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Church website design for people who have never been to your church
Church Pillar plans, writes and builds websites for churches and Christian charities in any country, most of them on WordPress. Each design starts with one person: someone on their phone, deciding whether to come this Sunday. On a WordPress site, your volunteers can change any page themselves after launch.
- No upfront cost on Church Pillar Care
- £25 a month, paid from launch
- WordPress for most churches, edited without code
- Every page checked on a phone
What do people look for on a church website?
Service times, first. When Grey Matter Research asked Americans what they did on church websites, 43% said they checked service times, 29% looked up activities and 28% looked for a map or directions. A church homepage should answer those questions on a phone screen, without a single tap.
Source: Grey Matter Research, US study reported by Christianity Today, 2012.
Most of those visits now happen on a phone. In September 2026, 59% of web page views worldwide came from mobile devices, according to StatCounter.
On a phone, a service time printed inside a PDF newsletter or a poster image is hard work. The visitor has to download it, then pinch and zoom, and a screen reader cannot read the time at all.
So we design the phone layout first. Service times go on the homepage as text, the address opens the visitor’s map app, and newcomers get a page written for them. Before launch, we check every page on a phone.
“Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”
Hebrews 13:2 (NIV)
Inside a church homepage we design
This example is a WordPress homepage for a made-up church. Tap a number on the phone to see what that part does and why it is there.
9:415G
Riverside Church
Everyone is welcome
Come as you are this Sunday
This Sunday
10.30am, Holy Communion
About 75 minutes, with groups for children Updated by a volunteer just now12 Mill LaneParking, step-free door
DirectionsNew here? Plan your first visit
Coming up
- SAT
18Christmas wreath making - WED
22Toddler group, 10am - SUN
26All-age service
Latest sermon
Luke 15: The father who runs
Plan a visitPrayer request
1Service times
This Sunday’s service, as text
Visitors look for service times before anything else, so they sit at the top of the homepage, with the kind of service and roughly how long it lasts. Because the times are text, they show up in Google results, a screen reader can read them aloud, and they fit the smallest phone.
Your teamChange the time in the WordPress editor. No designer needed.
2Address
An address that opens in maps
Tapping the address opens the visitor’s own map app with directions. Next to it go the details people worry about on the way: where to park and which door has step-free access.
Your teamWe match the address to your Google Business Profile, so Google Maps and your website say the same thing.
3New here?
A page for first-time visitors
The “New here?” page answers what a newcomer will not ask out loud: what happens, how long it takes, what people wear, where the children go and whether anyone expects them to give. We write it for someone who has never been inside a church.
Your teamYou read and approve every sentence before it goes live.
4Events
Events entered once, in one place
If your church uses ChurchSuite, events and sign-ups come straight from it, so a change made in ChurchSuite shows on the website. Churches without ChurchSuite add events in WordPress, and past events drop off the list automatically.
Your teamNobody has to copy the church calendar onto the website by hand.
5Sermons
Sermons and the live stream
The latest sermon and your YouTube live stream sit together on one page, so someone who missed Sunday can still listen. Each sermon carries its Bible passage and speaker, which makes older talks easy to find.
Your teamAdding a sermon means pasting one YouTube link into WordPress.
6Next step
One clear next step
Every page ends with something to do: plan a visit, get in touch or send a prayer request. Prayer requests go through a private form to the people you choose, and nothing in them is published on the website.
Your teamYou decide who receives each form, and you can change it later.
What every Church Pillar website includes
These come with every new website, on either plan. On WordPress sites, none of them needs a developer to keep running.
For visitors
- Service times and directionsOn the homepage, with an address that opens in the visitor's map app.
- A "New here?" pageWritten for someone who has never been to your church, or to any church.
- Events and sign-upsFrom ChurchSuite, or added in WordPress.
- Sermons and live streamYour YouTube stream and recent sermons on one page.
- Online givingA giving page linked to the platform your church already uses.
- Private prayer requestsA form that goes only to the people you choose.
- Works on every screenChecked on phones, tablets and computers before launch.
For your team
- Edit without codeOn WordPress sites, the standard block editor. If you can use Word, you can change a service time.
- A training sessionOne session for the people who will edit the site.
- Accessible pagesBuilt to WCAG 2.2 AA, the W3C accessibility standard.
- Fast-loading pagesLightweight pages and compressed images, for a weak mobile signal in a car park.
- Visitor statisticsHow many people visited, how they found you and which pages they read.
- Ready for GooglePage titles, descriptions and your Google Business Profile set up at launch.
Which platform we build your church website on
Most church websites we build run on WordPress, the software behind 39.6% of all websites according to W3Techs (October 2026). When a church needs something WordPress does not do well, we write the site in PHP or plain HTML instead. Your written plan names the platform and the reason.
WordPress suits most churches because volunteers edit pages in the standard block editor, and any WordPress developer can take the site over later.
If your church has a volunteer who wants to design and run the website themselves, a website builder may suit you better. We will say so on the first call.
| Option | Best for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress, built by Church Pillar | Most churches: a site your volunteers update every week | Plugins need regular updates. On Church Pillar Care, we do them. |
| PHP or HTML, written by Church Pillar | A site with one special job, or a few pages that rarely change | Content changes are usually made by us, so it suits a church that edits its pages rarely. |
| Wix or Squarespace | A volunteer who enjoys design and has time to keep the site up to date | The site stays on that platform. Wix sites run only on Wix's servers, and Squarespace exports only some page types, without the design. |
The cost of WordPress, and how we handle it
Patchstack counted 11,334 new security vulnerabilities in the WordPress ecosystem in 2025. 91% were in plugins, 9% in themes and only 6 in WordPress itself. In 46% of cases, the plugin's developer had not released a fix by the time the problem was made public (Patchstack, 2026).
So we keep each site to the plugins it needs, choose ones that are actively maintained, and update them every month on Church Pillar Care.
From first call to a website your team can run
On Church Pillar Care, nothing is charged until the website goes live.
- A short callWho you want to reach, what you have now and what is not working.
- A written plan and priceThe pages, the features and the timeline in writing, before any work starts.
- Words and photosYou send photos and anything already written. We write new pages or tidy the text you have.
- Built where only you can see itWe build the site on a private copy, and your team checks every page on a phone and a computer.
- LaunchWe connect your domain and set up your Google Business Profile, and the site goes live.
- Training, then careOne training session for your editors, then monthly updates, backups and small edits.
Typical timeline: [X to Y weeks] from the written plan to launch, depending on how many pages you need and how ready your text and photos are.
Church websites we have designed
Planned, written and built by Church Pillar.
Church website
St Mark's Church, Wyke
[One sentence: what the church needed and what changed]
Church website
St Michael and All Angels, Pirbright
[One sentence: what the church needed and what changed]
Bible resource
Bible Timeline
567 events from Genesis to Revelation on one searchable timeline, with an atlas.
How much does church website design cost?
On Church Pillar Care, there is no upfront cost. Design, build and hosting are covered by £25 a month, paid from the day your site goes live, with a 12-month minimum term. A church that wants an independent site on its own hosting pays from £1,000, with the final price agreed in a written quote.
Most churches choose this
Church Pillar Care
£25 a month
No upfront cost. Paid monthly in advance from launch. 12-month minimum term.
- Design, writing and build
- Hosting on our servers
- Updates, backups and security monitoring
- [2] small edits each month
For churches with their own hosting
Independent site
from £1,000
One-off. Final price by written quote before work starts.
- Design, writing and build
- Installed on your church's hosting
- Full administrator access
- Optional website management
Questions about church website design
What churches ask before they book a call.
How long does it take to design a church website?
It depends on how many pages you need and how ready your text and photos are. A typical church website takes [X to Y weeks] from the written plan to launch. You get the timeline in writing before work starts, and on Church Pillar Care nothing is charged until the site goes live.
Can our volunteers update the website themselves?
Yes, on a WordPress site, which is what most churches choose. Editing in the standard block editor works much like editing a Word document, and your editors get their own logins and one training session. On Church Pillar Care, we also make [2] small edits a month for you.
Do you write the words for our website?
Yes. We write new pages or tidy the text you already have, starting from your notice sheet, newsletter or old website. Every page is written for someone who has never been to church, and your team approves each one before launch.
Will the website work with ChurchSuite and online giving?
Yes. If your church uses ChurchSuite, your events and sign-ups appear on the website and update from ChurchSuite. For giving, we build a clear giving page that links to the platform your church already uses, so your giving records stay where they are now.
Do you design websites for churches outside the UK?
Yes. Church Pillar works with churches and Christian charities in any country, by video call and email, with calls arranged around your time zone. Prices are in pounds sterling. [Note for churches outside the UK, for example how currency and payment work]
Who owns our church website and domain name?
Your domain name belongs to your church on both plans. On Church Pillar Care the site runs on our servers and your team gets an editor login. On an independent site, your church has full administrator and hosting access. A church on Care can move to an independent site later. [Terms and fee]
Can you redesign the website we already have?
Yes. A redesign keeps what works on your current site, moves your pages and sermons across and redirects old links so Google keeps up. See website redesign for details and prices.
Tell us about your church
Send us your current website address, or tell us you do not have one yet. We will come to the call with a first page plan and talk you through the price.