Why a headless CMS setup is the way to go for churches and nonprofits
Please note: this article is written 100% by human hands, but the elements and .md file were created by a custom claude-code agent.
AI Definition: A headless CMS setup is simply a system to manage the content, and a secondary system to manage the design. It is called “headless” because the content system has no front end of its own; its only job is to store content and pass it to the design system. This layout allows anyone who is authorized to change content, update events, create simple pages, and make any daily modifications to the website without concern about breaking a layout or design.
There are many ways to build a headless CMS setup, our preferred method at Deliver Digital is utilizing wordpress for a CMS, and next.js as the frontend. Here are some example sites where we do just this:
Ekkleon.com
417Freelancers.com
dazeychurnflowers.com
SemiAlignments.com
As of September 10th, 2026, anyone can open up base44, Lovable, or some other variation to build a complex website. The problem happens when you want to make a change to the content two weeks later.
This approach uses an LLM to build the site, while keeping content simple enough for a person to manage day to day.
Follow these steps for a breakdown on getting a headless CMS setup for your church or nonprofit.
Step 1
Create a github account and repository.
This is completely free, follow this YouTube tutorial for more information: https://youtu.be/-RZ03WHqkaY?si=BugVNPtuHka65NaP
Step 2
Use your LLM of choice to create a next.js framework
To make this simple, use a code editor with github and LLM connection. At the end of this document is a .md file you can download, and give to your LLM model to build out exactly the functionality you need.
Step 3
Create a CMS backend using a system like WordPress
Deliver Digital uses wordpress with a few key plugins to connect all the information to our next.js site. This does require some configuring, instructions can be found on the .md file.
Step 4
Connect your repository to a deployment infrastructure like vercel
Vercel is a free platform (when under usage limits) that automatically deploys your website whenever your GitHub repository has activity. This means everytime you make a code change and push to github, it automatically publishes those changes to your website.
Step 5
Connect a custom domain and launch!
If you don’t already have one, purchase a domain, connect via dns records (Vercel tells you what to fill out) and then follow the standard publishing checklist to get your website found on Google.
