does a church need a website?

How much does it cost to design a church website?

What makes a good church website? 

How do I make a church website?

The most efficient way to create a church website is to use a website builder that comes as part of a suite of church management software tools. A platform such as Tithe.ly also acts as a marketing tool for creating church websites and church apps. It also offers creation tools for planning services and communicating information to congregants, as well as tools for internal management, finances, and giving. 

What is the purpose of a church website?

A church website acts as a touchpoint for first time visitors, guests, and members, an information hub, and finally, a way to share the Gospel. 

What is the best website builder for a church?

Tithe.ly's website builder is the easiest and most efficient way to build a quality, customizable church website.

Does a church need a website?

Yes! According to Lifeway Research, nearly 16% of congregations don't have a church website. In the 21st century, building a great church website is easy, accessible, and affordable for everyone (especially if you use a tool like Tithe.ly). 

How much does it cost to design a church website?

Designing a church website can be extremely inexpensive, if you choose the right tool. Tithe.ly's website builder, for example, costs only $149 to set up a website, and $19 a month.

What makes a good church website?

A good church website makes a great first impression. The average visitor on a church website will go to 2.6 pages before dropping off. Make sure that every page–including the homepage–has strong messaging, great visuals, and a call-to-action. 

Over to you

Building a beautiful and effective church website is easier than you think. Tithe.ly can help you not only build your perfect site, but provide the tools to help you take your site to the next level–including online giving tools, free media kits, and easy event registration (and much, much more). To learn more about Tithe.ly, click here.