Website design for small churches, without the parts you do not need
A small church website needs four things: service times, location, a way to get in touch, and evidence that the congregation is real and welcoming. It does not need a sermon archive, an event system or a member portal. The Basic package at $1,200 covers what a congregation under 80 members actually uses.
What does a small church website actually need?
Four things, in this order: when services are, where the building is, how to reach someone, and enough evidence that the congregation is real and welcoming for a stranger to risk a first visit.
Everything else is optional and most of it is a liability. A sermon archive with three entries from two years ago says the congregation lost interest. An empty event calendar says the same.
What should a small church leave out?
Leave out anything that requires regular feeding unless someone has genuinely committed to feeding it. Blogs, event calendars, sermon archives and member portals all decay visibly when neglected.
A three-page site that is completely current is more persuasive than a twelve-page site with stale corners. This is the single most useful decision a small congregation makes about its website.
Why do small church websites usually fail?
Not because of money and not because of design. They fail because the person who built the site stops updating it, and nobody else knows how.
The fix is procedural: build the site so that changing a service time takes under a minute, record the training session so the next volunteer can watch it, and keep the site small enough that staying current is easy.
Is $1,200 realistic for a small congregation?
For many it is a real decision rather than a trivial one. It is worth weighing against what the website is for: a congregation of 50 that gains two families over a year has recovered the cost many times over.
It is also worth being honest that a free option maintained by an enthusiastic volunteer can serve a small congregation well. The question is whether that volunteer exists.
What about a church plant with no history yet?
A church plant has less to show and more to explain. The site should say what the plant is, who is behind it, where and when it meets, and what happens next.
Vagueness is the enemy here. "Launching soon" without a date is worse than saying the first service is in March.
Work in this area
Frequently asked questions
Can we start smaller and add later?
Yes. Pages can be added after launch and are quoted individually. Starting with three good pages and growing is better than launching with twelve half-finished ones.
Do we need online giving?
Not necessarily. A congregation where everyone attends weekly and gives in person may not use it. It becomes worthwhile when attendance is irregular or support comes from outside the area.
What if we have no good photographs?
This is the most common constraint. One Sunday morning with a local photographer produces more improvement than any design change, and costs less than most people expect.
How much of our time will this take?
Roughly four to six hours across the project: a kickoff call, editing the supplied draft text, gathering photographs, and one review round.
Do we need a separate domain?
Yes. A church domain costs roughly $10 to $20 per year and should be registered in the church name, not a volunteer's, so it cannot be lost when they move away.
Talk it through first
A short call costs nothing and usually clarifies whether this is the right next step for your organisation.
Get in touch