Latest Changes

March 31, 2026

Share Events Anywhere: Smarter Calendars and Embed Superpowers

This week brought some of the most request-heavy features we’ve shipped in months. Your team asked for ways to get events into Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, and Outlook — and to easily import events from other systems. They wanted to embed forms and pages on external websites. And they wanted even more power from the design system. We delivered all of it.

Whether you’re connecting your church’s calendar to every platform your members use, importing event data seamlessly, embedding your engagement tools across the web, or designing with more flexibility than ever, this update is built for a church that lives everywhere.

Here’s what’s new since our last update.

## Get Your Church Calendar Everywhere

**What changed:** Your events now sync to Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Outlook, and any other calendar app that uses iCal feeds. From a single settings page, team members can subscribe to your church’s calendar with one click, or download events for import into their existing systems.

**Why it matters:** Your members live in their calendars — Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Outlook, their phone’s native app. Asking them to visit your website to check when small groups meet or when the next all-church gathering happens creates friction. Now your events show up right where they already are.

You control what’s shared:

– Generate a public iCal feed URL that members can paste into their calendar app
– Provide download links for Google, Apple, and Outlook with pre-configured import settings
– Switch between Month view and List view so visitors see your calendar in whatever format makes sense for them
– Events appear with all their details — time, location, description, links — ready to go

**Pro tip:** Add the calendar subscription link to your homepage or include it in every email announcement. Members appreciate the convenience, and it keeps your events top-of-mind throughout the week.

## Import Events from Anywhere

**What changed:** You can now import events from other systems — spreadsheets, Eventbrite exports, calendar files from your old platform, anywhere that generates an ICS file. Upload the file, and Digital Church converts it into editable Event posts you manage going forward.

**Why it matters:** Migrating from another platform or consolidating events from multiple sources used to mean either re-entering everything by hand or working with developer support. Now it’s a one-time upload that creates everything you need.

The import tool creates Events as full Digital Church posts, so you can:

– Edit and refine each imported event before publishing
– Add custom fields like ministry tags or team assignments
– Publish immediately or schedule for later
– Delete what doesn’t apply without affecting your live site

**Pro tip:** If you’re planning a seasonal event series (VBS, Christmas events, conferences), build a template event, export it as ICS, then customize and re-import for the next year.

## Embed Your Forms and Pages Everywhere

**What changed:** We’ve built a new Embed Generator tool that creates iframe code for any page or form on your site. Paste that code into your website, a community forum, or even external platforms, and your Digital Church content appears embedded and fully functional.

**Why it matters:** Your forms and pages are powerful — sign-ups, prayer requests, volunteer applications, event registrations. You want to reach people wherever they gather online, not just on your church website.

Now you can embed:

– Registration forms on external event sites or community boards
– Prayer request forms in Facebook groups or member portals
– Volunteer signup sheets on partner organization websites
– Event listings on denominational sites or community calendars
– Lead magnets on third-party platforms that your team uses

The embed tool generates secure iframe code with all the styling and interactivity intact. Your form submissions flow directly into Digital Church, and responses sync back to your data.

**Pro tip:** Use embeds to expand your reach in places members already gather — partner websites, community groups, association sites. It’s like having your signup form everywhere at once.

## Event Pages Look Better, Work Better

**What changed:** Event detail pages received a layout refresh with cleaner headers, smarter date formatting that handles time zones properly, and URL routing that keeps everything intuitive whether someone’s viewing a specific occurrence or browsing upcoming events.

**Why it matters:** Event pages are often the first real impression someone gets of your church’s digital presence. Whether they’re looking at a Sunday service, a small group meeting, or a special event, you want them to see clearly organized information with zero confusion about dates and times.

The improvements ensure:

– Single events show prominent, easy-to-read details with no wasted space
– Date and time displays account for time zones so distant members see the right information
– Navigation between occurrences feels natural and intuitive
– URLs are clean and shareable whether you’re linking to a specific date or a recurring series

**Pro tip:** Test your event pages on a phone. The new layout shines on mobile where space is tight and clarity is everything.

## Campaign Featured Images and Permalinks, Your Way

**What changed:** Campaign posts (announcements, promotions, seasonal pushes) now let you customize the featured image and set a custom permalink. You’re no longer locked into system defaults.

**Why it matters:** Sometimes you want a campaign to have a specific look or memorable URL. Maybe you’re running a stewardship push with a special graphic, or a ministry highlight that deserves its own branded image. Custom permalinks make campaigns easier to share in print materials and emails where you need memorable, short URLs.

You can now:

– Upload a custom featured image unique to each campaign
– Set a clean, memorable permalink like `/campaigns/easter-2026` instead of the default
– Keep consistent branding across your promotional materials

## Design System Gets Even Smarter

**What changed:** We’ve added backdrop filters and text-width utility classes to the design system, giving your design team more precise control without touching code.

**Why it matters:** Good design isn’t just about how things look — it’s about fine-tuning the experience. Backdrop filters let you create blurred glass effects and layered visuals that feel modern and intentional. Text-width classes let you control line length for readability without custom CSS, so long-form content stays comfortable to read.

These tools are built into the Page Builder, so your whole team can use them:

– Blur backgrounds behind text overlays for better readability
– Create frosted glass effects for sophisticated layering
– Set optimal line lengths so articles and ministry writing feel polished
– Layer content precisely without guessing at spacing

**Pro tip:** Use backdrop filters sparingly for maximum impact — a blurred background behind a call-to-action button, or a frosted glass effect on an overlay. Subtle goes a long way.

## Under the Hood

We’ve squashed several bugs that kept the system running smoothly:

– Fixed AppPresser API integration so your mobile experience stays in sync with the web version
– Corrected the Google Calendar subscribe link generation so subscriptions work on the first try
– Resolved iCal feed caching issues so new events appear in subscribed calendars promptly
– Cleaned up calendar overflow on month views so your full event list displays properly

Everything’s working faster and more reliably than before, so your team can focus on ministry instead of wrestling with technical hiccups.

—

Digital Church keeps expanding because your church keeps reaching further. Whether you’re connecting events to every calendar your members use, embedding your team’s work across the web, or designing with new precision, you’re building tools that serve ministry at scale.

Have questions about subscribing to your calendar, embedding forms, or importing events? Reach out to support@digitalchurch.com — we’re here to help you get the most out of these new capabilities.

March 23, 2026

AI Agent Arrives, Smarter Recurring Events, and Design Powerhouse Upgrades

The future of church tech just got a whole lot smarter. Over the past two weeks, we’ve launched our first AI beta feature, completely transformed how recurring events work, and delivered a massive design upgrade that puts enterprise-level tools in your hands. Plus, we’ve automated behind-the-scenes maintenance so your site stays lightning-fast without you thinking about it.

Whether you’re planning recurring small group meetings, designing beautiful layouts with reusable components, or experimenting with AI assistance for your ministry, this update puts powerful new capabilities at your fingertips.

Here’s what’s new since our last update.

Your Personal Ministry AI Assistant (Beta)

What changed: Digital Church AI is here. Churches can now enable our beta AI agent from Settings → Features, unlocking a ChatGPT-style chat interface that understands your church’s unique voice and ministry context.

Why it matters: Every church has questions only they can answer — about their community, their programs, their vision. But finding the right words, crafting the perfect announcement, or brainstorming fresh ideas can eat up precious time. Our AI agent learns your church’s voice and helps you think through ministry challenges, write compelling content, and explore new possibilities.

The AI appears in your admin menu when enabled, offering a clean chat interface where you can:

Draft announcements and communications in your church’s voice
Brainstorm new ministry ideas or program improvements
Get help with website copy that reflects your church’s personality
Ask questions about church tech best practices

Everything happens right in your Digital Church admin area — no external accounts, no copying and pasting between tools, no learning curve. Just natural conversation that helps you think through ministry decisions with an assistant that gets your context.

Pro tip: Start with simple requests like “Help me write a welcome message for first-time visitors” or “What are some creative ways to promote our small groups?” The AI learns your church’s tone as you interact with it.

Recurring Events That Actually Make Sense

What changed: Recurring events now work like real events. Each occurrence gets its own shareable URL, proper calendar integration, and smart navigation that makes it easy for your congregation to bookmark and return to specific meetings.

Why it matters: Before this update, recurring events were functional but not intuitive. If someone wanted to bookmark your Wednesday night prayer meeting or share the link to this month’s leadership meeting, they couldn’t — recurring events only had one generic URL that always showed “the next” occurrence.

Now each occurrence gets its own URL like /events/prayer-night/?occurrence=2026-03-12 that you can share, bookmark, and link to directly. Your members can save the specific small group meeting they’re interested in, and the link will always take them to the right date and details.

The system is smart enough to know when you need occurrence-specific links and when you don’t. Single events and “next occurrence” links use clean URLs without extra parameters, while specific past or future occurrences get the detailed links.

Your events calendar now includes enhanced data attributes that let the frontend JavaScript handle these URLs smoothly, so everything feels seamless from your congregation’s perspective.

Pro tip: Use this for small group schedules, recurring classes, or monthly meetings where people need to reference specific dates. The URLs are clean enough to include in printed materials or text messages.

Design Components That Change Everything

What changed: Page Builder just received its biggest upgrade ever with the introduction of Components — think of them as smart, reusable design elements that you can customize for each page while maintaining a consistent structure across your site.

Why it matters: Until now, creating consistent designs across your website meant either copying and pasting layouts (and hoping you remembered to update every copy when something changed) or building everything from scratch each time. Components solve this completely.

Here’s how they work: You create a component once — say, a team member spotlight with photo, bio, and contact info. Then you can use that component anywhere on your site, but customize the content for each person. When you update the component’s design, it updates everywhere you’ve used it, but the individual content (photos, names, bios) stays unique to each page.

The update includes:

60+ new Box module templates including Bento Grid layouts, hero sections, call-to-action blocks, team profiles, and testimonials
Star Rating module perfect for testimonials, ministry spotlights, or highlighting community feedback
Copy & Paste in Outline Panel — right-click any element to copy its settings and paste them anywhere
Box Module improvements with global row spacing and grid guidelines that make alignment effortless
Enhanced Button Module with responsive border colors, custom widths, and better color controls

Plus major accessibility upgrades across Accordion, Content Slider, Gallery, Posts, Menu, Testimonials, and Tabs modules with improved keyboard navigation and screen reader support.

Pro tip: Start with team profiles or testimonial components. Create one perfect layout, then use it across multiple pages with different content. When you want to update the design later, change the component once and watch it update everywhere.

Behind-the-Scenes Performance Boosts

What changed: We’ve automated cache management so your site stays fast without you thinking about it. When we deploy updates, your site’s cache clears automatically, ensuring you always see the latest features and fixes.

Why it matters: Website caching makes your pages load faster, but it can also mean you don’t see changes immediately after we ship updates. Our new automation strikes the perfect balance — you get the speed benefits of caching with the confidence that updates appear when they should.

The system includes multiple integration options including automated post-deployment scripts, webhook handlers for direct GitHub integration, and REST API endpoints for custom integrations. Everything is secured with auto-generated API keys and request validation.

We’ve also streamlined the update process so critical fixes and new features reach your site more reliably, with comprehensive logging so we can spot and resolve any hiccups quickly.

Pro tip: You don’t need to do anything — this all happens automatically. But if you ever feel like something should have updated but didn’t, a quick message to support can help us verify everything’s running smoothly.

Digital Church keeps evolving because you keep growing. Whether you’re experimenting with AI assistance, creating more engaging recurring events, or designing beautiful pages with powerful new components, we’re building the tools that help your ministry thrive online.

Have feedback on the AI agent beta or ideas for what it should learn to do next? We’d love to hear from you at support@digitalchurch.com — your input shapes what we build.

v5.5.72February 23, 2026

Prayer Requests, Giving Campaigns, and Apple Maps Everywhere

This has been one of our biggest development sprints ever. Over the past two weeks, we've shipped a completely rebuilt prayer request system with a social-media-style feed, a full giving campaign manager with goals and progress tracking, beautiful single-page templates for five different content types, and Apple Maps integration across your entire site. There's also a new family directory with dedicated family pages, plus a wave of Page Builder modules that make it easier than ever to customize your site.

Here's what's new since our last update.

A Prayer Wall Your Congregation Will Actually Use

What changed: Prayer Requests has been completely rebuilt from the ground up with a Twitter-style card layout, heart buttons, and encouragement comments.

Why it matters: The old prayer request system worked, but it felt more like a contact form than a community feature. The new design transforms it into something people genuinely want to engage with.

When members submit a prayer request, it appears in a beautiful card layout with their avatar (or initials), a relative timestamp ("2 hours ago"), and a heart button others can tap to show they're praying. The heart animates when you tap it — a small touch that makes the interaction feel meaningful. Each request can also receive encouragement comments from other members.

The whole experience is designed for both desktop and mobile, with infinite scroll so the feed loads naturally as visitors browse. Privacy is built in: only first names and last initials are shown publicly, and IP addresses are hashed for anonymous prayer tracking.

You control everything from Settings → Prayer Requests:

Choose whether new requests need moderation before appearing
Allow or disallow anonymous submissions
Enable or disable comments
Set character limits

You can embed the prayer feed anywhere using the `[prayer_feed]` shortcode, or add a standalone submission form with `[prayer_request_form]`.

Pro tip: Enable the Prayer Requests feature from Settings → Features, then customize your archive permalink. The default is `/prayer/`, but you can change it to match your church's language — `/prayer-wall/`, `/praises/`, whatever fits your community.

Giving Campaigns with Goals and Progress Bars

What changed: A brand-new Campaigns system lets you create fundraising initiatives with goal amounts, progress tracking, and beautiful frontend pages.

Why it matters: Whether you're raising funds for a building project, a mission trip, or a "Wreck the Roof" style emergency repair, you can now showcase the campaign on your website with a clear goal, progress bar, and days remaining countdown.

Each campaign gets its own page with:

A hero image that sets the tone
A sidebar showing progress toward the goal
The amount raised (if you choose to display it)
A prominent "Give" button that connects to your giving provider

The archive page shows all your campaigns in a filterable grid — visitors can browse active campaigns, see what's coming soon, or view completed initiatives. Status badges keep everything clear at a glance.

Campaigns work with any giving provider you already use. Connect your existing forms, embed a third-party giving widget, or link to Planning Center, Tithe.ly, or any custom URL. You can also toggle whether to show the progress bar, display specific amounts, or keep things more general.

Pro tip: Use the new Campaigns Page Builder module to drop a campaign grid anywhere on your site — perfect for a giving landing page or homepage feature section.

Apple Maps Across Your Entire Site

What changed: Events, Locations, and Groups now all use Apple MapKit for beautiful, interactive maps with autocomplete address entry.

Why it matters: Adding locations to your content just got dramatically easier. When you enter an address, suggestions appear as you type — powered by Apple Maps search. Select the right one, and coordinates are saved automatically. No more copy-pasting from Google Maps or manually entering latitude/longitude.

Here's what this looks like across your site:

Events: A new Venue field lets you either select from your existing Locations or enter a custom venue. Either way, you get a 64×64 Apple Maps thumbnail right in the event header that links directly to driving directions. The full address displays cleanly: venue name (bold), street address, city/state/zip.

Locations: The locations archive now features a Google Maps-style layout with a scrollable sidebar on the left and a full-bleed map on the right. Click a location in the sidebar, and the map centers on it. Click a marker, and the sidebar highlights that location. It's intuitive, fast, and looks professional.

Groups: The groups archive includes a Map tab alongside the List tab. The map shows all groups that have locations set, making it easy for visitors to find small groups near them.

Pro tip: The map is lazy-loaded on the Groups archive — it only loads when someone clicks the Map tab, keeping your List view fast by default.

Dedicated Family Pages

What changed: Your People Directory now includes individual family pages with full household details.

Why it matters: When visitors click a family card in your directory, they now land on a dedicated family page showing the family photo, address, anniversary, and cards for each family member — complete with birthdays, phone numbers, and email (respecting your privacy settings, of course).

This makes your directory feel more like a real community tool. Staff can quickly look up a family's information, and members can see how households connect.

The family archive itself got smarter too: it now uses the family photo as the main card image and filters out single-person entries (only families with 2+ members appear). The CSV import also got an upgrade — you can now include `family_id` and `family_role` columns to automatically create household relationships during import.

Beautiful Single-Page Templates

What changed: Five content types — Sermons, Teams, Groups, Locations, and Resources — now have custom single-page templates with consistent, polished designs.

Why it matters: These pages used to rely on your theme's default single template, which often felt generic. Now each content type has a purpose-built layout that showcases your content beautifully:

Sermons: Hero with series badge, video or audio player, download buttons for notes and study guides, speaker card, and navigation to browse other sermons in the series
Teams: Hero, team positions with member cards, team admin info, requirements, and downloadable files
Groups: Hero, video embed, leaders grid, Apple Maps with directions, join button, attributes list, and session dates
Locations: Hero, Apple Maps with directions link, service times, contact info, and full address
Resources: Hero, download button with authentication redirect support, and a related resources grid

Every template is responsive and matches your site's design system. No extra configuration needed — they just work.

Page Builder Modules for Everything

What changed: Eight new Page Builder modules let you drop archives and content blocks anywhere on your site.

Why it matters: Until now, many of these content types only worked on their archive pages. Now you can embed them anywhere — a homepage, a landing page, a custom ministry page — with full control over the layout.

New modules include:

Live Stream: Embed your live player with tabs (Notes, Connect, Chat, Give, Bible, Events), countdown timer, and live badge
Campaigns Archive: Display your fundraising campaigns in a grid with status filtering
Sermons Archive: Show sermons or series in 2/3/4 column grids, or feature the latest sermon with embedded video
Groups Archive: Drop the full groups grid (with map toggle) anywhere
Locations Archive: Embed the sidebar + map layout
Teams Archive: Display your teams grid with column and layout options
Resources Archive: Showcase downloadable resources in a book-cover style grid

Each module includes column controls (2, 3, or 4), grid vs. list layout options, and show/hide toggles for specific elements.

Pro tip: Combine the Sermons module in "Latest Sermon" mode with your Live Stream module to build a complete watch page without writing any code.

Under the Hood

We've also shipped dozens of smaller improvements that keep your site running smoothly:

Performance: Tab navigation components now use keyboard accessibility, ARIA labels, and URL syncing so visitors can bookmark specific views
Giving flexibility: Core giving features (settings, shortcodes, form integrations) now load independently of the Campaigns feature — you can use giving without campaigns if you prefer
Import power: The People CSV import now supports birthday and anniversary fields, plus automatic family linking via family_id columns
Archive polish: People archive now shows 24 entries per page (up from 12), sorted alphabetically by last name
Editor improvements: Campaign editor panels are reordered to put the most-used settings at the top
Video utilities: New CSS classes let you add rounded corners to any embedded video

As always, these changes roll out automatically — your site is already running the latest version.

We'd love to hear how you're using these new features. If you've set up a prayer wall, launched a campaign, or customized your site with the new Page Builder modules, let us know. Your feedback shapes what we build next.

5.5.54February 14, 2026

Tabbed Navigation, Teams Archives, and Polish Everywhere

The first week of February brought some of our biggest interface improvements yet. We’ve reimagined how visitors browse your people and teams pages, added powerful new ways to showcase your ministry structure, and tightened up authentication controls. There’s a lot to love in this batch of updates.

Here’s what’s new since our last update.

Navigate Your Team with Tabs

What changed: People archive pages now feature a sleek tabbed navigation system with three views: People, Families, and Search.

Why it matters: When a visitor lands on your people page, they might be looking for a specific staff member, curious about your pastoral families, or just browsing to get a feel for your church community. Now they can navigate between these views with a single click.

The People tab displays a clean six-column grid of everyone on your team — complete with headshots, names, and their roles. The Families tab groups your people by household, showing the head of household, spouse, and children together on a single card. And the Search tab lets visitors find exactly who they’re looking for by name.

The navigation includes a smooth sliding indicator that follows your cursor, keyboard accessibility for visitors using screen readers, and remembers which tab you were on if you navigate away and come back. It’s the kind of polish that makes a site feel modern and intentional.

Pro tip: The people archive now loads 24 entries per page (up from 12) and sorts alphabetically by last name — making it easier for visitors to find exactly who they’re looking for.

Showcase Your Ministry Teams

What changed: A brand-new Teams archive displays all your ministry teams in a beautiful card layout, complete with leader avatars, member counts, and optional featured images.

Why it matters: Your church is full of teams — worship, hospitality, children’s ministry, outreach, small group leaders. Now you can showcase that volunteer infrastructure to visitors considering getting involved.

Each team card shows:

An optional featured image (when you’ve set one)
Overlapping avatar photos of your team leaders
The total member count
A clean, clickable link to the full team page

The cards look complete even when you haven’t uploaded a featured image — no awkward blank spaces. And if you want to hide certain internal teams from the public archive, a simple toggle in the team settings keeps them private.

Use the Page Builder module to drop a Teams grid anywhere on your site, or use the [teams] shortcode for quick placement. Both support layout options: choose between 2, 3, or 4 columns, and switch between grid and list views to match your design.

Pro tip: Team cards now use a 16:9 aspect ratio for featured images, which means landscape photos look great without awkward cropping.

Registration Controls That Work

What changed: The login and registration forms now respect your site’s registration settings — if you’ve disabled new user signups in WordPress, visitors will see a friendly message instead of a registration form.

Why it matters: Some churches want anyone to create an account and access the member portal. Others prefer to add members manually. Now your authentication forms match your intent.

If a visitor tries to sign in with an email address that isn’t in your system and registration is disabled, they’ll see a clear message explaining they need to contact the church to get access. No confusion, no dead ends — just clear communication.

This applies everywhere: the magic link flow, the email verification step, and the registration form itself. Defense in depth, so your member management stays exactly how you want it.

Better Team Card Layouts

What changed: Team cards display member counts only when there are actual members assigned — and featured images use a consistent 16:9 aspect ratio.

Why it matters: The little things add up. Seeing “0 members” on a new team that hasn’t been staffed yet looks unfinished. Now those empty counts are simply hidden until you’ve assigned people.

And those featured images on team cards? They now maintain a 16:9 aspect ratio instead of a fixed height, which means your landscape photos (and most ministry photos are landscape) display beautifully without awkward letterboxing or cropping.

Under the Hood

We’ve added server-side error tracking to help us catch and fix issues before they affect your site. When something goes wrong, we know about it — often before you do. This month we identified and fixed several edge cases that could cause display issues when posts were deleted or data was incomplete.

The Page Builder’s internal components got some reorganization to prevent naming conflicts, and we’ve refined how tab navigation interacts with different page types to ensure it only appears where it belongs.

All of this runs quietly in the background, keeping your site stable while you focus on ministry.

These updates represent our ongoing commitment to making Digital Church feel polished, modern, and ministry-ready. We’re building tools that serve your church — not just with features, but with the kind of attention to detail that makes technology disappear into the background.

Have thoughts on these updates? We’d love to hear from you. Reach out to support@digitalchurch.com — we read every email.

5.5.43February 1, 2026

Connect with Anyone, Events That Sync, and Search That Actually Works

The last ten days of January were busy. Really busy. We shipped 27 updates to Digital Church — and while some of those were behind-the-scenes housekeeping, the majority are things you’ll see, use, and (we hope) love. From syncing your Google Calendar events straight to your website, to letting visitors connect with your church through the tools you already use, this batch of updates touches almost every corner of your site.

Here’s what’s new since our last update.

Your Calendar, Your Website — Finally in Sync

What changed: You can now import events directly from Google Calendar, Outlook, or any calendar that offers an ICS feed. Recurring events are fully supported, including weekly services, monthly meetings, and everything in between.

Why it matters: If your church is like most, your events live in Google Calendar (or Outlook, or Planning Center’s calendar). Now your website can stay perfectly in sync — automatically.

With the new ICS Feed Import, you point Digital Church at your calendar’s ICS feed URL, and we handle the rest. Events are automatically pulled in every 15 minutes. New events appear on your site. Canceled events disappear. Changed details get updated. Your website always reflects what’s actually happening at your church — no extra work required.

And here’s the part that really matters for churches with regular programming: recurring events just work. Your weekly Sunday service, your Wednesday night Bible study, your monthly potluck — they all get expanded into individual events on your calendar automatically. We handle the complex recurrence rules (weekly, daily, monthly, yearly) so you don’t have to think about them. If you reschedule one specific instance of a recurring event, we catch that too.

Set it up once under Settings → Events, and your event page stays current on autopilot.

Pro tip: You can add multiple feeds — one for your main church calendar, one for your youth ministry, one for your women’s group. Each feed gets its own category, so visitors can filter by ministry.

Events That Look as Good as They Work

What changed: Event pages now display featured images, beautifully formatted dates and times, correct timezone information, and SEO settings for better search visibility.

Why it matters: Having events on your website is one thing. Having them look professional is another.

Now when someone lands on an event page, they see:

A featured image right at the top — perfect for promoting that retreat, concert, or VBS with eye-catching visuals
Clearly formatted dates and times — “Sunday, February 8th, 2026 from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM” instead of raw timestamps
Accurate timezone display — times show in your church’s timezone, not some confusing UTC offset

These seem like small details, but they add up to a page that feels polished and trustworthy. When a first-time visitor checks your event page to see if they want to show up Sunday, you want that page to make a great impression.

We also added search engine integration for events, so you can now control how your events appear in Google search results. Find the toggle under Settings → Events → Search Engine Settings.

Connect with Anyone, Anywhere

What changed: Connect Cards and form modules now support Elexio and Planning Center forms alongside Digital Church’s built-in forms. Choose your provider, drop it on a page, and you’re done.

Why it matters: Your church probably didn’t start using Digital Church in a vacuum. You might have years of data in Planning Center. Your giving might flow through Elexio. Your volunteer signups might live in Church Center.

We get it — and we don’t think you should have to abandon those tools to have a great website.

Now, anywhere you use a form on your site — Connect Cards, Page Builder form modules, contact pages — you can choose which system powers it:

Digital Church (our built-in forms) for forms you want to manage right from your dashboard
Planning Center for forms that feed directly into Church Center, opening in a clean modal popup
Elexio for forms that embed inline from your MinistryForms account

This works in two places:

1. Connect Cards — when you set a card’s call-to-action to “Form,” you’ll now see a provider dropdown. Pick your system, enter your form ID or URL, and the right embed appears automatically.
2. Page Builder Form Module — the same provider choice is available when building custom pages. One dropdown, three options, zero hassle.

Existing forms keep working exactly as they did. This is purely additive — more options, no disruption.

Pro tip: Using Planning Center for visitor follow-up? Set your main Connect Card to use a Planning Center form, and new visitor info flows straight into your People database without any manual entry.

Team Members, Meet the World

What changed: There’s a brand-new Team Members module for the Page Builder, plus improvements to team photos and the Families tab on your People page.

Why it matters: Your team page is one of the most visited pages on your church website. Visitors want to see who they’ll meet on Sunday. They want to put faces to names. And now, building that page is easier than ever.

The new Team Members module for the Page Builder lets you showcase your staff and volunteers with a polished, visual layout. Drag it onto any page, and it pulls directly from your People directory — no need to duplicate information or manage photos in two places.

Team member photos now display beautifully, and your styles always load fresh so your latest changes show up right away.

One more thing: if you’re using the People page with family groupings, the Families tab is back and working properly. It’s now fully built out and ready to go.

Go Live with Confidence

What changed: The new Live Badge shortcode lets you show a “LIVE” indicator anywhere on your site, and it now works reliably with multiple badges on the same page.

Why it matters: When your church goes live for a Sunday service or special event, you want visitors to know immediately. The new

LIVE

shortcode gives you a visual indicator that you can place in your header, on your homepage, on your livestream page — anywhere you want.

Here’s how it works: the badge is hidden by default. When your livestream goes live, it automatically appears with a pulsing “LIVE” indicator. When the stream ends, it disappears. No manual toggling needed.

We shipped a few quick refinements right after launch to make sure the badge plays nicely with every theme — proper styling that won’t get overridden by your theme’s CSS, and correct behavior when you place multiple badges on the same page (like one in the header and one in your content area). They all show up when you’re live, and they all hide when you’re not.

Pro tip: Put a live badge in your site header so it’s visible on every page. Visitors browsing your sermon archive might not know you’re streaming right now — but they will if there’s a little red “LIVE” badge catching their eye.

YouTube and Sermons, Polished Up

What changed: YouTube thumbnails load reliably now, autopublished sermons pull in full video descriptions, and the sermon archive got some visual cleanup.

Why it matters: If you’re using YouTube autopublish (and you should be — it’s a huge time-saver), these fixes make the experience smoother for both you and your visitors.

Smarter thumbnails: Video thumbnails now use the best available resolution automatically, with a smart fallback system that always finds a great-looking image. Every sermon on your page gets a sharp, professional thumbnail.

Full descriptions: When we autopublish a sermon from YouTube, we now pull the complete video description. If you write detailed sermon notes, scripture references, or discussion questions in your YouTube descriptions, all of that now makes it to your website.

Cleaner sermon archive: We tidied up some visual inconsistencies on the sermon archive page — better button styling and proper rounded corners on lazy-loaded video containers. Small details, but they make the page feel more polished.

People Pages That Make a Great First Impression

What changed: Person contact forms are now polished and rock-solid, and avatar images are perfectly spaced on every page layout.

Why it matters: Your staff and volunteer pages are often the first place a visitor goes to learn about your church’s leadership. When someone clicks on a pastor’s profile and wants to reach out, the experience should be seamless.

The person contact form now features:

Reliable delivery. Messages go through every time, rock-solid.
Clean layout. The form is properly aligned with the rest of the page — looks great on every screen size.
Built-in security. The recipient’s email is looked up on the server, not exposed in the page source. A honeypot field catches spam bots. And after sending, the page redirects cleanly so refreshing won’t accidentally send the message twice.

Avatar images also look great on every page now — proper spacing whether the person has a cover photo or not. Every profile page feels intentional and polished.

Search That Actually Finds Things

What changed: When someone searches your site, they’ll now find your Events page, Sermons page, Groups page, and other section landing pages — not just individual posts.

Why it matters: When a visitor types “events” into your site’s search bar, they should find your events page. Now they do.

When someone searches for “events,” your Events page appears right at the top. Same for “sermons,” “groups,” or any other content section on your site. The matching is smart — searching “event” will find “Events” and vice versa. It works automatically for every content type on your site, current and future.

No configuration needed. It just works the way your visitors always expected it to.

That’s everything from the last week and a half of January. Twenty-seven updates, seven themes, and a whole lot of improvements to how your church shows up online. Whether you’re syncing calendars, connecting visitors to your ChMS, or just making sure search works like it should — your site got better this week.

As always, if you run into anything unexpected or have questions about these new features, we’re just a support message away. We love hearing how you’re using these tools in your ministry.

Here’s to a fantastic February! 🎉

5.5.16January 20, 2026

New Year, New Features (And a Few Behind-the-Scenes Superpowers)

We’ve kicked off 2026 with a batch of updates that make Digital Church easier to use, more flexible, and just a bit more delightful. Some of these changes you’ll notice immediately. Others work quietly behind the scenes, making sure everything runs smoothly so you can focus on ministry.

Here’s what’s new since our last update.

Take Control with the Features Page

What changed: We added a brand-new Settings → Features page that gives you direct control over which content modules are active on your site.

Why it matters: Not every church needs every feature. Maybe you don’t use Stories, or you’re not ready for Groups yet. Now you’re in charge.

With the new Features page, you can toggle Sermons, Groups, Teams, Resources, Stories, Announcements, Events, Locations, and Connect Cards on or off with a single click. When you disable a feature, it’s truly disabled—no menu items, no archive pages, no confusion. Your content stays safely in the database (we’d never delete your work), but it’s tucked away until you need it.

Pro tip: When you first visit the Features page, we’ve automatically detected which features you’re actually using based on whether you have posts in those sections. No setup required.

Share the Love with Social Buttons

What changed: We built a new


        Share this content

shortcode that adds beautiful social sharing buttons to any page or post.

Why it matters: When someone reads a powerful sermon recap or inspiring blog post, you want them to share it. The easier you make that, the more likely it happens.

Our new social share buttons support Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Bluesky, LinkedIn, and Email. Each button uses the platform’s official brand colors by default, creating a polished, recognizable look. Drop the shortcode anywhere, and you’re done.

How to use it:

Basic: Share this content — shows all networks
Selective: Share this content — pick your favorites
Custom colors: Share this content — match your brand

A Fresh Look for Connect Cards

What changed: The Connect Cards archive got a complete visual overhaul with a modern card-based design.

Why it matters: Your “Connect” page is often where visitors take their first real step toward engagement. It should feel inviting — and now it does.

The new design features:

Glassmorphism effect — cards have a subtle blurred backdrop that looks great on any background
Background images — each card showcases its cover photo beautifully
Responsive grid — looks great on phones, tablets, and desktops
Smart redirects — if a card is set to redirect somewhere, it goes directly there (no extra clicks)

If you’re using Connect Cards, you’ll see this automatically. No action needed on your part.

Vimeo Joins the Autopublish Party

What changed: You can now automatically import sermons from Vimeo, just like you could with YouTube.

Why it matters: Some churches prefer Vimeo for its cleaner viewing experience and better privacy controls. Now, Vimeo-powered sermon posts can be created automatically — saving your team time every single week.

Connect your Vimeo account, point us at a folder or showcase, and we’ll handle the rest:

Videos are imported automatically every 4 hours
Thumbnails are downloaded and attached as featured images
Smart filtering skips private videos, Vimeo Live events, and anything under 60 seconds
Duplicate detection means we’ll never import the same video twice

Find it under Settings → Sermons → Vimeo tab.

Login That Actually Makes Sense

What changed: Magic link redirects now take you back where you started.

Why it matters: Here’s the experience now: You’re reading a sermon page, click “Log In” to leave a comment, receive your magic link, click it, and land right back on the sermon you were reading. Seamless.

If you happened to be on the login page itself, we’ll take you to the homepage instead. It’s a small detail, but it makes the whole login flow feel polished and intentional.

A Cleaner Admin Menu

What changed: We merged the Pages menu into the Page Builder menu and moved it to the top of your admin sidebar.

Why it matters: “Pages” now sits right at the top of your menu, right after the Dashboard. Everything you need to create and edit pages is in one logical place.

The old “Builder” menu is now called “Pages” and includes quick links to All Pages, Add New Page, and your saved templates.

Under the Hood: Security and Stability

We also shipped some important security improvements to our authentication system. Without getting too technical, we tightened up how login requests are validated, added better logging for troubleshooting, and fixed an edge case that could cause issues with magic link emails.

You won’t see these changes directly, but they’re working hard to keep your site (and your members’ data) safe.

That’s the roundup for January 2026. As always, if you run into any issues or have questions about these new features, just reach out through the support chat. We’re here to help.

Here’s to a great year of ministry ahead!

5.0.10June 16, 2025

What’s New? Recent Updates, Fresh Features & Friendly Fixes

We’ve been hard at work making your website smoother, smarter, and a little more fun to use. Here’s a quick tour of what’s changed lately:

👥 People & Team Pages

Show off your team in style!

There’s a brand new way to add people to your pages. Our updated page builder now includes a custom “person” module, so you can easily create beautiful staff or team sections. Click on a team member’s name and—voilà—a modern, React-powered popup with their bio appears. Plus, we’ve added simple classes to align text left or right, and made it easier than ever to have those perfectly circular profile pictures. Your About page just leveled up. These changes are still in development, so you’ll see the final product coming soon.

📢 Announcements

Announcements only when you need them.

We’ve streamlined how announcements work behind the scenes. Now, the announcements feature only loads if you’re actually using it—meaning a faster, lighter site for everyone else. And if you have multiple announcement bars running, they’ll now all be the same height, so your site looks neat and tidy (no more lopsided banners!).

🎨 Design & Identity

A fresh look and easier customization.

We’ve introduced a new identity settings area, so you can control your site’s appearance and branding all in one place. The admin area got a little facelift too, with improved spacing, fonts, and more. And while we temporarily removed dark mode (it’s getting a makeover), you can expect it back soon—looking better than ever.

🏗️ Performance & Compatibility

Faster, smarter, more compatible.

We’ve made a bunch of improvements under the hood:

The site loads less code when features aren’t being used.
We’ve added support for older themes like Avada, so your classic sites keep running smoothly.
Our plugin and theme updates are now even more robust, with better handling for staging sites and subdomains.

🤖 AI & Code Maintainability

Building for the future.

We’re reorganizing our code and documentation to play nicely with AI tools. This means faster improvements, easier troubleshooting, and more helpful features coming your way.

🛠️ And Lots of Little Fixes

From improved podcast publishing to smarter event imports, and a whole host of plugin and theme updates, we’re always working to keep your website running at its best.

As always, if you notice anything odd or have ideas for new features, let us know! We love making things better for you.

5.2.0August 26, 2025

Introducing People Import

As churches grow and evolve, managing your team information shouldn’t feel like a chore. Whether you’re migrating from another platform, onboarding a large volunteer team, or simply need to update dozens of staff profiles, we’ve all been there—staring at a spreadsheet wondering if there’s a better way.

Today, we’re excited to announce a feature that many of you have been asking for: People CSV Import. This isn’t just another data import tool; it’s a complete solution designed to make managing your church team as seamless as possible.

Why This Matters for Your Ministry

Think about the last time you needed to add 50 volunteers to your website, complete with photos, contact information, and team assignments. Or when you switched from another church management system and faced the daunting task of recreating all your staff profiles. These moments shouldn’t derail your ministry focus—they should enhance it.

Our new People Import system transforms what used to be hours of manual data entry into a simple three-step process that actually makes sense. Upload your CSV file, map your columns to the right fields (we’ll even suggest the best matches), and watch as your entire team directory comes to life with proper organization and tracking.

Built for Real Ministry Needs

We didn’t just build another CSV importer. We built a system that understands how churches actually work:

Smart Field Mapping: The system recognizes common column names like “first_name,” “email,” or “teams” and automatically suggests where they should go
Team Integration: Assign people to multiple teams during import, and we’ll create the team categories automatically if they don’t exist yet
Import Tracking: Every import is tracked with a unique batch ID, so you can easily see which people were added when
Immediate Results: After import, you’re taken directly to a filtered view showing only your newly imported people—no hunting through long lists

The Details That Make the Difference

What sets this apart is the attention to real-world scenarios. The interface shows you a live preview of your data as you map fields, so you can see exactly what you’re importing before you commit. Error handling is comprehensive but friendly—if something goes wrong, you’ll know exactly which row needs attention and why.

The responsive design works just as well on your phone as it does on your office computer, because we know ministry doesn’t always happen at a desk. And for those late-night volunteer database updates, this pairs perfectly with the Dark Mode we introduced earlier this year.

Building in Public, Growing Together

This feature represents months of feedback from pastors, administrators, and volunteers who’ve shared their real-world challenges with us. From the small church needing to import their core volunteer team to the multi-site congregation managing hundreds of staff members across locations, we’ve designed this system to scale with your ministry.

As always, we’re building in public and learning from your experiences. The People Import system is launching first in our alpha testing environment, where our most engaged churches help us refine new features before they roll out platform-wide.

Ready to Experience the Difference?

If you’re managing a church website and spending too much time on data entry instead of ministry, it’s time to see what Digital Church can do for your community. Our 45-day free trial at digitalchurch.com gives you full access to not just the new People Import system, but our entire suite of ministry-focused tools.

Your feedback continues to shape everything we build. As you try the new import system, we’d love to hear how it impacts your workflow and what we can improve next.

Join us on this journey of making church technology actually work for ministry, not against it.

5.1.0June 23, 2025

Introducing Dark Mode: A Fresh Look for Digital Church

As churches continue to navigate the digital landscape, providing an intuitive and appealing user experience becomes increasingly important. At Digital Church, we are committed to elevating your digital journey. Recently, we’ve been working hard behind the scenes to ensure our platform is not only modern but also user-friendly. Today, we are unveiling our latest feature—Dark Mode—on the Digital Church dashboard.

Building in public has been an exciting adventure for us. Sharing our progress and updates as they happen not only keeps you informed but also allows us to receive invaluable feedback that shapes our development. This new Dark Mode feature is part of our ongoing effort to modernize the platform’s interface. We understand the importance of a visually appealing and comfortable environment for users, especially during those late-night work sessions.

Dark Mode complements the contemporary sidebar design introduced a few months ago, which replaced the traditional WordPress admin menu with a React-driven, streamlined experience. This upgrade was aimed at providing you with an intuitive, seamless interface that enhances productivity while maintaining a modern look. The introduction of Dark Mode further enhances this experience by offering a sleek, eye-friendly alternative to our standard view.

So, why is Dark Mode such a game-changer? Apart from reducing eye strain and saving battery life on devices with OLED screens, it also aligns with the aesthetic preferences of many users. By switching to Dark Mode, you bring a touch of modernity and sophistication to your church’s digital presence. It’s not just about aesthetics; it’s about creating an environment that feels right for you and your team as you manage your church’s online community.

We invite you to experience these improvements for yourself. If you’re not already part of the Digital Church family, now is the perfect time to join us. Sign up for a free 45-day trial at digitalchurch.com and discover firsthand how our platform can transform your church’s digital engagement.

Your feedback is crucial to our growth and development. As we continue to innovate, we encourage you to share your thoughts and experiences with us. Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe to our updates for the latest features and enhancements.

Join us on this exciting journey and see how Digital Church can elevate your church’s digital presence to new heights!

5.0.10June 16, 2025