Church Website Ideas
  • Web Design
  • Web Content
  • Web Security
  • Web Traffic
  • Tools & Resources
  • Perspectives

The 7 Best CMS Systems for Your Church Website

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

As a web designer, developer, or church staff member, you have to update your church website. Usually it is a small change, updating an event, posting a new sermon, or writing a blog post. The best and simplest way to update your website is using a content management system. These systems provide an easy user interface that makes your website easy to update, come with add on components that add in additional functionality, and allow you to easily change the design of your church website. Today I wanted to share the 7 best CMS systems you can use for your church website, enjoy!

LightCMS


This is by far my favorite platform to design and develop for! When designing a church website, I first suggest them to use the Light system. Developed with the church in mind, the system easily allows your staff to update your website, with very little (or no) HTML knowledge. It allows for ANY element to be drag and drop ready, so you can move anything to anywhere on the page. Also, simple donations, email forms, and calendar features are included. The software is hosted, so there is a monthly fee, depending on the amount of pages you have, but a great system!

If your a designer/developer, you will love the way the system works. Design two pages, one home, one interior, code them, drop in LightCMS tags to define what is an edible region and you’re set!

WordPress


If you’re looking for a great content management system, easy to use, and are on a budget, nothing can beat WordPress for your church’s website. I have received such an overwhelming amount of requests for WordPress sites in the last year that I am launching a WordPress focused design company!

WordPress offers a lot in terms of features, with a large community of developers offering free or low cost plugins, a huge template market, and WordPress is free! All you really need is a web host and you can be up and running. For churches on a budget, this is the way to go.

Resources:
Official WordPress Site:
WordPress.org
Paid Themes:
ThemeForest WP Themes
Woo Themes
Free Themes:
Free WordPress Templates

Pagelime


Pagelime is a unique offering, focusing on designers, this simple CMS allows you host your own website, then update it using their hosted CMS. I have used this on a few client sites and I was very impressed. Simply plug-in their code into any area of a site you want to make editable and you’re set. They offer a free account for up-to 3 sites.

Halogy


This one is probably unknown to a lot of users, but I stumbled across this CMS a few months ago and was blown away with how simple this CMS is to use. This is one of the few systems that allows you to buy the source code, host it on your server, and develop on top of it. Created using PHP, this system is extremely fixable.

Features include the ability to add templates, add a shopping cart, and edit content in a simple way! Check them out.

Expression Engine


One of most complete and advanced CMS systems on the market today. Some of the biggest companies run their sites using this system and the features are outstanding! A large development community and support will be able to help you get started.

A few downsides include a larger start-up cost and because the system is complex, the learning curve is steep.

Ekklesia 360


One of the only two CMS on this list that was built specifically for churches. I have not used the system, but I have heard from a few companies that swear by it for church websites. Church specific modules, sermon manager, and member system all make this system very unique.

SquareSpace


SquareSpace has come a long way and is one of the best CMS systems available. For only $12 a month, you will get a hosted website, that you can hand to anyone to update. Easy to update, templates, and blogging are all a few features that this CMS includes.

July 7, 2015 Jesse Orndorff

About the author

Jesse Orndorff

Jesse Orndorff is a professional website designer from Seattle. Jesse is the founder of Glean, a church website design studio. He is also the owner of Bearded Design, a web development company that provides websites to small businesses.

← 6 Free Pastor Tools For Online Goal Tracking
7 Best Email Marketing Software Apps for Churches →

36 Responses to The 7 Best CMS Systems for Your Church Website

  • HKBP September 24, 2010

    Waw, great …
    I think this better for our church …

    Log in to Reply
  • Steve K September 24, 2010

    Nice round up of some reasonably priced web solutions, Jesse. I conducted a similar round up for open source alternatives, focusing mostly on the resources they offered churches and ministries, but also looking at some of the barriers to entry. Have a look – http://christianxoopsresources.com/modules/article/view.article.php/a33

    Log in to Reply
    • Jesse Orndorff September 24, 2010

      @Steve

      Great list! This is always one of the hardest areas for developing a website. Finding a nice mix between usability, features and cost can be a challenge.

      Cheers!

      Log in to Reply
      • FaithConnector Church Websites December 30, 2011

        FaithConnector.com has a great mix of features for churches at a very good price.

        Log in to Reply
  • Jesse Orndorff September 24, 2010

    @Steve

    Great list! This is always one of the hardest areas for developing a website. Finding a nice mix between usability, features and cost can be a challenge.

    Cheers!

    Log in to Reply
  • Mike September 24, 2010

    Great list. I’ve used LightCMS and WordPress and they are both awesome solutions.

    Log in to Reply
  • Jesse Orndorff September 24, 2010

    @mike

    Yeah, LightCMS is by far my favorite.

    Log in to Reply
    • Gus May 1, 2011

      We are looking to use Light and love it for all the same reasons that you list. One of the area’s that I am a little hesitant in is the sermon management part. How have you handled this with Light?

      Log in to Reply
      • Jesse Orndorff May 1, 2011

        Gus,

        With Light it is still a little clunky. I find the best way is to still use a third party sermon plugin, like http://www.sermoncast.com/

        I have noticed over the last few months that Light has been focusing more on small businesses, which I hope doesn’t mean they will stop adding ministry features.
        —
        Jesse Orndorff

        Log in to Reply
        • Gus May 1, 2011

          Interesting that you point to sermoncast.com when they seem to just be a third part vender of http://sermonstudio.net/pricing.html – looks like they just grabbed this screen shot. You can also find sermonstudio.net labeled as http://sermon.net/ – you can find the same pricing structure on this page: http://site.sermon.net/broadcast/features/

          The problem I have with their service is that I don’t like the look of their player and it does not give a very good video option.

          Log in to Reply
  • Zack Esgar September 25, 2010

    I personally love Joomla for church set ups because of the amazing components that can be easily integrated into the website with no hassle.  I also like Joomla because I can design a site and then leave it to the church staff to easily manage their own content……

    Log in to Reply
  • Raphael October 8, 2010

    In my opinion Joomla&Drupal are better than WP….

    Log in to Reply
  • Why Thesis Theme Rules October 12, 2010

    […] we posted a list of top content management systems for churches and ministries. While all of these systems are great for building your website on, for me one platform stands out: […]

    Log in to Reply
  • Church CMS November 4, 2010

    Thanks for a great list. I use an new up-and-coming Church CMS provider – iMinistries. Their CMS has tons of features, is scalable, has free templates and also nicer looking templates for $75. And if your church or ministry uses them now you can have an iPhone app for $999, too. Hard to beat.

    Log in to Reply
  • Anonymous March 18, 2011

    We did our church website using Drupal. Overall a great experience, and you can’t beat free. Good community support, hundreds of useful modules, some nice themes, almost too much capability. If we hadn’t done Drupal, I expect our next choice would have been WordPress, although it seems most WordPress sites end up looking like blogs.

    Log in to Reply
    • Jesse Orndorff March 29, 2011

      Drupal is a great free choice. My only concern with it is that it tends to be too geek friendly. Meaning, that your standard volunteer or office worker might not understand how it works.

      If you are interested in a new open source CMS, I just came across Halogy (http://www.halogy.com/) which makes the site super easy to edit for anyone.

      Log in to Reply
  • guest June 9, 2011

    oops, error for the link,
    here is correcct one
    swiftycms

    Log in to Reply
  • Tim Hyde November 8, 2011

    Great list. WordPress is pretty much everywhere now. I have been running wordpresschurch.org in various forms since 2004 – we have big showcase of churches using it.

    Log in to Reply
  • Justin Wise January 12, 2012

    Thanks for the Ekklesia360 mention, Jesse. We appreciate it!

    Log in to Reply
    • Jesse Orndorff January 12, 2012

      Hey Justin,

      No problem! I love what you guys are doing over there.

      Log in to Reply
  • Tim Cortesi January 13, 2012

    Jesse – 

    Great list! 
    You might also want to check out SteepleConnect (www.steepleconnect.com), which like Ekklesia 360 is actually designed from the ground up to be specifically targeted towards churches (unlike WordPress, Joomla, LightCMS.. etc).  It’s got some pretty neat social features like a Prayer Wall and Facebook Integration as well.  It also has a totally free pricing tier.  

    (Full disclosure, I am the developer of SteepleConnect so I may be a bit biased!)

    -Tim

    Log in to Reply
  • sally March 17, 2012

    i have a question … there is quite a price difference among platforms …  how would you suggest sorting through the prices?  

    Log in to Reply
    • Jesse Orndorff March 17, 2012

      Hey Sally, 

      It really depends on your budget. If you need something free and are ok paying a small hosting fee, WordPress is great.

      If you are developing out 100% custom website, Expression Engine is fantastic. Expensive, but wonderful.

      I would stay away from Halogy at this point, it is difficult to setup and has been lacking in support lately.

      If you want someone to develop a custom site for you, the team over at Monk Dev and ekklesia360 are wonderful people.

      Log in to Reply
  • Kenny Schuble April 3, 2012

    In one of your comments you said LCMS has been doing more business than church, would that still be your choice for a church web site ?

    Log in to Reply
    • Jesse Orndorff April 3, 2012

      Right now, I think LightCMS is still one of the best CMS for churches. If I had to build a site right now, yes it would be on LightCMS.

      Log in to Reply
  • Kenny Schuble April 5, 2012

    Thank You for your reply but, that is with your not ever using Ekklesia 360 correct ?

    Log in to Reply
    • Jesse Orndorff April 5, 2012

      Hey Kenny,

      I have used Ekklesia 360, just a demo not on a live site. I still prefer LightCMS.

      Both are great platforms. If I was building a large church site, lots of people updating it, and using lots of media I would look more at Ekkesia. For a simple church site, with less tech savvy users updating it, I would go for Light. It all depends on your need.

      Jesse

      Log in to Reply
  • Melissa @ weber bbq uk August 21, 2012

    WordPress is a popular CMS among lots of people, even I use wordpress and it is really cost effective.

    Log in to Reply
  • Anonymous September 9, 2012

    My church is gonna use Joomla. They tasked me with building it so I turned to a Scout leader who does this stuff and he uses Joomla so that’s what I’m using. I’m also building one for the Troop using it, and the the church and Troop will split hosting costs, but get two different domains.

    Log in to Reply
  • Kirk Strobeck October 2, 2012

    You may want to add http://churchdeploy.com to the list, its the engine behind http://atheycreek.com

    Log in to Reply
  • PHP CMS Systems for Church Website | William Jiang March 20, 2013

    […] PHP CMS Systems for Church Website Leave a Comment Posted by williamjxj on 03/20/2013 While I am looking for wordpress-based website CMS, I found a useful link: The 7 Best CMS Systems for Your Church Website […]

    Log in to Reply
  • Joanne Cantrell January 14, 2014

    I realize I am a little late to this party, but I have a question.  Exactly what is CMS?  Is it more than a website builder and/or host?  Is it something that I should be using? 
    I have built our website from the ground up using Expression Web.  It is a culmination of several different websites our pastor liked.  We went in this direction because we wanted something custom – that does not look like every other church site out there.  But, knowing that I will not be working here forever (I just received my teaching degree!), I am not sure if I should be using something a little more user friendly.  I have no formal background in web design. When I need to know how to do something, I just go find a tutorial and try to learn.  I know not everyone can do this. So I worry about the person who comes after me here.

    I am in the process of updating our site and getting rid of pages, adding more elements, etc. so that it can become more of a ministry and more useful to both members and visitors.  Now would be the time I would make a change, if one is needed.  Please let me know what you think. 

    http://www.fellowshipbaptistvienna.com

    BTW, Jesse… thank you for all the articles on this site.  The information is very thought provoking and will be quite useful in the revamping of our site.

    Log in to Reply
    • Grace McCrorie January 14, 2014

      Thanks for your comment, Joanne. My name is Grace. I acquired Church Website Ideas from Jesse last Summer. You can learn more about that here.

      You’re never too late for this party. Questions about anything you find here are always timely and most welcome.

      First things first: CONGRATULATIONS on your achievement! I also thinks it’s wonderful that you’re thinking about, and planning for, the time ahead when you’ll pass the baton of your church’s Web ministry to the next worker. It’s unfortunate that many small churches get left in a lurch when the Web worker they’ve relied on leaves, and no else knows what to do or how to do it. You’re proving your love and commitment by taking steps to make the transition easier for them.

      What is a CMS and how does it differ from a website builder or host aren’t questions easily answered in one or two sentences here in the comments section. But, I thinking you’ll find this article extremely helpful. I agree with you: now would be a good time to plan a move and execute it, if that’s what you decide.

      Having worked with a few CMS systems running church or other non-profit websites (Joomla, Drupal, Squarespace), I am quite biased towards WordPress for church websites. There are many reasons for my preference, but the #1 reason is the short learning curve. When I redesigned my church’s website, I moved it from Drupal to WordPress. After just 4 hours of training, my non-technical team was up and running the next day. None of them had ever worked with WordPress before.

      If you want to get an idea of the basics of working with WordPress, I’d suggest going over to WP Beginner, and signing up for their free WordPress 101 video tutorials.

      May God continue to bless the work of your hands!

      Log in to Reply
  • Shannon Boyer January 30, 2014

    Hello! I’m late in the game on this blog, but am looking for a new CMS to design a new church website.  We are looking at SiteOrganic- I’d love any feedback on it positive and negative!

    Thanks,
    Shannon

    Log in to Reply
    • Grace McCrorie February 1, 2014

      Hey Shannon…nope, you’re never “late” on my blog. Thanks for your question. Actually, I don’t know much about SiteOrganic. I’m mostly a WordPress girl myself. But, I do know that SiteOrganic powers the website for my old church, McLean Bible Church.

      If you want feedback from churches who are using SiteOrganic, try Googling “powered by siteorganic” (but don’t include the quotes). Google will deliver you pages and pages of churches using SiteOrganic.

      Check out the sites. Try to find churches that are the same size as yours. That’s important, because it makes no sense to ask a large church (with lots of human and financial resources) what their experience is working with SiteOrganic if you’re the sole Web worker in a small church.

      Make a list of specific questions, then contact the churches you select (use email or the contact form on their website). Just explain who you are, what you’re doing, and ask if they wouldn’t mind answering a few questions about their experience. Fellow Web workers are usually pretty happy to share their experience with a service…good or bad.

      Log in to Reply
      • Shannon February 2, 2014

        Thank you!!! I hadn’t even thought of that. Great idea!

        Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment

Copyright © A Bright I Creative LLC | All Rights Reserved | Powered by Wordpress + Striking by KaptinLin
About Church Website Ideas | Revenue/Affiliate Disclosure
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. If you continue using the website, I'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Reject Learn More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.