Custom Domain

Audience: This article is for church administrators.

The Domain tab lets you point a domain you own (like mychurch.org or www.mychurch.org) at your TimelyChurch public pages. This is the most common onboarding step that fails on the first try, so this guide walks through it carefully.

Plan Requirement

Custom Domain is a Pro plan feature. On Starter and Growth, the Domain tab will display an upgrade prompt.

Accessing the Domain Tab

1. Navigate to Settings in the left sidebar.
2. Click the Domain tab.

The tab shows:

• Your current custom domain (if set)
• The verification token (a unique 32-character string)
• Verification status (Pending or Verified, with the date verified)
• The DNS records you need to add at your domain registrar

How Custom Domain Verification Works

TimelyChurch verifies that you control the domain by checking two DNS records:

1. TXT record at _timelychurch.<your-domain> containing your unique verification token. This proves ownership.
2. CNAME record at <your-domain> pointing to TimelyChurch's servers (custom.timelychurch.com by default), or an A record pointing to TimelyChurch's IP. This routes visitor traffic to our servers.

Both must be present and correct before the domain becomes active.

Step-by-Step Walkthrough

1. Enter your domain in TimelyChurch

1. On the Domain tab, type your domain into the Custom Domain field. Examples:
   • mychurch.org
   • www.mychurch.org
2. Click Save. TimelyChurch stores the domain plus a fresh verification token.

Changing the domain later will reset verification and generate a new token.

2. Add the TXT record at your DNS provider

Log in to your DNS host (GoDaddy, Cloudflare, Namecheap, Google Domains, Squarespace, etc.) and add:

3. Add the CNAME (or A) record

Choose one of the two:

Option A — CNAME (preferred for subdomains like www):

Option B — A record (for apex domains where CNAME isn't allowed):

4. Wait for DNS propagation

DNS changes can take a few minutes to up to 48 hours to propagate, though most updates are visible within 5-15 minutes. You can check propagation at https://www.whatsmydns.net/.

5. Click "Verify Domain"

Back in TimelyChurch:

1. On the Domain tab, click Verify Domain.
2. TimelyChurch will:
   • Look up the TXT record at _timelychurch.<your-domain> and check it matches your token
   • Look up the CNAME at your domain (must contain custom.timelychurch.com) or the A record (must match the configured server IP)
3. If both check out, your domain is marked Verified, the verification timestamp is stored, and the domain becomes active.

If verification fails, you will see a specific error such as "TXT record not found or incorrect" or "CNAME or A record not pointing to our servers". Re-check your DNS records and try again.

Common Pitfalls

Removing a Custom Domain

1. On the Domain tab, clear the Custom Domain field.
2. Click Save.

Your custom domain is removed and visitors are routed back to the default <your-slug>.timelychurch.com subdomain. You can safely delete the TXT and CNAME/A records from your DNS provider.

See Also

• Subscription & Billing — Pro plan requirement
• Settings Overview