Edgar Allan created Journi, a singular education path for Lutheran leaders, out of hundreds of scattered resources.
We gave ELCA an easy-to-manage and fully ownable experience through strategically-chosen low-code and third-party managed services.
Hundreds of pages of content into one path for Lutheran leaders
Facing a gap in leadership talent, The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) needed a modern, accessible way to inspire and train potential church leaders as they answered the call. The organization had the materials. EA provided the audience research, content strategy, user journeys, and build of both the educational experience and a streamlined B to C marketing site.
"I was able to trust the Edgar Allan team to not just deliver but surprise us with their strategic and creative expertise. I’m thrilled to have had them help us launch this important resource into the world."
Jocelyn Fuller, Senior Director of Strategic Communications
The ELCA serves as the organizing body for more than 9,000 Lutheran churches across the US, but the faith’s numbers have been declining, leaving not only empty pews but a lack of rising leadership. EA worked with the organization to develop, plan, and implement a modern marketing presence, multi-step awareness campaign, and define user journeys, create content, and build an entire LMS designed to guide young leaders toward chaplaincy.
The Journi content problem started with dozens of recorded interviews with ELCA leadership, and hundreds of scattered digital and PDF resources. We organized the chaos by creating personas, identifying target journeys, and then defining the experience with detailed audience maps. The complexity culminated in phased coursework and drip campaigns served up via a platform built on top of Webflow.
Building the path of least resistance
We wanted the ELCA to fully own and easily manage Journi over time, so low-code, third-party managed services were strategically chosen. They offered serious advantages, including the potential for regular upgrades and less of a need to rely on an outside resource to maintain the system.
To help ELCA’s internal IT team handle and evolve the experience long-term, we chose to build in a combination of Webflow and ActiveCampaign, with some custom features in Ruby on Rails. Low-code tools also allowed us to shorten development time to just two months — all for a super-rich user experience that features personalized content, custom badges and streak awards, individualized user choice paths, connected content suggestions, and tracking of which resources Journi faithful have consumed over time.
