Editorial

Editorial standards

Governing edition: Vol. I, Spring 2026.

These are the specific standards our editors follow. They exist to give readers a consistent experience across 334,554 church pages and to give churches a predictable contract with the directory.

Church pages

• Every church is identified by its full legal or publicly used name — no marketing shortening.
• Street address, phone, website, and denomination are drawn from the church's Google Business Profile when available and from the church's own website as a fallback.
• Service times are published from the church's own schedule. We never guess.
• Photographs come from Wikimedia Commons, owner-supplied galleries, or our own editors. Each image is attributed.
• When a church is owner-claimed, the first-visit note and staff directory are the claimant's words, clearly framed as such. Our editorial baseline remains visible above them.

Tradition & denomination pages

• Denominational categorizations follow the church's self-description on its website or bulletin. We do not override a church's declared affiliation.
• The "What to expect at a service" primers are written by our editors, reviewed by at least one editor with affinity for that tradition, and revised on a rolling basis.
• We use the spelling each denomination uses for itself ("Anglican" rather than "Episcopalian" when the church is Continuing Anglican, for example).

State & city pages

• Featured Church selections rotate. They are editorial choices, not sponsored.
• State mottos and city introductions are checked against the state's own branding.
• Census figures come from the US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, cited on each neighborhood card.

Corrections

• Minor factual corrections are applied within one business day and noted in the page's change log.
• Major changes — historical claims, denominational re-categorization — require a second editor's sign-off.
• Deletions never happen quietly. Closed churches are marked closed; disputed claims are withdrawn with an editor's note.

Independence

• No advertising. No sponsored entries. No affiliate links to denominational vendors. Nobody can pay to appear in this directory, to appear higher in it, or to be written about.
• Where an editor has an interest adjacent to something we publish, we name it in the same place we publish it, and only where the thing itself is free. The notice on our home page about free search help for Orange County nonprofits is the editor’s own programme, and says so.
• No editor holds a paid position with any denomination, publisher, or software vendor we cite.
• Donation links on owner-claimed church pages lead to the church's own donation provider. We take no cut.