ore and more churches are realizing the need to update their websites in order to serve their current attendees and give potential visitors a good first impression.’

In past posts, I’ve discussed different platforms and WordPress themes that are built specifically for churches. But there may be various reasons your church decides to use a WordPress theme not designed with church-related functionality in mind, for example an event calendar and sermon archive. That said, the WordPress development community has taken note of these shortcomings, and has created some great plug-ins that will help enhance your website’s user experience.First, you should use basic criteria when searching for WordPress plug-ins:

• WordPress version compatibility: at least the last version of WP if not the latest
• Number of downloads/installations: minimum of 20,000 with some exceptions for new technology
• Date last updated: to make sure developer is still improving functionality and fixing bugs
• Reviews: gives you a good understanding of level of technical support provided by developer

With this criteria in mind…Here are some WordPress plug-in options for your church website:FOR EVENTS

• Events Calendar
  • With over 200,000+ installations, this is the clear leader in the space
  • A free version comes with basic functionality but I would recommend the PRO version, which is $65/year for one site.
  • With PRO, you get the ability to create recurring events, and can integrate ticket sales with WooCommerce or Eventbrite.

There are other plug-ins such as ChurchPack Pro ($19) that have event plus other features (staff, photo albums, etc.) but none had the aesthethics, support, ease of use and other competitive advantages that Event Calendar has.

 FOR SERMON ARCHIVES

Note: depending on your theme, you can use the Portfolio feature instead of adding a plug-in, but then might need other plug-ins for features like iTunes integration.

• Series Engine
• • Series Engine has the best front-end interface that I have come across and includes features such as: search, ability to link videos from Vimeo, uploading notes, links and other materials related to the sermon and more.
  • Cost: $99
• Sermon Manager
  • Less robust and not as clean of a front-end compared to Series Engine, Sermon Manager is still a good alternative with features such as  full podcasting support, widgets and more.
  • Cost $29 (note: you also need to import a free add-on for mp3 support)

Other plug-ins exist such as Sermon Browser and Easy Media Gallery, but don’t meet the minimum criteria such as number of downloads/installations.There are many, many other options in the marketplace, but keep the minimum criteria in mind when searching.

Do you have other favorite plug-ins that you use on your church website?