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 Closed churches are marked closed; disputed claims are withdrawn with an editor's note.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.
• 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.