How to Plan Content for a Church WordPress Site

A Church WordPress Site is often the first place visitors, members, and the wider community go when they want to learn what your church is about. But without a plan, your site can quickly become a mix of old events, missing sermons, and confusing menus that don’t reflect your ministry priorities.

In this guide, you’ll create a simple, church-specific content plan that turns your website into a clear path for visitors and members: from “I’m new” to “How can I grow and serve?”. You’ll map your audiences, define key content areas like sermons and events, and build a 90-day editorial calendar that works in WordPress—whether you use the Classic Editor, Block Editor, or a theme like Jannah.

By the end, you’ll have a practical workflow your staff and volunteers can follow week after week, so your content stays fresh, local, and aligned with your church’s mission.

Prerequisites

Before you start planning content, make sure you have the basics in place so you can implement your ideas quickly.

• Access to your WordPress admin (Editor or Administrator role).
• A live or staging church website using a stable theme (Jannah or another well-supported church/marketing theme).
• Your church’s mission statement and 3–5 core ministry priorities (worship, discipleship, outreach, kids/youth, etc.).
• A small content team: this might be one staff member plus 1–2 key volunteers.

Step 1: Clarify Your Church Communication Goals

Why this matters

If you don’t know what you want your Church WordPress Site to achieve, every new sermon post or event page becomes a one-off project. Clear goals turn random updates into a focused content strategy.

How to do it

1. Gather your pastor, a communications leader, and 1–2 ministry representatives.
2. Ask: “If our website did its job perfectly, what would people be able to do?”
3. Write 3–5 specific goals, such as:
   • Help first-time visitors plan a visit easily.
   • Make it simple to watch or listen to sermons online.
   • Keep events current so people always know what’s happening.
   • Provide clear next steps for giving, serving, and joining groups.
4. Rank these goals from most important to least important.

Checkpoint

You should now have a short list of website goals that everyone agrees on. Keep this list visible while planning your content structure and calendar.

Step 2: Map the People Your Church Church WordPress Site Serves

Why this matters

Different people visit your site for different reasons. A guest deciding whether to attend is not looking for the same information as a long-time member looking for the latest sermon.

How to do it

1. List your main audiences:
   • New here / Visitors – people who haven’t attended yet.
   • Regular attenders – those who come often but may not be members.
   • Members & volunteers – people active in ministries and giving.
   • Online-only followers – people who watch sermons but may not attend in person.
   • Community partners – local organizations, schools, or ministries.
2. For each audience, write 2–3 specific questions they bring to your site. For example:
   • “What time are services and where do I park?”
   • “How can I watch last Sunday’s sermon?”
   • “Where do I sign up to serve or join a group?”
3. Connect each question to one of your goals from Step 1.

Checkpoint

You should now understand who you are writing for and what they need from your Church WordPress Site. This will directly shape your menu and content types.

Step 3: Design a Ministry-Focused Content Structure

Why this matters

A church website should guide people from broad interest (“Who are you?”) to clear next steps (“How do I join, give, or serve?”). A simple, ministry-focused structure makes your content easier to plan and maintain.

How to do it in WordPress

1. In your WordPress admin, go to Pages → Add New and ensure you have or plan to create:
   • Home – overview with clear “Plan a Visit” or “I’m New” call to action.
   • I’m New / Plan a Visit – service times, directions, what to expect, kids’ info.
   • Sermons – archive of messages, either as posts or custom post types.
   • Events – upcoming services, outreach, and church-wide events.
   • Ministries – overview of key ministries (kids, youth, groups, missions).
   • Give – online giving form or instructions.
   • Next Steps – baptism, membership, groups, volunteering.
   • Contact – map, address, simple contact form.
2. Use Posts → Categories to create church-specific categories such as:
   • Sermons
   • Events
   • Stories / Testimonies
   • Devotionals
   • Announcements
3. Map each audience and goal to a page or category. For example, “Plan a Visit” for visitors and “Groups” under Ministries for those seeking connection.

For a deeper dive into structuring posts, taxonomies, and workflows, review a dedicated content planning workflow for WordPress blogs.

Checkpoint

You should now have a list of main pages and post categories. This becomes the “buckets” you’ll use when planning your ongoing content.

Step 4: Plan Recurring Content for Sermons, Events, and Ministries

Why this matters

Church life runs on rhythms—weekly services, monthly events, seasonal campaigns. Planning recurring content around these rhythms keeps your site updated without starting from scratch every week.

How to do it

1. Start with weekly content:
   • Sunday sermon recap (post under “Sermons”).
   • This week at our church (short blog-style update or homepage section).
   • Small group or ministry highlight (rotating focus on key ministries).
2. Add monthly content:
   • Member story or testimony.
   • Pastor’s letter or devotional.
   • Serving or giving focus (e.g., missions, youth, or mercy ministry).
3. Layer in seasonal content (Easter, Christmas, back-to-school, summer camps) 6–8 weeks before the event.

Checkpoint

You should now have a simple outline like “Every Monday: sermon post”, “Every Thursday: event or ministry highlight”, and “Once a month: story or devotional.” You will plug this pattern into an editorial calendar next.

Step 5: Build a 90-Day Editorial Calendar in WordPress

Why this matters

A 90-day plan is long enough to support big seasons (like Easter) but short enough to adjust when ministries or staff change. An editorial calendar keeps everyone on the same page.

How to do it

1. Create a simple calendar using a spreadsheet, project tool, or dedicated editorial calendar plugin.
2. Add columns like:
   • Date
   • Content type (Sermon, Event, Story, Devotional)
   • Audience (Visitors, Members, Volunteers, Online)
   • Title / Topic
   • Assigned to
   • Status (Planned, Draft, Scheduled, Published)
   • WordPress URL (once published)
3. Fill in the next 12 weeks based on your recurring pattern from Step 4 and known events from your church calendar.
4. In WordPress, when editing a post in the Classic or Block Editor, use the Publish or Schedule options to set go-live dates that match your calendar.

If you want to go further with drag-and-drop calendars, assignments, and workflow, you can follow a more advanced guide to building an editorial calendar in WordPress.

Checkpoint

You now have a 90-day content calendar covering sermons, events, and key ministry stories, with each item assigned to a person and date.

Step 6: Connect Content to Giving, Serving, and Next Steps

Why this matters

Content is not just information; it should clearly invite people into deeper engagement with your church—attending, joining a group, serving, or giving.

How to do it

1. For each major content type (sermon, story, event), define a default next step:
   • Sermon → Join a group or listen to more messages in the same series.
   • Story → Learn more about that ministry or sign up to serve.
   • Event → Register, invite a friend, or subscribe to updates.
2. In Jannah or your theme options, ensure your layouts leave space for clear calls-to-action (buttons, banners, or sidebar widgets).
3. Add consistent calls-to-action at the end of posts and pages, such as “Plan a Visit,” “Join a Group,” or “Give Online.”

Checkpoint

Each key page or post on your site should now have a clear next step that aligns with your church’s discipleship and engagement plan.

Step 7: Optimize Church Content for Local Search

Why this matters

Most people looking for your church online are nearby and searching on their phone. Basic local SEO ensures your Church WordPress Site shows up when people search for churches in your area.

How to do it

1. In your main pages (Home, Plan a Visit, Contact), include your city, region, and service times in headings and body text.
2. Use descriptive titles like “Sunday Services in [City]” and meta descriptions that mention your location and church type.
3. Make sure your address, phone number, and service times are consistent across your site and match your Google Business Profile.
4. Add alt text to images that describes the content (e.g., “Worship service at [Church Name] in [City]”).
5. Test your site on mobile devices to ensure menus, buttons, and maps are easy to use.

For a more detailed checklist, you can follow a full guide to local SEO for small-business WordPress sites, adapting the principles to your church’s context.

Checkpoint

When you search for your church name and “church in [your city]” from a private browser or phone, your site should appear prominently with clear, current information.

Step 8: Create a Simple Content Workflow for Your Team

Why this matters

Even the best plan will fail if no one owns it. A lightweight workflow helps your staff and volunteers know who does what and when.

How to do it

1. Assign core roles:
   • Owner – manages the calendar and keeps tasks moving.
   • Writer(s) – drafts posts and pages (could be staff or volunteers).
   • Approver – usually a pastor or communications lead.
   • Publisher – person with WordPress access who schedules and publishes.
2. Define simple workflow stages:
   • Idea → Draft → Review → Scheduled → Published.
3. Use your editorial calendar to track status and owner for each piece.
4. Review published content monthly and update anything out-of-date, especially service times, events, and giving information.

Checkpoint

You should now have a simple, written workflow that names owners and approval steps, aligned with your 90-day calendar.

Keep Your Church Church WordPress Site Alive and Useful

Planning content for a Church WordPress Site is not a one-time project. It’s a steady rhythm of clarifying goals, serving real people, and keeping your digital front door aligned with what God is doing in your church.

By mapping your audiences, designing a ministry-focused structure, planning recurring content, and building a 90-day editorial calendar, you’ve created a framework your team can actually follow. Review it regularly, adjust as your ministries grow, and your website will become a faithful partner to your preaching, discipleship, and outreach—not just a digital bulletin board.

Further Reading

• Guide to Choosing WordPress Church Themes
• How to Set Up Church Donation Plugins in WordPress
• Best Church Website Builders Compared
• WordPress Business Blog Content Strategy
• Content Workflows for Multi-Author WordPress Blogs

Frequently Asked Questions