Migration and Content Management at Scale: Christianity Today’s Digital Transformation

Challenge

Christianity Today reaches millions worldwide with news, insightful analysis, and diverse perspectives. Featuring topics ranging from global missions to evolving cultural trends. As the organization’s digital audience grew, a scalable, multilingual, user-friendly website required migration and content management at scale to maintain its impact and serve its modern readership.

To future-proof their website, expand the organization’s reach, and enhance the user experience, Christianity Today required a comprehensive digital transformation utilizing WordPress. Migrating from a legacy CMS (with little to no documentation) that had been used for over twenty years to a modern WordPress multisite on WordPress VIP delivers a faster, more intuitive platform for managing content and subscriptions. Major enhancements included a multi-phase data migration (the process of moving information in stages), 301 redirects (permanent web address redirection), Google Ad Manager integration (for advertising management), advanced search with custom taxonomies (custom content categories and tags), and the use of Gutenberg’s flexible block-based editing system, all unified in a custom multisite solution.

Solution

Increased workflow efficiency through migration and content management

Christianity Today needed a scalable solution to unify content workflows across its digital properties. Moving to WordPress Multisite now allows editors and administrators to manage multiple brands on a single platform. This enables content creators to switch between sites while retaining unique settings. New verticals or microsites can be added easily. This multisite integration streamlines operations, centralizing content management, reducing duplication, ensuring consistency, and safeguarding against unintended changes.

As a result, collaboration strengthened. Editors focus on content creation without technical obstacles. A custom Gutenberg block system provides a drag-and-drop interface, enabling editors to create engaging articles using pre-designed blocks. Special layouts, such as breaking news or long-form pieces, and features like pull quotes, image galleries, and video or podcast players, resolve quickly, eliminating the need for developer support. This streamlines publication and maintains consistency even in a multilingual context.

Christianity Today continues to scale and engage its audience through a custom WordPress multisite redesign. The new design features advanced search integrations, individualized bookmarking, multiple subscription options, and more.

Key Stats

“This project was a monumental task, years in the making, and one of the most fulfilling challenges of my career. What stood before our small tech team a year ago was not only a complete redesign but a migration off the CMS that had served us faithfully for two decades.”

MATT METCALF, FULLSTACK DEVELOPER, CHRISTIANITY TODAY