The church tech tension the data can’t resolve

Most church leaders have a version of the same story. A new tool was going to fix the problem. It fixed part of it, created two others, and now sits in a browser tab that nobody opens anymore. That’s not an argument against technology. But it does suggest that the conversation churches are having about technology, or the one they should be having, goes deeper than which software to choose.

The 2026 State of Church Technology Report, developed by Pushpay in partnership with Barna Group from a survey of more than 1,300 U.S. church leaders, tries to name what’s actually going on. The picture it surfaces is more complicated than a simple “churches love tech” headline.

Optimism is real

Start with this: 95% of church leaders agree that digital tools open new opportunities for ministry. That’s a high level of consensus for any question put to a group this large and this theologically diverse. And 79% say technology has improved connection within their congregation.

So the skeptics-versus-adopters frame that dominated church tech conversations five years ago has largely dissolved. Most leaders, across church size, denomination, and geography, believe technology works. The harder question is what they mean by “works,” and for whom.

Because the same data that shows broad optimism also shows real divergence—in how confident leaders feel, in whether they see technology as a ministry partner or just an administrative convenience, and in how prepared their teams are for what’s coming next. The report doesn’t flatten those differences. It maps them.

The AI gap nobody’s closed

There’s a significant gap between how many church leaders are personally using AI and how many churches have any shared framework around it—we dug into the numbers and what to do about them here. But the policy question, as real as it is, may actually be the easier one.

Churches that have gone deep with technology, the report calls them “high-missional tech” churches, see measurably stronger outcomes in almost every category measured. Generational engagement. Congregational connection. Leaders’ sense that technology has deepened their congregants’ faith. The correlation is consistent enough that it’s hard to dismiss.

And yet more than half of senior pastors believe digital tools pose risks to the health of their congregation. That number drops significantly among church staff, which raises its own question about what pastors are weighing that their teams aren’t.

The concern pastors most frequently raise isn’t about cybersecurity or budget or vendor lock-in. It’s about authenticity. When your tools get efficient enough, you start asking what you’re trying to preserve. What does pastoral presence look like when communication scales? These aren’t questions with clean answers, and the report doesn’t pretend otherwise.

What data can’t settle

The research from Pushpay and Barna can tell you what 1,300 church leaders believe, fear, and prioritize. They can show you where the gaps are between stated values and actual practice. What they can’t tell you is how the leaders navigating this best are actually thinking about it—the tradeoffs they’ve made, the guardrails they’ve built, the places they’ve decided technology doesn’t belong.

That’s exactly what the March 19 webinar is for.

Matthew Sanders, CEO of Longbeard; Jon Plotner, Executive Pastor at Bethany Community Church; and Mackenzie Holmes from the leadership team at NEUMA LA will be working through the report’s findings live, including the questions the data raises but can’t answer on its own. It’s a virtual event, free to attend, and it starts at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The churches working through this well aren’t the ones with the most sophisticated tools. They’re the ones willing to ask the harder question out loud. March 19 is a good place to start.