News

Stay up to date with the latest happenings at churchthemes.com. This is where we post announcements relating to our business, products and website.

All-around Improvements (Update Now)

September 16, 2021
Steven Gliebe
Development, News, Plugins, Themes

Each of our themes and our Church Content Pro plugin have been updated for a better experience with WordPress 5.8 and PHP 8.

The core Church Content plugin did not need to be updated. Everything was reasonably compatible with WordPress 5.8 and PHP 8 before these updates so we waited a bit to release them after WordPress 5.8 came out in order to run through a list of minor bugs reported by users over the months. There are other improvements such as automatically linked phone numbers.

Updates for WordPress 5.7, Better Accessibility, Bug Fixes and Easier HTTPS

WordPress 5.7 is just around the corner. We’ve tested against a release candidate to ensure our themes and plugins are ready. Only a few small changes relating to blocks were necessary for maintaining compatibility. We took this as an opportunity to also improve accessibility and fix several bugs that were recently reported.

All Themes and Plugins Updated for WordPress 5.6

WordPress 5.6 is here. That means it’s time to update your theme and plugins to maintain compatibility. This version of WordPress updated the jQuery library, which broke our mobile menu buttons. Many jQuery events were also deprecated so we have replaced them. Please update your theme and plugins from us to keep your WordPress site humming along nicely.

Deepest Discount Ever Offered for Black Friday and Cyber Monday

November 24, 2020
Steven Gliebe
News, Promotions

Deal Ended: Thank you for participating!

“Black Friday” seems to start earlier and earlier each year, doesn’t it? That takes away some of the magic but the good news is that online discounts are as strong as ever – at least here at ChurchThemes.com. So, here we are just slightly early having a lot of fun giving our biggest discount ever. Never have we created a coupon that saves this much. I hope you will take advantage of it by upgrading or joining us for the first time.

Best Sermons Plugin for WordPress: Building It

October 9, 2020
Steven Gliebe
News, Plugins

WP Sermons WordPress Plugin Development — WP Sermons logo and plugin development in Steven’s “kitchen office”.

There is no ideal sermons plugin for WordPress. The plugins that exist now are either unattractive in appearance, lacking features, buggy and unsupported or don’t work with all the WordPress themes that are available. This is what I’ve observed and this is what I’ve been told by people over the years. The sermon WordPress plugins available now are not useless, but they are not ideal. Churches using WordPress deserve a sermons plugin that meshes perfectly with their theme, that is easy to use and that does everything they need.

We are working on such a plugin and it is called WP Sermons. This is our vision for it.

Theme Updates for WordPress 5.5 and Bug Fixes

August 11, 2020
Steven Gliebe
Development, News, Themes

WordPress 5.5 is out. It has some neat new features like automatic updates for themes and plugins and in-block image editing. There are also changes to the block editor’s HTML markup which means it was necessary for us to update the styling for all of our themes in order to maintain compatibility with WordPress. This update also helps keep our themes’ dropdown menus working on newer versions of iOS for iPhone and iPad.

PHP 7.4 Compatible

March 19, 2020
Steven Gliebe
News

We have confirmed that our themes and plugins are all compatible with PHP 7.4.

We recommend updating to PHP 7.3 or 7.4 if you are using an older version. You can do this in your hosting account or ask your host. Versions older than PHP 7.2 have reached end of life are are no longer maintained. PHP 7.2 itself will be maintained only for security through November.

Live Streaming and Online Giving in the Wake of the Coronavirus Pandemic

Updated October 12, 2020
Steven Gliebe
News, Website Tips

Morningstar Online — An example of a church moving to online-only meeting

The effects of the coronavirus pandemic are reaching churches worldwide. Here in the United States, our president has asked that people not attend gatherings of more than ten people. Similar requests and restrictions are reality in other parts of the world. Every church needs to consider setting up a live stream and online giving. I want to share some resources to help you get started.

Your church can do this. Our church had its first online only service this past Sunday and the number of people who attended was encouraging.

Church Content Plugin 2.4

WordPress 5.4 is scheduled for release at the end of the month.

Church Content plugin version 2.4 has been released. This version is ready for WordPress 5.4. Additionally, it fixes a bug that manifested on certain servers, improves the French translation, and updates the Google podcast submission URL. You can update by going to Dashboard > Updates.

It’s Cyber Monday (Save 30% Until Wednesday)

Updated December 5, 2019
Steven Gliebe
News, Promotions

Update: This promo has ended. Thank you to all who participated.

Update: Use coupon code LASTCHANCE2019 to save 30% through Wednesday, December 4, 2019.

We offered 30% off for Black Friday and are continuing this deep discount for Cyber Monday. You can take advantage of this through Wednesday, December 4. Remember, this is our biggest discount of the year.