Connect your own domain

If you own a domain, like yourchurch.org, you can make it your website’s main address. Your culminate.life address keeps working too and takes visitors to your domain.

You can connect a bare domain (yourchurch.org) or a subdomain (give.yourchurch.org). You’ll need to sign in to the company where you bought the domain, like GoDaddy, Namecheap, Google Domains, or Cloudflare, to add one or two DNS records.

Open Organization → App & Web, and find Your own domain on the Web tab.

Connect a domain

1. Select Connect domain.
2. In Domain, type your domain, like yourchurch.org. You can paste a full web address; the https:// and www. are removed for you.
3. For a bare domain, choose the Main address:
   • www.yourchurch.org (recommended). It works with every domain company.
   • yourchurch.org, without the www.
   
   The other one works too, and sends visitors to your main address. A subdomain like give.yourchurch.org has no www choice.
4. Select Connect.

The domain shows Waiting for DNS, with the records to add.

Add the DNS records

Each record has a Type, a Name, and a Value. Select the copy button next to a value to copy it.

Records marked Required are needed before the domain can go live. Recommended records make the other form of your domain work, so people who type it with or without www still reach you. Once we find a record, it shows Found.

At your domain company:

1. Open the DNS settings for your domain. They might be called DNS, DNS records, Zone editor, or Advanced DNS.
2. Add each record with the type, name, and value shown in the dashboard. If there’s already an A record for @ or a CNAME for www, change it instead of adding a second one.
3. Save.

Back in the dashboard, select Check now. We also keep checking in the background, and the page updates while you wait. DNS changes can take up to an hour to show.

Going live

When the required record is found, the domain shows Securing (HTTPS) while we get a security certificate for it. This usually takes a few minutes. Then it shows Active, and your site is live at your domain.

If something goes wrong, it shows Needs attention with what happened. Fix the records, then select Check now.

To stop connecting a domain before it’s live, select Cancel, then Cancel connecting.

Switch between www and the bare domain

For a bare domain, Main address lets you switch between www.yourchurch.org and yourchurch.org at any time, even after it’s live. Both records must be found before you can switch to a form. The change can take a few minutes to apply.

If the other form isn’t set up yet, you’ll see “… doesn’t work yet”, with the record to add.

Change or disconnect your domain

• Change domain connects a different domain. Your current domain stays live until the new one is ready.
• Disconnect domain (the broken-link button) takes your domain off your site. Your site moves back to your culminate.life address right away, and your domain stops working. You can connect it again later.

When a domain can’t be connected