Websites are made up of different pages to help guide the visitor in learning more about the site’s purpose.
When it comes to churches, there are six church website pages that are a must. No matter what else you do, you’ll need at least these base pages.
Even if you just want a very simple site, your visitors will expect to see at least six pages. These help to give them the information they need to decide whether to interact with your church or not.
1. Home
A home page is probably the most obvious on this list. After all, every single website has a home page. Even sites that are just blogs have a home page, even if it’s just a list of the most recent posts or the most recent post.
Overall, your church home page has the potential to be one of the single most important pages on your site. For many visitors, it’s the first page they see and the first impression they have about your church.
People have a notoriously bad reputation for making snap judgments within seconds. In fact, businesses often follow the general rule of only having seven seconds to make a great first impression and that’s in-person. For websites, you’re down to around 50 milliseconds. An older study found that you’re lucky to keep the average reader around for 15 seconds if you don’t grab their attention quickly.
This means your church home page needs to look great, load quickly and present the most relevant information clearly and cleanly. So, what should that information be?
The most important pieces of information a church website visitor looks for include:
- Service times
- Location (having a map or general directions is always a nice touch)
- Social media links (help them learn more about you on social media)
- Latest events
- Any schedule changes
- Contact information (main number, email address, contact form, etc.)
Quick overview of your church and what makes it unique- Denomination
- Service style (casual, traditional, music type, etc.)
- Actual pictures of your church, members and even a section about your latest volunteer activity with an image
- Login (if your church has content that requires a login, such as
volunteer collaboration forums)
While that may sound like information overload, think about it. When you visit a website, you want to see the essentials in one place. For a business or church, you’d want to know where it’s located, how to contact them, times and what to expect.
One thing to avoid is getting too wordy. Your home page isn’t a lengthy blog post. If you have more to say, add a link to another page. For instance, just give a quick overview about what’s unique about your church and then tell the visitor to find out more on your About Us page.
One last thing to avoid is asking for donations immediately. Your home page might sound like the perfect place to ask, but right now, you’re just introducing your church and that’s all.
2. About Us
Your About Us page is almost as important as your home page. This is where you get to dive more in-depth about your church, your purpose and why your members love it so much.
This is a great place to show off your church’s personality more too. In fact, it’s probably one of the most personable church website pages outside of your blog. So, have a little fun here, but don’t shy away from being honest about your church.
Something to keep in mind is your About Us page is a chance to build a relationship with your church website visitors. It may be tempting to try and hard sell your church at this point, but that rarely works.
Instead, you should follow modern selling techniques that businesses use. The idea is to start a conversation, introduce yourself and start establishing a connection between you and your site’s visitors. While you’re not a traditional business, you are trying to build followers online and increase members in your church.
For best results, divide your About Us page into clearly defined sections. Think of it like a longer blog post. You should have scannable headings to make easier for visitors to find the information they’re looking for. Adding relevant images to each section works well too. Just remember to keep images small so the page loads quickly.
Some suggested sections to help you get started include:
- History of your church, such as who started it and why, the date founded and even how many original members or families are still there
- Why this church was created versus just attending another church
- Your church’s main purpose or mission
- Introductions to your main church staff and leaders (quick bios and a picture are usually sufficient, though adding an email address to contact them is a good idea too)
- Charities or other non-profits you’re involved with
- Number of members and the average age
- What to expect during a service, such as more lively or more solemn
While you don’t have to use all of those, use what feels natural. Another point to consider is going more in-depth about how to find your church if it’s in a difficult location to navigate or isn’t easily seen from the road.
3. Ministries
One of the top visited church website pages is Ministries. While it may not always be called that, the concept is still the same. You want to create a page that explains all the different ministries your church has to help people decide if this is the right church for them.
For instance, a family with small children might be interested in a church with a youth ministry. An elderly couple who’ve retired to a new area might want a church with a seniors ministry.
This is also the perfect place to explain what’s special about each ministry and what types of activities are involved. Even if you only have a few, have a Ministries page to list them and explain them. You should also provide contact details for whomever is in charge of that particular ministry so visitors can contact them for more information.
If you have numerous ministries or just don’t want to make visitors scroll forever, you may want to just give a quick overview and contact details of each ministry and then link to a dedicated page for each individual ministry. This works well for larger churches. A great example is Good News Church.
To make this page even more appealing, consider adding an image for each ministry. Use actual photos of your groups to make your church feel more inviting.
4. Events
When you work hard to put together events, you want as many people to attend as possible. However, how is anyone supposed to know about it if you don’t advertise it? Even your members often forget the exact day and time if it’s not during regular service hours.
For instance, what if you have a special musical group performing on a Thursday night or a charity luncheon to support a displaced family on a Saturday afternoon? Everyone forgets things, so give them an easy way to remember all your church events with a dedicated Events page with updated dates and times.
While your home page should always have the most current events listed, such as those happening within the next week or month, your Events page is the go-to source to find out what’s going on and when.
For best results, you should consider organizing your Events page one of the following ways:
- Traditional calendar style (especially when listing meetings, practices and major events)
- By type (visitors click on the type and get a chronological list of events)
- Chronologically by date
If you’ve held a similar event before, consider adding an image of the event to help the event stand out more to site visitors. This will also help them decide if it’s the type of event they want to go to.
No matter what style you choose, add a few quick details, such as the duration, time, special considerations (bringing an umbrella for outdoor events or lights that may cause seizures) and any cost (if applicable).
5. Sermons
One of the best ways to provide more insight into your church is by adding your sermons to your site. While many churches don’t include this, we feel it’s one of the best most important church website pages.
Why? Sermon style is often the deciding factor for helping a person choose the right church for them. It’s a highly personal choice and sometimes people feel more comfortable test-driving sermons from the comfort of their own home versus in a room full of strangers.
Upload your weekly sermons or you could even
Your sermons aren’t just for potential church members either. Use this page to connect with members who can’t attend for whatever reason or for those who don’t have a home church, but still want to worship and feel like part of a faith-based community online.
6. Giving
Giving is always important and it helps keep churches afloat. Without tithing, a church can’t minister to members or the community effectively. This is why a Giving page is among the top six church website pages.
The great thing is the other five pages help explain what your church does, why it’s important to the community and how it benefits site visitors. You’ve worked to build a relationship with visitors without ever asking them to donate.
While it’s okay to have a call-to-action button on a sidebar to encourage online tithing on other pages, you shouldn’t mention much about it at all outside of your Giving page. This prevents your church’s site from seeming more about money than faith. Think of it as a soft sell. Having this one dedicated page says “If you like what you’ve seen and experienced, consider giving back. We’d appreciate it.”
Have a secure way for visitors to donate. The simpler the form, the more donations you’ll receive. No one wants to give away their life history just to donate to their chosen church.
Offer multiple ways to give too. Credit cards are always a great option. You can also use third-parties, such as PayPal or
It’s fine to have suggested amounts, but also offer a space to add a custom amount. Sometimes, people can only offer $1 and that’s fine. The idea is to ensure all amounts are welcome, no matter how large or small.
Other Pages To Consider
While the above are just the six main church website pages you should have, these aren’t the only pages you’re limited to. After all, it’s your church and your site should be as unique as your church.
Many churches have a New Here page. Think of it as a digital welcome packet for anyone who is interacting with your church for the first time. If you have new visitors to your church, you may direct them to this page when they return home to find out more about volunteer opportunities, ministry details, contact information and more.
Another important page you might want to consider is Get Involved. This is your volunteer hub. Not only should you list opportunities, but volunteer schedules, groups and contact details. You might also want to mention why your church as chosen these particular projects.
Some churches also have a Daily Message or Bible Study type page. These should be updated daily or weekly, depending on the purpose. This page is a great way to keep members and visitors engaged throughout the week.
Finally, let your members and loyal website visitors speak for themselves. Ask them to submit their stories about a time God was there for them or how the church helped change their life. Remember, add pages that are most relevant to your church and its
Want to find out more ways to help your church website perform better? Start with our free website analysis today!
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