Three practical updates across ChurchApps — one for building your website, one for reaching your people, and one for welcoming new members.

Build It — The B1 website editor got a significant overhaul. Settings now open as side panels instead of popups so you can see your page while you edit. Drag and drop is easier with larger drop zones. Undo and redo are fully supported with Ctrl+Z and Cmd+Z, and a History button in the toolbar lets you jump back to any saved snapshot of your page. There's also a built-in help dialog right in the editor so anyone on your team can get started without hunting for documentation.

Reach Them — When you add someone to a group, serving team, or role, you now get the option to send them an invite email automatically. Your choice every time — send it or skip it. No more volunteers being added to a team and never finding out.

Welcome Them — New members now receive a six-digit verification code instead of a set-password link when creating their account. The whole process stays inside the app — no clicking a link that opens a browser, setting a password there, then going back to log in. You see the code, you type it in, you're done.

Try It This Week:
1. Open your B1 website editor, make a change, and press Ctrl+Z or Cmd+Z — then check the History button in the toolbar
2. Add someone to a group or team and watch for the invite email prompt
3. Walk through new member registration with a test account to see the verification code flow

Resources:
support.churchapps.org
support.churchapps.org/docs/b1-admin/website/page-editor
github.com/ChurchApps

Every B1 church account includes a free, full-featured website builder — no developer, no monthly platform fee, no third-party tools required. In this episode, Micheal and Kari walk through everything you need to get your church website up and running.

Topics covered: setting up your domain, building pages with sections and content elements, getting your logos right and why you need four different versions, navigation, reusable blocks, and managing your files.

A 2025 audit of 2,725 churches found only about 1 in 3 have a website that makes a good first impression. Pew Research confirms online search is one of the primary ways people find a new church. Your website is the first impression — before anyone ever walks through the door.

B1 AI Prompt Guide — download the free guide, drag it into Claude Desktop, type "I want to build my church website in B1," and Claude walks you through the whole thing. No tech skills required. Most people have a professionally styled section on their site within 10 minutes.

Download the guide: https://churchapps-podcast-rss.micheal-ab4.workers.dev/b1-guide

Want a human to help? Emily at S Five Design works specifically with churches on their B1 websites. Start with a free website evaluation, then set up a one-on-one call to get your site built right.

Free evaluation: https://go.churchapps.org/current-website-satisfaction-value-assessment
Emily's website: https://sfivedesign.com/

Resources:
support.churchapps.org
admin.b1.church
github.com/ChurchApps

Sources:
One Eighty Digital, "State of Church Websites: Insights from 2,725 Churches" (Feb 2025) — https://oneeighty.digital/2025/02/03/state-of-church-websites-insights/
Pew Research Center, "How Americans Search for a New Religious Congregation" (2016) — https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2016/08/23/1-the-search-for-a-new-congregation/

Over the past decade, private equity has quietly purchased most of the major church software platforms. This episode explains what that means for churches — and what the alternatives are.

Micheal and Kari cover what open source actually means, the private equity consolidation happening across church software, and the real risk of vendor lock-in. Companies covered include Ministry Brands (30+ brands, over 90,000 organizations), Pushpay and Church Community Builder, Tithely and Breeze, ACS Technologies, and Subsplash (sold to Roper Technologies in 2025). They also cover Gloo, which targets 245 million Americans with church-related data and cut its free tier by 95% after going public.

Honest comparison: paid software is not bad, and some platforms like Planning Center have legal protections against being sold. The concern is PE ownership and what happens when the business model shifts.

Alternatives covered: Planning Center (Ministry Centered Foundation — legally cannot be sold), Rock RMS (open source for larger churches with technical capacity), and ChurchApps (free, open source, built for churches without IT staff).

Try It This Week: Google your current church software provider plus the words "private equity" or "acquired by" and see what comes up.

Resources:
Church Software Transparency research: https://churchapps.org/church-software-transparency
Planning Center commitment: https://www.planningcenter.com/blog/2024/06/a-commitment-for-our-customers-never-being-acquired
Rock RMS: https://rockrms.com
github.com/ChurchApps