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Should you use Church Center as your church's website?

See also:

If your church already has a website, Church Center can be used alongside it to save you time by linking to Planning Center content. Or, if you prefer a simpler web experience, you can use Church Center instead of a website.

Do you already have a website?

Yes

There are benefits to using your own website alongside Church Center:

  • Custom domain: Your own website will allow you to customize your domain. Every Publishing domain has ".churchcenter" in its URL, which is not customizable.

  • A more customizable design: Your website can use more tailored formatting and design options than Publishing can offer.

If you already have an established website, you can still use Church Center as a place for your members to access specific information connected to Planning Center, such as built-in pages for event lists, online giving, or a directory. If needed, you can also link back to your website from Church Center for easy navigation between the two.

Here are some reasons to link to your website from Church Center:

  • You have already posted information on your website and would like to avoid managing it in two locations.

  • Your church does not have an app, and you want people to be able to access your website from the Church Center mobile app.

Navigating between Church Center and your website

From your church's website editor, add links to Church Center pages. 

Use Publishing to replace Church Center's built-in Home page with a link to your website. 

  1. Select Customize from the top navigation.

  2. From the Navigation tab, hover over Home and select the ️ delete icon.

  3. In the Add item area, paste a link in the search box to add your church website to the Navigation.

No

If you want congregants to access information about your church and don't need a custom domain or highly customizable design, you can use Church Center as a simple website. Here's an example site.

There are a few steps to get started:

Set up pages

You can customize the built-in Home page to reflect your church, including adding links, sermon times, and other important information for your congregants.

If you want to include more than the Home and other built-in pages, subscribe to the Plus or Premium Publishing plan and begin adding custom pages.

Set up your navigation

Customize your Navigation menu to make content available and easy to find. You can reorder pages by dragging and dropping them into position, and choose which four most important pages will display in your top navigation bar (the rest will be in the More menu).

The Edit Church Center navigation article will explain everything you need to know about adding, editing, reordering, and removing navigation items.

Help people find your site

Once your site is ready for people to view, share links or QR codes on social media, in email newsletters, or in your bulletin.

People can also access your Church Center pages through a web search. Use search engine optimization practices to improve visibility for your custom pages.