Publishing and podcasting sermons is a great way for churches using WordPress to reach more people. If you’re using one of our church WordPress themes then you have our Church Content plugin which makes publishing a sermon archive and podcasting sermons a piece of cake. Churches using a generic theme can choose from several sermon WordPress plugins. Let’s take a look at those options.
Why Publish Sermons with WordPress
Having a sermon archive is beneficial in multiple ways. Visitors can check your church out before coming and regular attenders can watch a sermon they missed. You’ll be casting a wider net by having your sermons discoverable on Google and via podcasting platforms like iTunes. You can upload sermons to YouTube then embed them on your site to expand your reach even more.
Podcasting sermons with a sermons WordPress plugin can also be a money saver. Podcast hosting and sermon hosting companies usually charge a monthly fee. Most web hosts include enough storage for at least five years of audio sermons and some offer unlimited space. Why pay extra if you don’t have to? Just upload your sermon media to your hosting via WordPress.
Sermon Plugins for WordPress
There are 10 WordPress plugins for publishing sermons that we are taking a look at in this article.
Church Content – Sermons, Events and More
This is a free WordPress plugin that we and several other church theme developers use. This plugin also handles events, locations and profiles. The one feature nearly all churches use is sermons so it’s most definitely a sermons plugin. It requires a compatible theme. This means the integration is tight. Your sermon archive will seamlessly match your site’s design. Switching between compatible themes is made easy.
The plugin is brilliant in every way. Everything you could possibly want on your church site. . . the support was always right there if we needed it.
Barbi Atkinson, WordPress.org Review
Advanced Sermons – Proving Very Useful
UPDATE (2022): Advanced Sermons has added features (Pro features) over the years, is stable, looks good – clean interface. It’s turning into one of the best sermon plugins. Check it out.
This plugin came on the scene recently. I gave this one a quick test and found the presentation to be nice. As a new plugin, it does not have as many features as Series Engine but looks like it’s off to a good start. We’ll have to watch and see how far development goes with this plugin. There is a free version on WordPress.org and a paid version for $50 that adds features like search results, an accent color option, filter options and related sermons.
There is a discussion on the WordPress for Churches Facebook Group with first impressions.
What really sold us what the plugin not only looked and displayed beautifully unlike the other plugins we have looked at, but the functionality is great as well!
maxologymarketing, WordPress.org Review
Series Engine – Popular and Full-featured
UPDATE (2022): Series Engine is looking a bit dated in appearance but the developer is still adding new features, as always. This plugin has been stable for a long time so it’s worth a look.
Series Engine launched many years ago and is still popular. It was the only paid sermons plugin for some time and that probably explains why it is still around (free plugins tend to wane). The developer maintains it consistently. Series Engine seems to be the current favorite as far as paid plugins go ($99). I’ve seen it in use in many church sites. It has a comprehensive feature set, supports some of the major page builders and has useful converters for switching from other plugins like Church Content and Sermon Manager.
If you’re not using a ChurchThemes.com theme with the Church Content plugin then I recommend Series Engine until WP Sermons comes out. Series Engine is popular among Divi theme users.
Started out with sermon manager. But switched to series engine which is a little more versatile and has good customer support.
Jennifer Wilson, Facebook Comment
CP Library – Promising New Plugin
UPDATE (2022): This is a new addition.
I’m very excited about this plugin from Church Plugins because their roadmap is similar to what WP Sermons would have had and their founder is a top-notch developer. CP Library is not out yet but should be in a few months, so sign up for their newsletter. They will offer other plugins as well.
The following plugins are not recommended or no longer available.
Sermon Manager – Popular Free Option
UPDATE (2022): Avoid, this company has changed hands numerous times over the years and nobody seems to have been able to pull it together. Their Facebook page is littered with comments asking where in the world support went.
The Sermon Manager WordPress plugin is totally free so it is worth considering if your church is without a budget for a paid solution. This plugin has been around for a long time. The company behind it has changed ownership several times. It was acquired again recently so keep an eye out for new development. The prior owner invested a lot in getting it on the right track. A paid version with support and additional features is available.
Sermon Manager Pro – More Features & Help
UPDATE (2022): Avoid, this company has changed hands numerous times over the years and nobody seems to have been able to pull it together. Their Facebook page is littered with comments asking where in the world support went.
Support is not always available with a free plugin. The paid version, Sermon Manager Pro, includes support and extra features like more customization options, multiple sermon podcasts and modules for popular page builders like Divi, Elementor and Beaver Builder. If you like the free version of the Sermon Manager plugin but want to do more and get extra help then Sermon Manager Pro is a consideration.
WP Sermons – Easy, Beautiful & Powerful
UPDATE (2022): Project was canceled.
WP Sermons is a sermons WordPress plugin under development by the makers of the Church Content plugin. That’s us. The idea is to take everything churches love about sermons with the Church Content plugin and our themes and make it available for use with any theme. It will be easy to use with a thick feature set and made to work seamlessly with virtually any theme. It will be compatible with WordPress’s new Gutenberg editor, popular page builders and provide other handy integrations.
Visit the WP Sermons site to enter your email and get notified when it’s released. We’ll have a tool to help you convert from another sermons plugin. Also read our article titled Best Sermons Plugin for WordPress: Building It to learn more about the project and the plugin’s features.
Easy Sermon Hub – Low Cost Option
UPDATE: (2022) This plugin appears to be defunct as there is no way to purchase it.
Easy Sermon Hub is a low cost option for publishing sermons with WordPress ($69). It supports audio and video with taxonomies for topics, series, preachers, books and services. Here’s a screenshot of adding a sermon from the Easy Sermon Hub website.
Sermon Browser – A Past Favorite
The Sermon Browser plugin is an older and much-loved plugin still available on WordPress.org. It was developed by Mark Barnes, a pastor, before WordPress introduced custom post types. Custom post types let a plugin developer make a “sermon” post type. Sermon Browser uses blog posts since that is all that it could use when it was first made. The plugin served its purpose well for a good while but is now outdated. I recommend using one of the other sermon plugins here.
SermonPress – An Outdated Option
I had not noticed this plugin on WordPress.org until doing research for this article. It has only 30 active users and no updates in two years. One thing I notice that is interesting is that it has a Series Index. Not every sermons plugin does. Here’s a screenshot from WordPress.org.
Perelandra – Another Outdated Option
Apparently an ode to the C.S. Lewis “space trilogy”, Perelandra Sermons aims to be the “ultimate sermon manager that allows you to display your sermons, beautifully”. It was exciting to see a new entry into the field of sermon WordPress plugins but this one never gained traction. It has only 50 active users at the time of writing and has not been updated in three years. I would consider this one discontinued and choose an option that is more up to date.
Perelandra solves a few problems simultaneously. It makes it easy to manage audio / video, as well as grouping sermons into series and navigating that. Default styles rock too!
Clifton Griffin, WordPress.org Review
Concluding Thoughts
There are at least 10 WordPress plugins available for publishing sermons on your church website. Some are worth using and others are not simply because they are outdated. Those that I can recommend with the most confidence are the Church Content plugin (if you will use a compatible theme), Series Engine and Sermon Manager (free or Pro). Easy Sermon Hub and Advanced Sermons are also worth giving a look.
Visit WP Sermons and subscribe to hear when it is released. We’ll be taking our time to make it as close to perfect as possible but we think you’ll be happy to switch when that time comes.