Ditch your Church Website
Learn how to use Planning Center* and Substack** to upgrade your ministry’s digital ‘presence’ and create an interactive, evangelical, custom platform for ‘Unstuck Church’
*sliding scale pricing: database is always free
** free
A church website should not be a digital filing cabinet.
A social media presence should not be just endless fuzzy pictures of members at potlucks.
Too many churches have a ‘digital presence’ that is:
a static repository of information no one is seeking out
a website very few people visit …
… and is often out of date (and no one can quite remember how to contact the ‘web master’ to get it changed…)
social media no one is sharing or interacting with
no one is using to grow in relationship with God - or one another.
Our concept of church technology is based on what the internet was like in the 2010s.
A LOT has changed in the last decade.
Today we can move technology to the center of our ministry life: to make organization, administration, communication - and above all:
Create an online presence to a custom platform that is alive, engaging, and sharing God’s love directly.
‘Ditch your Church Website’ is a course and consultation package that helps you:
Use Substack as a dynamic front door for teaching, invitations, reflections, and stories that actually reach people where they are (it’s also free - and provides a potential income stream).
And Planning Center (PCO) for a flexible, practical structure of membership, communication, forms, sign-ups, and organization behind the scenes (along with their built-in public facing platform - Church Center) - for member engagement, organization, and deep knowledge of your community. The database function is always free, and the rest is sliding scale according to usage..
Together, they create a powerful and evangelical digital ecosystem: less about maintaining an institution and more about cultivating community, formation, and following Jesus.
Ditch Your Church Website
and Bring Church to People with a 21st century technology-based ministry platform you can easily use and afford.
The Course
$127
Walk through the vision of moving from ‘church database software, static website and anemic social media’ to ‘true digital membership and walking with others as they grow in their faith’.
Use two of today’s best digital platforms - Planning Center (PCO) and Substack - as the center of ministry.
We’ll stop at 9 points along a digital reimagination journey - 6 Planning Center features and 3 Substack features, customized for agile, networked, technology-based ministry (scroll down this page for what the 9 points are).
This course is available in May 2026. If you’re interested - and want early access and 25% off, just fill out this form:
The Assessment
$250
Schedule a one hour consultation and roadmap-building session. If you’re new to Substack or PCO -
or you’re using these platforms but need direction about how to best use them for more dynamic ministry
- let’s go through where you are, and create some steps to get you where you want to be.
The Assessment cost is automatically deducted from any Bundle of ‘Done with you’ or ‘Done for you’ services.
Done with you
$250 per point
You do the work, I guide you.
We work through one of the 9 points together in a session. Includes session recordings and notes, plus directions to specific PCO training resources.
Discounted ‘bundled’ rates for multiple points. Focus on only the features - in either Substack or PCO - that you want to maximize for your ministry.
Done for you
$500 per point
Free Range Priest builds it for you. Using tested templates, customized for your ministry.. Includes a walk through so you can maintain it yourself.
The 9 points
Planning Center (6 points)
Calendar: Avoid the mess of jam-packed schedules that overwhelm people with too much information, and not enough invitation. Create customized pages of interactive events.
Groups: Not everyone needs to know about everything. Let members manage their interests and preferences, and get customized schedules, available on their phones and in their email inboxes.
Groups and Registrations: Create meaningful engagement and formation for members - and visitors - that’s easily and directly available to them. Sign people up for courses and events, gather information from those who are engaging in-person - and online!
Automated content delivery: no more generic ‘contact us’ forms! Direct those with specific needs: prayer requests, spiritual crises, general wonderings about God - to immediate resources, and ongoing relationship.
Dynamic membership: Today’s church ‘membership’ is not static, and it’s not on/off (you’re a member or you’re not). Create meaningful categories of how people are engaged with the life of your community - ways to move between them.
Targeted communication and workflow: The first step to being part of your community is no longer showing up for Sunday worship (if it ever was). Create a meaningful conversation - and sense of belonging - for people who may never actually come to your church. And for those who are there every week.
Substack (3 points)
Ditch your website: Move your url (digital address) to Substack to increase visibility, and build your email list. Today’s internet puts individual static sites into digital siberia, and no one is going to find your site unless they are specifically looking (hard).
Build your reach - within and beyond your congregation. Create a newsletter on Substack that is for existing and potential members (so it’s not just a list of upcoming events or fuzzing photos of people at potlucks, but a real, ongoing theological engagement).
Create real digital community - plus an income stream. Subscribers become digital members. From here, create a meaningful bridge to deeper online (and in person) community membership.
Bundle Pricing
Not everyone is ready to do everything at once - or ever! Bundle the 9 points and get the help you need where you want it
Substack only (3 points):
Done-With-You $600 (save $150)
Done-For-You $1,200 (save $300)PCO only (6 points):
Done-With-You $1,350 (save $150)
Done-For-You $2,700 (save $300)Full build, all 9 points:
Done-With-You $1,800 (save $450)
Done-For-You $3,600 (save $900)
All bundles include the Online Course for free!
Already purchased the course?
Cost credit applied to any ‘Done with you’ or ‘Done for you’ bundle
Creating your own, customized and dynamic digital platform with Substack and PCO makes it easier - and way more JOYful! - to Bring Church to People.
At Free Range Priest, we’re bringing church to people.
Become a paid subscriber for:
Weekly insights and actions for Cage Free Ministry and Unstuck Church
Monthly ‘Ask Father Cathie’ livestream (+ submit your own questions)
Discounts on all Ministry Reimagination Mini courses
Become a Founding Member for:
all of the above, plus all mini-courses free
a yearly 1-1 consultation with me.
Automatic paid membership to Trexo and Substack Seminary
