Why this matters
The church website statistics that matter to a first-time guest are the ones about plain questions: when do you meet, what is Sunday like, who will I meet, are you still meeting, and can I give. In our 2026 State of Small Church Websites study, an audit of 2,000 church websites, 83.9% of small church websites (n=1,734) make service times findable and 72.8% show an update within a year of the study's July 2026 check. Below are five of those questions, the study figure behind each one, and one fix for each.
A note on the numbers. The study sampled 2,000 church websites, and 1,930 of them were reachable. Three figures below come from the 1,734 sites judged to be small churches. The other three come from all 1,930 sites the study scored for how ready they are for a visitor, called "all judged sites" below. Each section names its group, so you can tell them apart.
At a glance
- Five questions a first-time guest asks each have a matching figure in our 2026 study, and each one has a fix a volunteer can make before Sunday.
- Service times are findable on 83.9% of small church websites (n=1,734), the highest of the figures in this post.
- More than half of all judged sites (56.9% of 1,930) explain what a visit is like, and about half (50.6% of 1,930) name the pastor.
- A short check on your own phone tells you which of the five to fix first.
Can a first-time guest find your service times?
On most small church websites, yes: 83.9% of small church websites (n=1,734) make service times findable. If yours are easy to find, you are in good company. If they are not, this is a good place to start.
Say a family pulls in at 10:20 for a service that started at 10:00, because the only time they found was in an old bulletin PDF. Nobody meant to mislead them. The current time never made it onto the homepage.
The fix: put the day, the time and the street address in plain text near the top of your homepage. Keep a copy in the PDF or on the map pin if you like, but make sure the plain text is there too. Plain text is easy to read on a small screen and easy to copy into a map app.
Can a guest tell what Sunday morning will be like?
On more than half of church sites, yes: 56.9% of all judged sites (n=1,930) have plan-a-visit or what-to-expect content. A few honest sentences are enough to join them.
A first-time guest's quiet worry is walking into the wrong thing: the wrong door, the wrong clothes, the kids in the wrong room. Say a dad with two young kids is deciding between your church and staying home. If he knows where the kids go before he arrives, that is one less thing to figure out at the door.
The fix: add a short "What to expect" section to your homepage or a Plan a visit page. Answer four questions. How long does the service run? Where do you park and which door do you use? What happens with kids? What do people usually wear? Five honest sentences written before Sunday beat a polished page that never gets finished. If many of your neighbors speak Spanish, a single Spanish welcome page can answer the same questions without translating the whole site.
How do you help a guest know who they will meet?
Name your pastor and add a real photo, the way 50.6% of all judged church sites (n=1,930) already name theirs. A name and a face make the person at the door less of a stranger.
Say a woman is deciding whether to walk in alone on Sunday. If she has seen the pastor's photo and read two lines about the pastor, the first handshake is with someone she recognizes.
The fix: write one short paragraph about the pastor and add one real photo to your About page, with a link to it from the homepage. Use a picture of the person a guest will actually meet, not a stock image. A photo and a few warm lines are plenty.
Does your website show that you are still meeting?
Most small church sites do: 72.8% of small church websites (n=1,734) show an update within a year of the study's July 2026 check. A tighter test is content dated within about three months, which 41.2% of all judged sites (n=1,930) show.
Say a guest lands on your homepage and the first banner is for a picnic whose date has passed. They may wonder whether anyone still looks after the site, and whether the service times are still right.
The fix: take down every banner and event whose date has passed. Then add one dated line that you change each week, such as next Sunday's sermon title. An empty events page that is current reads better than a full one that is not. Pick one person and one day each week to check it.
Can a guest give online when they are ready?
On most small church websites, yes: 64.2% of small church websites (n=1,734) have a working online giving path. That is about two in three.
Say a couple visits on Sunday, likes what they found, and wants to give from home on Tuesday. They need a button that works on the first tap.
The fix: put one clearly labeled Give button in your homepage menu, and make sure it opens a working giving page. Tap it on your phone. If it goes to a broken link, an old page, or an app the guest has to download first, point the button at a giving page that opens in the browser.
How do you check all five on your phone?
Open your homepage on your phone, scroll once, and go down this table. Mark each row yes or no.
| What a guest asks | What to look for on your phone | 2026 study figure |
|---|---|---|
| When do you meet? | Day, time and address in plain text near the top | 83.9% of small church sites (n=1,734) |
| What is Sunday like? | A "What to expect" section or a Plan a visit page | 56.9% of all judged sites (n=1,930) |
| Who will I meet? | The pastor's name and a real photo | 50.6% of all judged sites (n=1,930) |
| Are you still meeting? | Nothing on the homepage dated in the past | 72.8% updated within a year, small church sites (n=1,734) |
| Can I give? | A Give button that opens a working page | 64.2% of small church sites (n=1,734) |
Start with the first "no" from the top. Service times sit at the top because a guest cannot visit without them.
What can you send to whoever updates the site?
Send a short note that lists the five fixes in plain words. If someone else updates your website, here is one you can copy:
> Could you make five small changes to our homepage? Put the service day, time and address in plain text near the top. Add a short What to expect section. Add the pastor's name and a real photo. Take down anything dated in the past. Check that the Give button opens a working page on a phone. Thank you.
When should you skip a fix on this list?
Skip any row your site already passes. If all five rows are a yes on your phone, this list is done, and your next hour is better spent on what happens after a guest visits, like the connect card and the note that follows it.
These fixes also assume your site loads. If your domain has lapsed or the homepage shows an error, deal with that first, since a guest cannot read service times on a page that will not open.
One more honest limit: the study counted what an automated check could find on each site in July 2026. Your own phone check is the better test for your church, so trust what you see when you run it.
Frequently asked questions
Which church website statistics matter most for a small church?
The ones tied to what a first-time guest needs before Sunday. In our 2026 State of Small Church Websites study, 83.9% of small church websites (n=1,734) make service times findable and 64.2% have a working online giving path. Those two cover when you meet and how to give, and a volunteer can usually fix both.
How current does our church website need to look?
Current enough that a guest trusts you are still meeting. In our 2026 study, 72.8% of small church websites (n=1,734) showed an update within a year of the study's July 2026 check. Taking down anything dated in the past and adding one dated line each week keeps your site reading as current.
Should we put the pastor's name and photo on the website?
Yes. A name and a real photo help a first-time guest picture who will greet them. In our 2026 study, 50.6% of all judged church sites (n=1,930) name the pastor somewhere on the site. One short paragraph and one real photo on your About page is enough.
Where this connects in our work
- The full 2026 study for how the 2,000 sites were sampled and where every figure in this post comes from.
- How to audit your own church homepage, a 30-minute walkthrough of your homepage through a first-time guest's eyes.
Next step
If you would like a second pair of eyes on your homepage, ask for a free homepage review. You get a video, about 4 minutes long, within 2 business days.