ELCA Innovation is excited to offer three tiers of support for digital ministry in 2026.
We recognize the challenges of digital ministry in our current landscape as a church and a society. We’ve developed these opportunities to support ELCA congregations and organizations in their digital ministry efforts and to encourage some creative and meaningful ministry ideas in your congregation or organization. As we collect feedback from congregations throughout the year, we also hope to curate additional digital ministry resources and learning opportunities, where needed.
The first tier of support for digital ministry is a limited number of Digital Assessments, which will be conducted by our contracted partner, Evoke Engagement Experts. Evoke works frequently with ELCA congregations and synods, offering a variety of digital services and marketing resources. A digital assessment is a process that will include a comprehensive review of your organization’s current online presence: your website, your social media pages, and how your organization ranks in search results.
Digital Assessment from Evoke
How to effectively get the word out about your congregation and ministries has changed significantly over the last 10 years.
Is your church asking questions like: Does our website share the right information? Why are people not finding our congregation? How much time should we dedicate to posting on social media? Then, a digital assessment from the communication experts at Evoke is an impactful starting point for your church.
Through an assessment of your congregation’s digital communication channels, you can learn:
· What channels/tools/strategies are performing the best for your church
· How engaging is the content you are posting on social media
· Simple updates to make your website easier to browse and engage new viewers
· Strategies you should keep doing to effectively share your mission with those in your community
· Areas of improvement to help increase the reach of your message and engagement with those who don’t know about your church yet
After analyzing your communication channels and analytics, Evoke will provide a recommendations report that will highlight their findings and offer a priority list of improvements to help your congregation better tell your (and God’s) story and make more disciples!
Sign Up for Digital Assessments Now Open
Within ELCA Innovation, we are grateful to Evoke and their team’s understanding of the joys and challenges of digital ministry in an ELCA context.
There are currently 25 slots available for digital assessments between now and August 2026.
Eligible organizations include ELCA congregations and synod-authorized worshipping communities and outreach ministries, as well as ELCA-affiliated campus and outdoor ministries.
Please note: A digital assessment will require the temporary sharing of your login information for any current accounts (website, social media, etc.) so that Evoke Experts can analyze your content and analytics. A digital assessment will entail: (1) Assessment of organization’s current digital presence and analytics (2) Report of findings and recommendations for improvement shared with organization (3) One 30-60 minute call with organization contact(s) to discuss report findings and next steps.
If you would like to sign up your ELCA congregation or affiliated organization for a digital assessment, please complete this linked online form: Organization Sign-up for Digital Assessment: Digital Ministry Support from ELCA Innovation (https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/GuqKtty7iG)
If your sign-up is approved, you will be contacted by Evoke Engagement Experts directly, to begin the process and share your account logins. ELCA Innovation staff may contact you about your digital assessment experience via email once your assessment has been completed.
If a large number of sign-ups are received up-front, the ELCA Innovation team reserves the right to randomly select five recipients per month from the sign-up list. If your organization is not selected to receive a digital assessment, you will be notified via email by ELCA Innovation staff from the address lab@elca.org at the end of August. Any sign-ups that are not selected in any given month will be automatically re-entered for future months.
When all digital assessments have been awarded in August 2026, the sign-up form will be deactivated and this post will be updated.
It’s possible we may offer a second round of digital assessments in the second half of 2026. If that is the case, we will re-post on our blog and website, as well as our Instagram feed.
Upcoming Digital Ministry Support
The second and third tier of Digital Ministry Grants will be launched later in 2026. We anticipate opening applications to ELCA congregations and affiliated organizations for the following grant awards:
· thirty $3,000 grants
· three $30,000 grants
The registration and application process for these grants will take place in ELCA GrantMaker. More information about these grants, award criteria and eligibility requirements will be available soon.
If you would like to be notified of the digital ministry grant application launch date and sent a copy of the grant application guide, please email lab@elca.org with the subject line “Request for Digital Ministry Grant Launch Notification”.