Custom Domain Walkthrough

By default, your church's public site lives at:

timelychurch.com/c/your-slug

That works fine, but most churches eventually want their public site at their own domain, like:

yourchurch.com

(or www.yourchurch.com). This page walks you through setting that up. It's one of the steps that most often goes wrong, because DNS is genuinely confusing, so this guide goes into detail. If something doesn't work, the troubleshooting section at the end probably explains why.

Plan requirement: Custom domains are part of the Pro plan (active or in trial). On a lower plan, the Domain tab shows greyed out with a lock and takes you to the upgrade options. See Trial and Plan Selection.

What this covers: A custom domain serves your church's public-facing website (home page, public schedule, public pages) on your own address. For security, member and staff sign-in always stays on TimelyChurch's own address. See What Custom Domains Affect below.

Before You Begin

You'll need:

• Ownership of a domain: either one you already own (yourchurch.com) or one you're buying. If you don't have a domain yet, register one with any domain provider before continuing.
• Access to your domain's DNS settings. This is usually inside your domain provider's control panel. Look for "DNS Management," "DNS Records," or "Advanced DNS." If your IT person manages DNS, loop them in now.
• A decision about your existing website. Pointing your domain at TimelyChurch replaces whatever website currently answers at that address. Only do it if TimelyChurch is going to be your public website.

Step 1: Decide Which Domain to Use

Pick the domain you want for your public church site, usually your main domain, yourchurch.com. Once it's set up, your site works both with and without www, because you'll add DNS records for both.

We'll use yourchurch.com for the rest of this guide.

Step 2: Open the Domain Tab in TimelyChurch

1. At the bottom of the sidebar, click Church Setting.
2. Along the top of the Church Settings page, click the Domain tab. (The tabs are Profile, Billing & Plans, Fields, Export, Integrations, Domain, and Activity; some appear only for church administrators.)
3. If your church is on Pro, you'll see the Custom Domain panel ("Use your own domain for your church website") with a Your web address field. If you're on a lower plan, the Domain tab is locked; upgrade to Pro to continue.

Step 3: Add Your Domain

1. In the Your web address field, type yourchurch.com (no http:// or https://, no trailing slash).
2. Click Add domain.

TimelyChurch shows your domain with "Waiting for your domain company to point the name here" and a DNS Configuration section with the records to add, including a unique verification value, a string of letters and numbers like aB3cD7eF9gH2iJ4kL6mN8oP1qR3sT5uV. You'll use it in Step 4.

Once a domain is added, the button reads Change domain. If you change the domain, a fresh verification value is generated.

Step 4: Add DNS Records at Your DNS Provider

Now go to your DNS provider's control panel and add the records shown in the DNS Configuration section of the Domain tab. Copy the values from there.

1. TXT Record (Required for Verification)

This proves to TimelyChurch that you control the domain.

About the name: Most DNS providers want just _timelychurch. They add your domain automatically, making _timelychurch.yourchurch.com. If your provider asks for the full name instead, enter _timelychurch.yourchurch.com. If you're not sure, look at how your existing records are entered and follow the same pattern.

2. Point Your Domain to Us

The Domain tab offers two ways to do this. Use one of them.

Option 1 — Recommended: CNAME to sites.timelychurch.com

Your site is served through our global network: faster loading, protection, an automatic certificate, and it keeps working if our server ever moves. Add both records:

If your DNS provider doesn't allow a CNAME on the root domain: set the root domain to redirect to www instead (providers often call this "domain forwarding"), and keep the www CNAME. Or move your DNS to a provider that allows a CNAME on the root.

Option 2 — A records

Works with every DNS provider, but your site then depends on one server address: no global network and no automatic failover. Add both records so your site works with and without www:

Using Cloudflare DNS with A records? You must turn the proxy off for your A records: click the orange cloud so it turns grey ("DNS only"). Keep proxy OFF; TimelyChurch handles SSL automatically. (With Option 1, the proxy setting on your CNAME records does not matter.)

Step 5: Wait for DNS Propagation

DNS changes take time to spread across the internet, typically 15 minutes to 48 hours. Most changes show up within the first hour.

You can check progress with any free online DNS lookup tool: search for your domain and check that:

• Your root domain and www point to sites.timelychurch.com (Option 1) or to the server address from the Domain tab (Option 2).
• The TXT record at _timelychurch.yourchurch.com returns your verification value.

Tip: Don't keep hitting the verify button before the records have spread. If it fails the first time, take a coffee break, then retry in 15 minutes.

Step 6: Click "Check that it is connected"

1. Back in TimelyChurch, on the Domain tab, click Check that it is connected.
2. TimelyChurch checks your records: the TXT record for ownership, and the CNAME or A records for traffic (on either the root domain or www).
3. If they match, you'll see "Domain verified successfully! Your custom domain is now active." and the status changes to "Connected · secure · certificate renews automatically".
4. Your public site is now live at your custom address.

SSL is automatic. Once your domain is verified, TimelyChurch sets up a free SSL certificate for it and renews it for you, so your site loads securely over https://. There is nothing to buy or upload.

You can now share yourchurch.com with your congregation. The original timelychurch.com/c/your-slug address keeps working too. Both lead to the same place.

What Custom Domains Affect

Once verified, your custom domain becomes the address for your church's public-facing site, including:

• Your public website pages (home page and other published pages).
• Your public schedule and its calendar (iCal) feed.
• Public links generated within the app point to your domain instead of the timelychurch.com/c/your-slug path.

For security and reliable session handling, your custom domain does not take over:

• Member and staff sign-in. Login, registration, and "forgot password" always happen on TimelyChurch's own address, even when visitors arrive via your custom domain.
• Outbound email "from" addresses. Emails still come from TimelyChurch's sending address.

Your TimelyChurch address (timelychurch.com/c/your-slug) always keeps working as a backup, even after your custom domain is verified.

Troubleshooting

"TXT record not found or incorrect."

• Double-check the TXT value. It must exactly match the verification value shown on the Domain tab (no quotes, no spaces, no extra characters).
• Check the name. The Domain tab shows the full name, _timelychurch.yourchurch.com, and the underscore matters. Most providers want you to enter just _timelychurch; if you entered the full name and your provider added the domain again, you'll end up with _timelychurch.yourchurch.com.yourchurch.com.
• Wait longer. Some DNS providers take 30-60 minutes to publish a TXT record.

"CNAME or A record not pointing to our servers."

• Option 1: confirm your CNAME records point to sites.timelychurch.com exactly (no https://, no slash).
• Option 2: confirm your A records use the server address shown on the Domain tab.
• If you use Cloudflare DNS with A records, make sure the proxy is off (grey cloud / DNS only).

"Domain verification failed: … DNS changes may take up to 48 hours to propagate."

This is the message you see when one or both records don't check out yet. It lists which record failed. If your records are right, give them more time. If you're still failing after 48 hours, contact support and we'll take a look.

Verified, but visitors see "site not secure" / no HTTPS.

The certificate is set up automatically after verification and usually takes a few minutes. If you still see certificate warnings after an hour, contact support.

My existing website is at www.yourchurch.com; will the custom domain break it?

The custom domain only takes over the names (root domain, www) whose DNS records you point at TimelyChurch. Records you leave untouched keep working. Point your records at TimelyChurch only when you're ready for TimelyChurch to be your public website.

I changed my mind and want to remove the custom domain.

Go to Church Settings → Domain, clear the Your web address field, and click Change domain. You'll see "Custom domain removed." Your public site is then only at the default timelychurch.com/c/your-slug address. You can also remove the DNS records at your DNS provider; they're no longer needed.

I want to switch to a different custom domain.

Enter the new domain on the Domain tab and click Change domain. TimelyChurch generates a fresh verification value. Add the new TXT record and the CNAME (or A) records for the new domain (and remove the old ones), then click Check that it is connected.

Related Articles

• Trial and Plan Selection
• Church Settings
• Custom Domain
• Magic Link Login for Members
• Quick Start Checklist