Having trouble getting WordPress on my existing site

I am new to WordPress and I have an existing website for my church. I completed the install of WordPress and when I did that I didn’t realize that it was going to create an “index.php” that caused the churches current site to “disappear”. So what was happening is whenever anyone would try to go to the site they would just get a blank white page, however if you typed in “/home” after the site address it would take you to the website (the old one, not WordPress).

I was able to fix this problem by removing the new “index.php” file, which by the way only contained the following code:

<?php
// Silence is golden.
?>

Now i would like to make it so that I can work on building and customizing the new WordPress site in a password secure area of our existing website, however i don’t know how to make it so i can actually see the WordPress site that I am creating. When I am in WordPress and follow the links to “view changes” and such it just takes me to my original website.

HELP!!!

I don’t want the WordPress site live for the world to see until everything is transitioned over and I have tested it all to make sure everything is how i want it displayed and that everything works.

Any help would be appreciated!