For churches · Redesign
Refresh vs rebuild · migration checklist
Most church websites are not redesigned because someone decided to. They are redesigned because the volunteer left, the platform got bought, or a first-time guest said "I could not find your service times." Here is how to tell which kind of fix you need, and how to do it without disappearing from Google for a month.
Refresh or rebuild
Usually oversized images or plugin build-up. If the platform cannot fix it, the platform is the problem.
If a service-time change needs "the website guy," the site is already stale; you just have not noticed yet.
Our 2026 study of 1,734 small-church websites found only 83.9% of small-church sites had findable service times. It is the single most common reason a guest gives up.
Photos of people who moved away, ministries that ended, a "new" building that is ten years old.
Most first-time guests find you on a phone, often on a Saturday night. Design for that screen first.
Working giving was present on 64.2% of small-church sites in the study. A broken Give button is worse than none.
When a builder is folded into a larger company, pricing and support change. That is a fit decision, not a loyalty one.
If staff send people to Facebook instead of the website, the website has already been replaced. Make it official.
Do it right
A redesign on the same domain keeps almost everything. Changing domains is a different, riskier project.
Every page Google knows about should redirect (a 301) to its replacement. Sermons and the about page matter most; a missing redirect is a lost ranking.
Church name, address, service times and phone as real text on the homepage, not inside images, so Google and Maps keep agreeing with you.
Build the new site in full, point the domain over in one step, and keep the old site reachable for a week. No "under construction" weeks.
Submit the new sitemap in Search Console and update Google Business Profile the same day. Rankings usually settle within two to four weeks.
Cost
Refreshing photos and copy on a builder is free plus hours. A full rebuild on a church builder means a new plan and, for some vendors, a setup fee. An agency redesign is typically a few thousand dollars up front plus hosting.
Church Digital rebuilds the site as part of the plan: $120 a month flat, no setup fee, no contract, and the founding rate makes the first 6 months $60 a month. We build the new site in full, handle the redirects and the DNS switch, and keep updating it after launch. Your old site stays live until the new one is ready.
Common questions
Not sure if yours needs one
A free five-minute review of your homepage: what is working, what is costing you first-time visitors, and whether a builder can fix it or the site needs a rebuild. No pitch, no call required.
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