These themes were necessarily created for churches or ministries but I think that they would be great for church websites.
I am so convinced of this, that I am using one of them for our new website at Family Life Church which is slated to launch in 2011.
(We are making the move from Joomla to WordPress but that is another post entirely.)
One of the benefits to using a newspaper/magazine/business theme for your church website, as opposed to one that was specifically created for churches, is that it decreases the chances that the church across the street is using the same theme. That may not be a huge concern for you, but I thought it was at least good to mention.
Boldy by Site5
Demo Here.
Download & Instructions Here.
This is the on we are using for our new site. After we chose it, we noticed that it is also being used Justin Wise for the Be Deviant Summit. That validated our choice because Justin is stylish and savvy.
Kronos by RSUOG
Demo Here.
Download & Instructions Here.
Hyrdrogenize by Padd Solutions
Demo Here.
Download & Instructions Here.
Berylliumous by Padd Solutions
Demo Here.
Download & Instructions Here.
Ipseity by Human3rror
Demo Here.
Download & Instructions Here.
What I love about this theme is that it is great if you are looking for a site that has less than ten pages and is very visual.
And no, I am not trying to suck up to John. We are actually planning to use this site for the landing page for a new campus we are launching in 2011.
James Brooks says
Cool resource! Thank you!
Blane Young says
Thanks James!
Just sharing my secret stash!
Rodlie says
It’s cool to share secret stashes, huh? Makes the world a better place 😉
Blane Young says
As does Coca-Cola.
Ben says
This is a great list. The thing I like about much of John’s stuff is that most of it promotes creative uses of it. I would like to see how your going to use Ipseity.
Blane Young says
Thanks Ben!
Yeah, I am excited to work with it.
I plan on launching the site in early 2011.
dewde says
Great resource here Blane!
peace | dewde
Blane Young says
Thanks dewde!
That means a lot coming from you!
Tim Owens says
Boldy is hot! I haven’t seen that one before. We’re using Coda Blue: http://choicethemes.com/wordpress/coda-blue/ on our website at http://www.riversidec2.org/ and we try to skin it with each series, but there are a few things that make it less flexible than we would like. I might have to give Boldy a shot.
Blane Young says
You are certainly making the most of that theme!
Love the entire of the entire site being series branded – that is so fresh!
Don’t show my Lead Pastor, or he may start expecting that from me!
Rodlie says
This is great, Blane. It’s kinda similar to one I did about two weeks ago:
http://www.modernekklesia.com/2010/10/how-to-start-a-church-or-non-profit-website-for-almost-nothing.html
I mention Boldy, but also 4 other ones, but their paid themes. I’m glad to see these other free themes.
Blane Young says
Boldy = Boomsauce (yeah, I just went Carlos Whittaker on this junk)
Rodlie says
hahaha!
Rodlie says
So you’re going to us Boldy too? That’s hilarious. We just launched our new church site using Boldy as well! There’s a couple tricky little things to figure out with that one as it doesn’t have a lot of documentation. Let me know if you have any questions. Once you figure things out though it’s very functional and certainly looks really nice.
Blane Young says
I just saw your blog post (https://churchm.ag/how-i-upgraded-my-church-website-for-almost-nothing/).
For sure, we were set to launch before December 1 but because of some staffing changes it will be somewhere in 2011.
Would love your tips!
Rodlie says
Hmmm….yeah. I’m kinda thinking if I should do a blog post on the innards of the Boldy theme. The lessons I learned anyway. And I could care less how many people use the same theme for their churches. There’s a lot of people that need to hear about Jesus!
Blane Young says
You should do it for sure…
Shawn says
I’m currently using Boldy for my site. The integration seems great. With a little tweakage to the header.php and theme options.php you can add some additional social icons. Let me know if anyone needs help with setup!
Shawn
Ben says
Shawn, I would like to see it being used. Can you post the link?
Blane Young says
Rodlie is using it at Carrollwood Church here: http://carrollwoodchurch.com/ and it is popping!
Adam Pickering says
Some of these are nice, but how about showcasing themes designed for churches? i.e. > http://www.themegarden.com/adam-pickering/moses/
🙂
John Saddington says
um, adam, we already did that bro. do you need more press or something? sheesh.
Adam Pickering says
haha, nope 🙂
John Saddington says
and it’s off-topic. this post is about free themes and your theme is not free.
bad form.
Sandy says
We’re using the Boldy theme for our church’s website, too. I’m wondering, are you guys using a WP plugin for your on-line giving, and if so, which one? If not, would you mind sharing what you are using?
Thanks again!
Blane Young says
Hey Sandy!
It’s always a joy to meet another Boldy user.
No, we are not using a WP Plugin.
The last webmaster we had at our church set this up, it is with Payscape Gateway. I think this is their website: http://www.nmi.com/
If we weren’t using them, I would’ve probably used PayPal. But they handle our credit/debit card abilities in our services and I think online giving came with that plan.