Too many leaders “don’t know” the impact of their tech

Let’s start with the obvious: church leaders are busy people.

Planning and hosting services. Pastoral care for the community. Leading groups while mentoring future leaders. Managing administrative duties, and a dozen other responsibilities besides.

Given such a packed schedule, keeping one eye on your technology’s effectiveness often gets slid to the backburner. Which makes sense, given that digital church solutions are designed to work in the background, streamline processes for your team, and make your lives a little bit easier.

However, it is necessary to understand the impact your tech is making in service of your mission. And one of the surprise results from the 2025 State of Church Technology report was how many leaders are unsure about the efficacy of their current digital tools.

This year’s report is titled “The Future of Connection.” That concept is central to Pushpay’s core purpose—to create technology that helps people connect with people—and was also a thread that resonated throughout the data we gathered from leaders across the country. 

This theme of connection isn’t limited to the Church. The spike in feelings of “loneliness” has consistently made headlines in recent years, so much so that the U.S. Surgeon General has declared loneliness as an epidemic.  

In recognition of those societal dynamics, we included several new questions in our fourth annual State of Church Tech report. The survey asked yes-or-no questions as to whether leaders believed tech had improved connection in their community, increased faith, boosted generosity, and reduced loneliness.

The responses to those questions (available in the full report) were overwhelmingly positive. However, the most striking data that arose from those yes-or-no questions happened because each question also included an “I don’t know” option.

It’s important to note that, in order to participate in the survey, respondents had to identify as either a technology “decision maker” or “influencer” in their church. That means these are the voices shaping digital decisions for their ministries. On top of that, 93% of this year’s respondents agreed that tech was important to achieving their church’s mission.

So, to sum up: The people responsible for their church’s approach to tech overwhelmingly agree that digital tools are critical to their mission—but large swaths of that group couldn’t tell you about the difference those tools are making in their community.

Why the disconnect? As acknowledged at the top, church leaders are extremely busy doing the ministerial work they were called to perform. Also, these questions are admittedly more abstract than those we’ve asked in previous years. Some hesitancy to commit one way or the other is to be expected.

But the answers to these questions aren’t trivial matters. Your current tech’s potency for spurring generosity in your congregation is a must-know. Understanding how well your digital tools are fueling faith and abating loneliness are essential variables in the equation of achieving your mission.

The report also revealed a parallel trend: Churches aren’t looking for a tech platform, they’re looking for a tech partner. The cost of adopting a new platform is less of a concern than ever, while access to a support team and guidance through the implementation process jumped in importance. 

Which is exactly how this relationship should work. From an automation standpoint, Pushpay Insights provides actionable data to help you better know and grow your congregation—and in doing so, deeply understand those questions about your tech’s efficacy so you can adjust your approach to ministry as necessary.

And when you have further questions, Pushpay’s here to act as a partner. Our award-winning customer service team is always available to answer your questions and help you refine your digital toolkit to better build connection in your community.

Want to see the full 2025 State of Church Technology report? Click below!

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