One of my most popular posts, 10 Best Church WordPress Themes, was written a couple of years ago and at the time I admitted to only being able to find 6 worthy of mention. Well theme designs for WordPress, like much of the web, has moved on in leaps and bounds. The newly created WordPress Driven Church site lists hundreds of churches using WordPress and some are onto their second or third theme.
There are many more themes available than there were a couple of years ago, and not only are there some much better designs out there, the backend of theme options and support has much improved with the increasing availability of Premium themes (ones you pay for). Installing and picking a theme is covered over on WordPress Driven Church, but I thought it was time for a new definitive list of WordPress themes that actually work for church applications.
So here are 15 of the best church WordPress themes currently in use by churches … (and yes I have included a couple of my own, which continue to be very popular).
Mu by LivingOS Theme Loom
See other churches using the Mu theme.
Arthemia by MichaelHutagalun
See other churches using this theme.
Boldy by Site5
See other churches using this theme.
Options Light by Theme Hybrid
See other churches using this theme.
Delta by LivingOS Theme Loom
See other churches using the Delta theme.
Avisio by kriesi
See other churches using the Avisio theme.
Minimal by Elegant Themes
See other churches using the Minimal theme.
Life by iThemes
See other churches using the Life theme.
Ocean Mist by Ed Merritt (available on wordpress.com)
See other churches using the Ocean Mist theme.
WP Church by The Molitor
See other churches using the WP Church theme.
Genesis – Church by StudioPress
See other churches using this theme.
WP Magazine by WP Magazine
See other churches using this theme.
WP Multiflex by ThemeLab
See other churches using this theme.
SimplePress by Elegant Themes
See other churches using this theme.
Atahualpa by bytesforall
See other churches using this theme.
Get Something Fresh and New
The best results in terms of design appeal will always be achieved with a custom theme, often based on one of the popular themes above. Just see the custom theme category in the WordPress Driven Church directory for evidence of this. Paying a theme designer to make a fresh theme for you, tailored to your own church using it’s logos and colours has many advantages and will generally produce better results.
I have done a number of themes, plugins and WordPress projects. If you would like a quotation for a custom theme, then get in touch.
Great list! I wish you’d posted it two months ago!
We just switched to the Boldy theme last month for our 10th Anniversary. It looks great and is pretty easy to get rolling with. (Yes, I submitted our church to the WordPress Driven Church directory!)
Yes, I think your new look is great. I have updated your entry in the directory.
Great list! I wish you’d posted it two months ago!
We just switched to the Boldy theme last month for our 10th Anniversary. It looks great and is pretty easy to get rolling with. (Yes, I submitted our church to the WordPress Driven Church directory!)
Yes, I think your new look is great. I have updated your entry in the directory.
Thanks for including our site in this list.
I love the unique sorting/filtering feature in the Avisio theme on the portfolio pages.
Check our Missions page as an example. So much better than post cards and yarn pointing to a map!
http://manorpresbyterian.com/missions/
Hi Curt, do you know what Manor is using to manage their calendar/events? I like the look and feel. Thank you.
Yes,
I use:
http://code.google.com/p/wpng-calendar/
Our church secretary and other ministry leaders populate a central google calendar with “public” events. Then I use this plugin to pull the google calendar events into the WP site.
You’re right, that is very nice. And it does make things much simpler when a theme is built to work in that particular way. I like that about various ElegantThemes themes.
Nice list, again!
I’ve actually been working with Headway theme lately and I really can’t imagine a nicer theme for working with church websites altogether, as it’s just so incredibly customizable. And the important thing, at least in my opinion, is that it can easily work with custom post types (hint: sermons and missions!).
http://headwaythemes.com/
I also happen to to find WPMU DEV’s theme’s incredibly useful for church websites that want church members to be able to communicate through the site using BuddyPress. I think it’s the best way to bring the congregation together on the net.
http://premium.wpmudev.org/buddypress-themes/
This is a very nice list here. I especially like that first one with the MU theme. Another one I would recommend is called ray of light by “orange themes”. It has everything you would ever want in a church theme (http://www.wpexplorer.com/ray-light-wordpress-theme.html)
Thanks for the link. Though I’m not sure about the claim it has “everything you would ever need”. I can think of several things that all church web sites require that this theme does not specifically include in its list of features.
Tim, I’ve recently launched a company called ChurchThemes where we are developing themes with features tailored to churches like sermons, people, locations, online giving, etc.
Would love and appreciate any feedback from you! Thanks.
http://churchthemes.net
//Frankie
This is a very nice list here. I especially like that first one with the MU theme. Another one I would recommend is called ray of light by “orange themes”. It has everything you would ever want in a church theme (http://www.wpexplorer.com/ray-light-wordpress-theme.html)
Thanks for the great list. We’re going to be using one of themes for our site redesign. Thanks again and God bless.
Thanks for the great list. We’re going to be using one of themes for our site redesign. Thanks again and God bless.
You’re right, that is very nice. And it does make things much simpler when a theme is built to work in that particular way. I like that about various ElegantThemes themes.
Tim, I’ve recently launched a company called ChurchThemes where we are developing themes with features tailored to churches like sermons, people, locations, online giving, etc.
Would love and appreciate any feedback from you! Thanks.
http://churchthemes.net
//Frankie