WordPress theme for small churches
A church site a newcomer can actually use
Steeple is a warm, accessible WordPress theme for small congregations. Service times and directions up front, a page that tells a first-time visitor what to expect, a sermon archive, and an events calendar. Built to be read by everyone, on any device.
A visitor needs two things before Sunday
Someone thinking about visiting your church wants to know when you meet and how to find you, and they want to know what they're walking into. Most church sites hide the service time three clicks deep, if it's there at all. Steeple puts the time, the place, the directions, and a warm plan-your-visit page right where a newcomer looks first.
A look inside
Built for how a small church welcomes people
These are the pages a church site is judged on by a first-time visitor, ready before you add your own.
Plan your visit
The page that answers a newcomer's real questions: where to park, what to wear, how long it runs, what happens with the kids. This is the signature page of the theme.
Sermons
An archive built on plain WordPress posts, so your messages stay with you even if you ever change themes. Add audio, video, notes, or a full transcript.
Events
Service times, small groups, seasonal services, and one-off gatherings in a clear calendar, with structured data so they can surface in search.
Times and directions
Service times, the address, parking notes, and a map in one place, so a first-time visitor can actually find the door on Sunday morning.
On every screen
Looks right on a phone, where most visitors check the service time on their way out the door. The layout reflows instead of shrinking.
The page that matters most
Plan your visit is the signature page
For a small church, the whole website has one job: help a stranger feel ready to walk in. Steeple builds the plan-your-visit page around that, with room for parking, what to wear, service length, and what happens with children. It's the page a nervous first-timer reads on Saturday night, so it's the page the theme designs first.
Built for everyone
Readable for every age
A lot of your congregation is older, and a website they can't read is a door they can't open. Steeple meets WCAG 2.1 AA out of the box: real text sizes, strong contrast, keyboard-friendly navigation, and focus states you can see. It's accessibility as hospitality.
The difference
No page builder. That's the point.
Most church themes are built on Elementor or WPBakery. They load slowly, they bury your content in shortcodes, and they tie your site to a plugin you have to keep paying for and learning. If you ever switch themes, the site can fall apart.
Steeple is built natively for the WordPress block editor, the one already inside WordPress. Nothing extra to buy. Pages load fast because there's no builder weighing them down. Your content is stored as plain WordPress content, so it stays yours. The result is a site that's quicker for your visitors and simpler for you.
What's included
What you get
- The Steeple theme, ready to install through your WordPress dashboard
- 17 ready-made section patterns: hero, service times, plan-your-visit, sermon list, event list, leadership, beliefs, giving call-to-action, FAQ, contact, and more
- Full inner-page templates: plan-your-visit, sermon archive, single sermon, events calendar, about, and contact
- A giving page that links out to your platform (Tithely, Pushpay, Givelify, or Planning Center), so there's no payment plumbing to maintain
- One-click demo content, so you start from a finished-looking site instead of a blank page
- WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility, built in
- Self-hosted fonts and lean code for fast loads
- A clear README with step-by-step setup
- One year of updates and support
Made for small congregations
Steeple is for the church where a volunteer runs the website with no budget for a developer. If you have a WordPress site, or can get one on any standard host, this is built for you. You don't need to know how to code.
Two ways to do this
Two ways to get a church site that works
Buy the theme
$69, single site. Install it yourself, start from the patterns, and make it yours. Everything above.
Buy Steeple · $69Have it built for you
Prefer to hand it off? I build custom church sites and tailor this theme for congregations who'd rather not do it themselves. Fifteen years of front-end work, including sites for churches and small nonprofits.
Tell me about your churchPricing
Simple terms
- $69, one-time. One license covers one website.
- One year of updates and support from your purchase date. Updates by email through Gumroad.
- Support covers installation and configuration: —
- GNU GPL v2. After a year, the theme keeps working; updates and support end. No auto-renewal.
Questions
Common questions
- Do I need Elementor or a page builder?
- No. Steeple uses the block editor built into WordPress.
- Do I need to know how to code?
- No. Install through your dashboard, start from the patterns, and edit the normal WordPress way.
- Can I get it customized?
- Yes. That's what I do. Get in touch.
- What happens after a year?
- The theme keeps working. Updates and support end unless you buy again. No surprise charges.
Open the door before Sunday
Your website is the first welcome a visitor gets. Make it a warm one.