Digital Church / Security
Security
Your church holds information people have trusted you with: names, contact details, family connections and group involvement. When Digital Church hosts your website and church management tools, we share in caring for that trust. Here's how our platform is designed to protect it, what your team controls and where the limits are.
01 / Controlled software
Software changes go through us
Our platform is designed to protect the WordPress core, plugin and theme files from changes made inside the site. Those files are locked so the website itself can't rewrite them. Plugin installs, theme installs and code edits are also turned off in the dashboard.
Software changes go through our deployment process instead. It uses Git, a version-control system that keeps a recorded history of each change. A common pattern in website attacks is to sign into an admin account and install a harmful plugin. This design restricts that normal dashboard path, because an admin account can't add plugins or edit code from the dashboard.
02 / Everyday access
Your team still runs your content
Staff and volunteers keep working within the permissions you give them. They can update pages, sermons, events and media, and manage people records where their role allows. You don't need to wait on us to post this week's sermon. Only software changes come through Digital Church.
03 / Separate site resources
Each site keeps its own resources
Church sites run on servers we provision and manage through GridPane. Each site has its own database, its own server account and its own server resources. Sites on the same server share a common set of software files. Those files are managed through the same recorded process, and no individual site can edit them. Each site's uploads and database can still be changed, because that's where your content lives.
This is different from WordPress Multisite, where many sites share one installation. It also doesn't mean every church gets its own server. Keeping each site's resources separate makes it harder for a problem on one site to spread to another.
Shared responsibility
Where the limits are
No one can honestly promise a website is 100% secure, and we won't. These controls reduce common risks rather than remove them. If someone steals a staff login, they can reach whatever records that account is allowed to see.
That's why your church's part matters. Give each person their own account with only the access their role needs. Use strong passwords that aren't shared, sign out on shared computers, and remove access when someone steps away.
Software on your site also has to be well built. And because sites share code, a deployment process and our own administrative access, a problem in that shared layer could affect more than one site.
Straight answers
Common questions
Can a plugin access our member data?
Yes. Plugins run with your site's application and database privileges. That means an installed plugin may be able to read or change information stored on your site, including member records. Controlling who installs plugins removes one route for harmful code, but it doesn't remove the need for trustworthy software. That's why adding a plugin is a conversation with us rather than a click in the dashboard.
Is WordPress safe for church information?
WordPress can be well secured when software is kept current, access is limited and passwords are protected. WordPress's own security guidance recommends those same principles, and they shape how we run our platform.
Have a question?
If your pastor, board or IT volunteer wants to know more about how we care for your church's information, we'd be glad to talk it through.
