Skip to main content

Set up Church Center and Publishing

In this section:

Church Center is a free mobile app and website for your congregation. It's the place where people find groups, give, sign up for events, manage their schedules, and stay connected with your church.

Publishing is the product you use to build and manage Church Center. By the end of this article, you'll have used Publishing to get Church Center up and running, built your home page, and made your mobile app ready to share with your congregation.

Set up Church Center URL and enable the mobile app

Before you start building, you need to choose your Church Center URL and enable the mobile app.

Update your Church Center URL

Planning Center creates a unique Church Center web URL when you sign up. You can customize the subdomain with your church's name to make it easier for people to find your church online. The churchcenter.com domain is free of charge and cannot be changed.

Warning

If you change your URL after the initial setup, your congregants will need to update their web browser bookmarks, and you'll need to update your church information and any embedded links/URLs, printed QR codes, etc.

  1. Select the product name in the top left of Planning Center.

  2. Choose Account settings at the bottom of the dropdown.

  3. Select the Organization page in the top navigation.

  4. Select the Church Center tab on the left.

  5. Type your preferred subdomain in the Church Center URL field. This is typically the name of your church.

  6. Select Save Church Center URL. 

After updating your Church Center URL, copy the entire URL to share with your church members.

Enable the Church Center mobile app

Before you can enable the Church Center mobile app, you must be subscribed to the free Essential plan in Publishing and have at least one campus created in your account with the List in Church Center app search option toggled on. Once you've completed those two tasks, follow the steps below to enable the mobile app:

  1. Choose the Customize page from the top navigation in Publishing.

  2. Select the Mobile app tab from the top of the page.

  3. Select the toggle in the Church Center mobile app section.

Tip

Share a link or QR code from the Mobile app tab in Publishing so congregants can download the app with your church preselected—no searching needed!

Build your home page

The home page can be the first thing people see when they open Church Center, so this is the place to highlight things like service times, prayer requests, upcoming events, and anything else you want front and center.

To get your home page up and running quickly, here's the simplified instructions:

  1. Select the Content page from the top navigation in Publishing.

  2. Choose Home from the list.

  3. Drag content blocks from the right sidebar into your page layout. You can add images, text, buttons, links, and more.

  4. Use the Save draft button while you're working, then choose Save & Publish when you're ready to make your changes live.

  5. To finish, select the Customize page from the top navigation and toggle on the Use Me as the start page for logged-in members setting at the top of the page.

For a full walkthrough, follow along with the Create and edit your home page article.

Set up your navigation

Your Church Center navigation is the list of pages people can choose from. In the mobile app, it lives at the bottom of the screen, and on the web it's at the top.

The Planning Center products you're subscribed to automatically get a built-in page in Church Center, so your job here is to decide what order those pages appear in and whether there's anything you want to hide or add. The first four items appear in the main navigation, and anything beyond that goes into a More overflow menu.

The steps below cover the basics of navigation setup; check out the Edit Church Center navigation article for a complete walkthrough.

  1. Select the Customize page from the top navigation in Publishing to reorder, remove, or add pages. You can drag and drop pages into the order you want, remove any built-in pages you're not using (they'll still be accessible by a direct link), and add custom pages or external URLs.

  2. Use the Save draft button while you're working, then choose Save & Publish when you're ready to make your changes live.

Add your logo and pick a theme

You can upload your church logo in Publishing on any plan, and it will appear in various places throughout Planning Center, including Church Center, email headers, and donor statements. Choose the Customize page from the top navigation in Publishing, then choose the Theme tab to upload light mode and dark mode versions of your logo.

Custom colors are also available on the Plus and Premium plans. If you're on one of these paid plans, the Theme tab is where you can pick your primary brand color for light and dark mode.

For logo dimensions and step-by-step instructions, see Customize your Church Center logo and theme.

Share Church Center with your congregation

Now that your home page is published, your navigation is set, and you've added your logo, it's time to share Church Center with your congregation!

Choose the Customize page from the top navigation in Publishing, then select the Mobile app tab. From here you can generate a shareable link or QR code that opens the Church Center app with your church already selected—no searching required. Drop that in a bulletin, welcome email, social media bio, and anywhere else you want to spread the word.

Planning Center also provides free promotional materials that you can use to introduce Church Center to your church. See Promote Church Center to your congregation to learn what's available.

What's next

With Church Center up and running, here are a few things to explore next:

  • Add custom pages. On the Plus or Premium plan, you can build additional pages using the same drag-and-drop editor you used to create your home page.

  • Set up a sermon channel. On the Premium plan, you can create a video or audio channel where people can watch or listen to messages, follow along with sermon notes, and catch up on past series.

  • Track how people are engaging. The Dashboard page in Publishing shows you how your Church Center content is performing, with stats like page views, engagement, and more.