Zion WordPress Theme for Churches
Published in WordPress ThemesZion is our latest WordPress theme designed specifically for churches and non-profit organizations. It features key functionality needed by modern church websites, and it uses an adaptive layout to provide visitors with a positive experience on desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
Theme features include:
- 4 different color schemes
- Adaptive layout
- Homepage slider
- Upload your own logo (optional)
- Upcoming events list
- Media section for sermon audio and video
- Widget-ready
Zion is a great option for churches and ministries that need an attractive, effective website on a tight budget. The customizeable homepage slider allows you to highlight whatever events, ministries, and programs that you want visitors to know about. Change the slides at any time with no need to edit code. The homepage also uses WordPress widget functionality to give you some freedom over the content that you want to be displayed on the homepage (explained in the theme documentation).
All church websites need the ability to highlight upcoming events, and Zion includes an event list that displays the events chronologically, with the first one shown being the event that is coming up next. As the date and time of the event passes it will automatically be removed, reducing the time and effort that you will need to keep your website fresh and up-to-date.
Most churches also post sermon/message audio and/or video to their website. With Zion you can easily add your media files, and the media player even works on the iPhone and iPad.
Add your church’s address in the WordPress dashboard and Zion automatically adds a button to the site header allowing visitors the option to get a map or directions from Google Maps. This is especially a good feature for mobile users as people will often go to your website if they are having trouble finding your location.
The theme also includes a staff page template where you can add photos and brief bios of your pastors and staff members.
Zion comes in 4 color schemes. All you have to do is choose the scheme you want to use from the theme dashboard. You can change color schemes at any time.
Documentation for the theme is available here.
View the theme demo | Download for free
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90 Responses
Great theme and the Zion is free.. which is amazing. The upcoming events could have gave me problems.. but no more!
Thanks for sharing i’ll use that for sure.
thanks for sharing.i will use this nice theme
You’re welcome Ahmet.
Very nice post! Websites are not only for businesses but for other institutions as well. It is nice to have a website for the church as well.
Excellent theme! Very helpful, thank you!
One problem I’ve run into: When I click on the link for an event, I’m getting a 404 error. I can’t figure out what I’ve done wrong.
Thanks again.
Hi Tom,
It’s probably related to the permalink settings. Did you see the General WordPress Settings section of the documentation? We recommend using the “post name” permalink setting. If you change that it should take care of the issue.
Excellent. Thank you!
hi! I love how simple yet versatile this theme is. I’d like to know how you can add bookmarks to the theme without ever having to touch/use the theme editor. I do not know much about css/html and I’m afraid to change anything because I might not be able to reverse it if it gets screwed! please help me put in bookmarks! thank you in advance!
Hi Tran,
I’m sorry but I don’t understand what you mean by adding bookmarks to the theme.
It appears that an upcoming event stopped viewing on the day of the event instead of after the event has passed. Is there a way that I can change that so that the event remains listed until after it has ended? Thanks!
Hi Tom,
It should end at the specific time the event is scheduled. Did you set the timezone to the proper setting (It is in the Settings link in the WordPress dashboard)? If your timezone setting is off it will impact when the events are removed. This is covered in the General WordPress Settings section of the documentation if you need some instructions for changing the time zone.
The time zone setting seems to be set correctly. Hmm, I’ll have to keep an eye on the next event. Thanks!
Tom,
I’ll double check, but I think the event should stay listed until the specific time. It’s possible that it is coded to disappear the day of the event, but I know our older church themes left the event listed until the time of the event.
First, thank you for a quality and easy to use template. It is wonderful and a real time-saver.
Next, I need to ask a brief question. The home page slideshow is extremely useful, however I have a problem with it, but only in Internet Explorer. I put a couple of quick slides together and tested the site in Chrome. They worked as they should with the hyperlink for the image going to the correct page. However, in Internet Explorer versions 8 and 9 (not sure about 10 yet) the slideshow works as it should, but there is no hyperlink associated with the image. Actually the code shows the hyperlink there, but IE refuses to honor it and allow the click on the image to go to the correct page.
I have tried multiple computers and the issue is the same on all of them with the homepage slider links working in Chrome (and Firefox too) and not in IE. I thought it could be a security setting in IE, but that does not appear to be the case. Give how IE behaves, it is likely something else.
Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. I have come up with a standard home page to use in the event I am not able to resolve the home page slider issue (which is very easy to do given the different templates, thank you).
Regardless of this issue, the Zion WordPress template is great.
Awesome WordPress theme! I really like it.
I just have one question : How to translate it to my language (italian)?
If I understand correctly, I must edit every single file and change the date format, because in Italy we use DD / MM / YYYY. Right?
Thanks
When I add the logo, my site title goes away. Any suggestions?
Justin,
Yes, that is how it is supposed to work. If you don’t have a logo uploaded it will display the site title in text, but most logos include the church/site name so it would be redundant to show both. If the logo you uploaded does not include your church/site name you can create a new graphic that includes both the logo and the text.
Hi Andrea,
Unfortunately the theme is not ready for translation to another language. Yes, you would probably need edit the dates in the theme files.
Hi Jim,
This issue hadn’t been identified in our theme testing, but I can verify that the link is also not working in IE for me. I’m checking with the developer now to see if we can get that fixed.
Thanks Steve. I did a new install of the theme on a completely different website and host and I was able to replicate the the same behavior.
Thanks again for checking into the issue.
Hi Jim,
There is some CSS code that needs to be added to the themes style.css file. This code was just added to our demo and test installation and it is working now in IE. I’ll update the theme download so future users won’t have this issue. If you need help adding this code let me know (you can email your URL, WP username and password to info@vandelaydesign.com and I’ll take care of it). This is the code to add to the style.css file:
position:absolute;
top:0px;
left:0px;
width:100%;
height:100%;
border:0;
padding:0;
margin:0;
z-index:6;
display:none;
background:white;
filter: alpha(opacity=0);
opacity: 0;
}
Steve,
Thank you for the quick response and the fix.
I will add the above code to the style.css file today.
Love this! Simple WordPress theme
I’m new to wodpress and have a account with bluehost. I downloaded this template and compressed it so I could upload it to bluehost. When I activate the template does not look like it does here. What am i doing wrong?
Great theme! I am having a little problem with images not aligning right. Any idea?
It’s seems as if the events disappear the day of the event. For instance, I have an event scheduled for 7:30pm tonight but it’s already off the calendar (it’s 1:00pm – first time I’ve checked today.) Hmm…
Hi Tom,
We may be able to change that in the next version of the theme.
Hi Justin,
I would have to see it to get a better idea of what is happening and try to identify the problem. Can you send a link? If you prefer, you can email it to me at info@vandelaydesign.com.
Hi Kelsey,
The theme documentation (link above the download link in this post) will lead you through the process of setting up the site. If you’re new to WordPress you’ll also want to see the section on General WordPress Settings (linked from the documentation page). If you have questions about any specific part of the setup process let me know.
Sure, could you take a look at the image alignment (should be aligned to the right of the text content) at http://fccofjasper.org/services/
Thanks!
Hi Justin,
I just sent you an email with a fix.
Hi Steven,
I’m translating the theme, but I have difficulty with the names of the months.
Abbreviated (three letters) and complete.
I would like it to appear in Italian.
is there a solution?
thank you
Hi Andrea,
The theme is not translation-ready. Sorry.
However I found a solution using switch (). Thanks anyway
First off, thank you for providing such a great theme. This is my first WordPress theme and I wanted to know if there was a way to manually change the theme colors in CSS. The 4 choices provided (Blue, Green, Orange and Red) do not mesh well with the logo.
Hi Jake,
Yes, once you download the theme you will have the theme files and you can edit the CSS.
hi !!! i’m italian!
thanks for the free theme!
how i can change the top (i would like insert an image with logo of my church)
thanks a lot!!
ps. and than… how i can enable te “map and direction” ?
Hi Giuseppe,
Please refer to the theme documentation (linked above). It covers the process of adding your logo and setting up the map and directions.
Hello!!! I am very much interested in using your theme for my church website. Will I be able to upload plugins such as paypal donation, calendar, and wiziapp? Will I be able to use this theme to audio? For example, when a person enters my church website i would like for them to hear music, it this possible? Please advise.
Thank you in advance!!
Hi Shakeema,
You can use any plugins that you like with the theme. The theme was not designed or developed to depend on any specific plugins and sometimes there are compatibility issues between themes and plugins, so I can’t guarantee which ones will work. The theme has it’s own event calendar system. It does not have any functionality for audio that would play automatically when the site opens, so you would have to customize it or use a plugin for that.
Thank you so much for your quick response!! I will try it and keep you posted.
I was under the impression that one of the color scheme options was red. Is there any way I can have red instead of the other colors? Please advise. my church website is http://gsuhc.org
Thank you in advance.
Shakeema,
Select the “default” color scheme to get the one that is shown in the preview images and on the demo.
thank you!!
Is there a way to add a background and have the content boxed in?
Hi Reeder,
You would have to customize the theme to do that.
I am testing this site for one of our church partners and am having a horrible time trying to get the video setup properly. We use our own CDN service with Internap and use an rtmp URL code – the service doesn’t seem to want to recognize it so I am trying to figure out how to make it work using short code with the youtube link page.
MergeLane,
The video functionality is intended to be used by just a YouTube or Vimeo link since that is the most common way.
It’s an awesome wordpress theme. I love it.
At first I did struggle, I wasn’t sure how to customize it, but I got it now.
Hi Jeremy,
There is documentation provided that goes through the process of setting it up. Thanks for your compliments.
Thank you for providing such a quality church theme for churches at no cost. I know this will be a blessing to many.
First, in the next version would it be possible to add a couple of the primary social media buttons to the header to share, like, or tweet?
One issue I have come accross is when viewed from IE 8 the theme is resizing to mobile or tablet version In Firefox and Chrome it displays the desktop version of the site correctly. Am not sure why it is not displaying desktop version on IE. I even reset IE to default settings.
If you would like to take alook our site is at http://libertymbc.net
Again, thanks for this great theme!
Hi Kevin,
I don’t have IE8 installed but in testing it through Adobe BrowserLab it is showing up ok for me in IE8.
hi im currently setting up de zion theme for a church i have made all the pages needed to be shown in the home page but i have the following problems
1. im not do not see the pages that are assigned by the attributes on the home page
2. i do not have the event section on my dashboard. this is the link of the website http://locowebdesigns.com/priel/
please help me thank you very much in advance
Ino,
I’m not sure what you mean by “do not see the pages that are assigned by the attributes on the home page”. If you send your WordPress username and password to info@vandelaydesign.com I will login and take a look at the events issue.
Very beautiful! But also the color theme? Red is very nice, but I want to be green, for example.
Song,
A green color scheme is included.
Hi Steven! Hope all is well. I want to first start by saying I have been using the zion theme and I love it!
My church have some events coming up and I am looking to post them to the website. I went to the “event” tab on the left hand side of my dash board and put in an upcoming event for 3/1/13. I have the “upcoming events” as the first tab in “home page widgets” and it is not showing up on my home page. Can you please help me? Thank you in advance.
Hi Steve! Just wanted to let you know that the Upcoming Events did appear at the bottom of the home page. What did not appear was the date next to it and the event title was not highlighted in red allowing guest to click on it and see the description of the event. Please advise.
I Love this! Simple and awesome WordPress theme
Shakeema,
Can you send me an email to info@vandelaydesign.com with the URL of the site, the WordPress username, and the WordPress password? I will look into the issue.
Do you have a fix yet for the upcoming events widget that drops off the event on the day of the event and not after the event. OK on the events page, just not on the widget. Thanks and good job on Zion!
Hi Bill,
No. If we do a theme update this will probably be included, but for now there is nothing available.
This is an amazing template. Thanks so much for providing it for free – it’s exactly what I was looking for to use for a non-profit I’m helping out.
Is there any way to switch the homepage slider on Zion with the one we like better from Stylish Church?
Thanks for a great theme!
David
Dave,
You would have to customize the theme’s code in order to do that.
Hey Steve,
Thanks.. I’m actually not to bad at changing/editing the code.. would you be willing to point me in the right direction. could you tell me the page to look at and the names of the sliders to search for.
I totally tweeked out my personal blog at CollidePhoto.com so I’m not afraid to make a site backup and give it a go
Thanks
David
Hey Steve.. me again.. I figured it out, no need to respond
Steve, On the homepage slider, am I limited to 3 slides? I have 4 but only 3 display. If yes, is there a way to change this?
Irene
Irene,
No, you are not limited to 3 slides. Are you sure the 4th one is published and not just saved as a draft?
I’m currently working on a Staff page. Is there any way to customize the order in which the people appear? I want our pastor to be first on the page, assistant pastor second, etc. However, I’m finding it difficult to change this. Thanks.
Hi Ethan,
The staff profiles are displayed in the order in which they are published (just like WordPress posts with the most recent on top). The easiest way to change the order is to edit the date/time of publication after it has been published. So, for example if you have 2 staff profiles, a head pastor and an assistant pastor, and you want head pastor to be listed first, change the date of publication on the assistant pastor’s profile to some date or time in the past.
On the Staff page, is there a way to change the “Our Staff” text to something else?
Ronnie,
You would need to change the text in the php file for the page template.
Where is the php file for teh page template located?
Never mind. I found it.
Hi
I created a child theme for this theme and when I activated the child theme the browser goes blank.
How to make child theme work with this theme?
Also is there any demo content available with theme to import.
Thanks
Hi jena,
The theme is not coded to support child themes. No, there is no demo content available. Sorry.
Hi Steven,
Having an issue editing contents of widgets. When I edit any text or the title of the widget and save it, the change shows in wordpress, but when i look at the live site no change happened.If I refresh the widget page in wordpress, it’s as if I never edited the widget. Please help!!
Thanks,
Hi
Just wanted to say a HUGE thank you for this theme – we’re using it for our new church website – it’s great!
Just wondering if there’s some way I can set the order of the slides on the homepage slider? Any ideas please?
Thanks again
Hi Colin,
You can adjust the date/time of publication of the slides to control the order.
Hi Steve
That’s excellent – many thanks!
Matthew,
If you email your WordPress username and password to info@vandelaydesign.com I will login and take a look at it for you.
It was great to find a free theme that provided exactly what was needed. Thank you for your work and offering it to everyone for free.
Are you aware of any issues with audio files not loading under certain browsers, specifically IE? Our audio seems to play fine on mobile devices, Safari, or Chrome.
Again, thank you.
Hi Jason,
I’m not aware of any audio issues. The demo is working fine for me in IE. What version of IE are you using?
Hi, Thanks for the Theme.
The download seems to be missing search-form.php. I get an error when I try to add the ‘church – Search’ widget to a sidebar:
include(C:\HostingSpaces\cortexit\stage01.cortexit.co.uk\wwwroot/wp-content/themes/zion/search-form.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in C:\HostingSpaces\cortexit\stage01.cortexit.co.uk\wwwroot\wp-content\themes\zion\includes\theme-widgets.php on line 230
Sorry if this has been covered and I didn’t see it, but I didn’t have a lot of time to scroll through the messages. I downloaded and unzipped the zion.zip file and unzipped it. The theme installation page in WordPress, if I’m understanding correctly, appears to be asking for a specific file within the archive and I’m not sure which one to use. Any advice? Thanks!
Chris,
If you’re uploading it through the WP dashboard you need to upload the zip file.
Hi Mark,
Use the widget titled “Search”. That is the one we are using on the demo site. If you release an updated version of the theme I will have the other widget removed.
I am using the Zion theme for my church website. I am unable to set up the slider on the homepage. I have done everything the theme documentation says. Please, help needed. Thanks
Mabel,
What is your website URL? Most people who are having problems with the slider did not do one of the following:
- Set the homepage to use the “home” template
- Set the homepage to be used as a static front page
If you did both of those things and you are still having problems you can email your URL, WP username and password to info@vandelaydesign.com and I will login and take a look.