--- title: How to use an own domain for my website? description: In case your church would like to have its own domain for its website, it is of course possible to set this up. After you have configured the necessary settings for your domain, enter the domain in your ChurchTools Website… url: "https://staging.churchtools.academy/en/help/website-and-finder/domain-en/14-how-to-use-my-own-domain-for-my-website/" updated: "2026-05-20" category: Website / Settings / Domain --- # How to use an own domain for my website? In case your church would like to have its own domain for its website, it is of course possible to set this up. After you have configured the necessary settings for your domain, enter the domain in your ChurchTools Website via Settings > Domain. [![](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/CleanShot-2024-11-15-at-21.38.25-1.png)](https://staging.churchtools.academy/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/CleanShot-2024-11-15-at-21.38.25-1.png) **Note** The DNS settings must be distributed throughout the internet which can take up to 24 hours. In our experience it is usually much quicker but if after 24 hours it still doesn't work, please contact our [Support](https://contact.church.tools/contact). Below you can find the settings that need to be set up for your domain. **Tip** You don´t want to do this yourself or are not exactly sure how to do it? Don't worry, you're not alone ;-). Just send us a [message](https://contact.church.tools/contact?language=en). We're happy to help you! ## Requirements As a prerequisite for using your own **domain** to access the ChurchTools website, you have to set the following settings for your domain: - A-record entries - and CNAME records (canonical name) - Both must point to the ChurchTools infrastructure. This is necessary for the accessibility of the website and for ChurchTools to be able to request valid SSL certificates for HTTPS access to the website. **Note** All websites are delivered with www. at the beginning. An automatic redirect from `kirche.de` to `www.kirche.de` or `meinestadt.kirche.de` to `www.meinestadt.kirche.de` is available, so that everyone can easily find the website. ## Important to know - If you have your own **(sub)domain** e.g. `church.de`, the website will be accessible via `church.de` and `www.church.de`. - It is not possible to make a website accessible only via `www.church.de`. - The **CNAME entries** for validating the SSL certificates, start with `_acme-challenge`. These are needed to validate with the certificate provider (Let's Encrypt) that ChurchTools is allowed to request certificates for the desired domain (and/or www-subdomain). - The **DNS entries** must remain in place as long as the domain is required for the ChurchTools website. The SSL certificates are valid for 90 days each and will be renewed automatically by ChurchTools. If you remove the `_acme-challenge` entries, the certificate cannot be renewed and will become invalid after 90 days at the latest. - It is not possible to offer a ChurchTools website without an SSL certificate. **Note** The **changes to the DNS settings described in the next section are effective immediately**. So if your previous website is accessible under, for example, `www.my-church.de` and you adjust the DNS settings for this domain, then the previous page can no longer be accessed under this domain. ## Which DNS entries must be set? The DNS entries below are required to make the ChurchTools website available via your own domain or subdomain. ### Simple domain (e.g. `church.de`) In this case you have to create **two A-Records** with the two public IP-addresses of the ChurchTools website loadbalancer: - `church.co.uk` => `159.69.173.172` - `church.de` => `159.69.173.173` In addition, **three CNAME records** are needed. Once for a forwarding and once for the SSL certificates: - `www.church.de` => `lbwha.ct-srv.de.` - `_acme-challenge.www.church.de` => `_acme-challenge.churchtools.website.` - `_acme-challenge.church.de` => `_acme-challenge.churchtools.website.` ### Subdomain (e.g. website.church.de) In this case you also have to create **two A-Records** with the two public IP-addresses of the ChurchTools website loadbalancer: - `church.co.uk` => `159.69.173.172` - `church.de` => `159.69.173.173` In addition, also **three CNAME records** are needed. Once for a forwarding and once for the SSL certificates: - `www.church.de` => `lbwha.ct-srv.de.` - `_acme-challenge.www.church.de` => `_acme-challenge.churchtools.website.` - `_acme-challenge.church.de` => `_acme-challenge.churchtools.website.` **Note** If you use Cloudflare as DNS provider, it is important that you set the *Proxy status* field as DNS-only. ## How to set the DNS records? Above we explained WHICH DNS entries you have to set. HOW you need to set them depends on the provider your domain is registered with. For some of these providers, we have found the appropriate help pages. You can find this list [here](https://staging.churchtools.academy/en/help/website-and-finder/domain-en/14-how-to-set-dns-records-with-my-provider/). #### Read more - [How to set up the start page?](https://staging.churchtools.academy/en/help/website-and-finder/erste-schritte-website/how-to-set-up-the-start-page/) - [How to change the title of my website?](https://staging.churchtools.academy/en/help/website-and-finder/general-settings/14-how-to-change-the-title-of-the-website/) - [How to change the design of my website?](https://staging.churchtools.academy/en/help/website-and-finder/design-settings/14-how-to-change-the-design-of-my-website/)