The New Church-Tech Divide is Missional, Not Digital

New report finds baseline tech tools are now common across churches. What separates them now is how they use them.

A newly released report from Barna Group and Pushpay suggests church leaders are moving beyond examining whether to adopt technology and instead asking: What role should technology play in helping the church carry out its mission?

The 2026 State of Church Technology report, titled Technology for Missional Impact, argues that digital tools are now standard in most churches. The question is no longer whether to use them, but what place they should have in worship, discipleship, and the life of the church.

Like many industry-backed surveys, the report is both research and branding. Pushpay, which partnered with Barna on the study, sells technology products to churches and has a commercial interest in portraying digital tools as increasingly essential to ministry. Pushpay says it commissioned the report to assess churches’ priorities and spot emerging trends so it can respond to their evolving needs.

The report draws on a late-2025 survey of 1,306 U.S. church leaders, most of whom are from non-mainline Protestant churches and more than half of whom are from congregations with fewer than 200 attendees. As a result, its findings are less about the cutting edge of megachurch tech and more about how mostly smaller churches are sorting out technology’s place in ministry.

A shift from adoption to alignment

Even with that interest in mind, the new report marks a shift in emphasis from last year’s. The 2025 State of Church Tech findings focused more heavily on adoption: livestreaming, online giving, QR codes, AI use, and return on investment. Last year, MinistryWatch reported that 45% of church leaders said they were using AI in some form, 87% of churches were livestreaming services, and churches were increasingly looking for ROI from technology purchases.

This year’s report suggests churches are settling into a calmer posture on tech adoption. Nearly all church leaders surveyed say digital tools open new opportunities for ministry and help the church fulfill its mission in today’s culture. About 78% even say technology makes ministry life easier.

Churches accept tech—but hesitate to give it too much credit

According to the report, church leaders largely accept digital tools as useful for connection, organization, and ministry support—91% say technology helps them better care for their community, and 79% say it has improved connection within their congregation.

But when asked about technology’s primary purpose, respondents most commonly point to communicating information clearly and effectively: 19% say its main purpose is reaching more people with the gospel, and another 19% say it makes ministry more efficient and organized. Only 9% name spiritual growth and discipleship as its primary purpose.

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When it comes to deepening faith, a solid 61% say technology has played an important role—but churches appear more comfortable calling tech supportive than formative.

Even with this higher number, the report suggests a remaining trust gap: 44% of church leaders say digital tools could pose risks to congregational health and growth, and a similar share worries technology could distract from or distort authentic ministry.

Notably, the report finds that senior pastors are more likely than staff members to see digital tools as a potential threat to the well-being of the church community. Staff are more likely to describe technology as essential to core functions, including worship. Taken together, the findings reflect an internal split between caution and day-to-day reliance, as leaders continue to weigh whether technology can support ministry without diluting it.

The “high-missional” churches

The report introduces Barna’s “missional technology” metric, a new measure based on how highly church leaders rate the importance of technology to their church’s mission in discipleship, worship, and community. Roughly one in four church leaders fell into the high-missional group.

Those churches stood out in several ways: nearly half of the leaders in these high-missional churches say they have seen increased engagement among Gen Z and Millennials over the past year. Sixty percent say their church is very effective at fostering reliance on the Holy Spirit for guidance and discernment, and 88% say technology has played an important role in deepening faith.

One of the report’s strongest assertions is that while more technology does not automatically mean a healthier church, churches that integrate technology more intentionally into mission report stronger relational and spiritual outcomes.

AI use is growing faster than AI governance

Artificial intelligence remains one of the most closely watched parts of the report, though the year-over-year comparison is not simple.

Pushpay’s 2025 report said AI use had risen sharply, from 25% in 2024 to 45% in 2025, with churches using it mainly for emails, social media, and other communication tasks rather than for sermons or devotional content.

This year’s report paints a more restrained picture. It says 33% of church leaders report that their church uses AI in ministry or operations, while 58% say their church does not. Interestingly, 60% of church leaders say they personally use AI at least a few times a month. MinistryWatch has also reported that AI use is rising more broadly among Christian ministry leaders, even as organizations vary widely in how formally they deploy it. The most common church uses are generating images or graphics, creating written content such as newsletters or sermon outlines, editing content, and generating social media posts. Developing sermons remains a minority use case.

That difference may reflect methodology or a distinction between personal use and official church use. Either way, many leaders appear to be experimenting with AI, while far fewer churches have institutionalized it.

What stands out more clearly in 2026 is the governance gap: 64% of church leaders say it is important for churches to have an AI policy, but only 5% say their church actually has one. Their biggest concerns center on plagiarism, compromised message integrity, loss of authenticity in preaching and teaching, and data privacy and security. Also, 83% express at least some concern about privacy and security.

Digital toolkits are now standard

In practical terms, the backbone of church technology has not changed much. According to the report, social media, online or mobile giving, livestreaming, church management software, QR codes, texting, and donor management remain the most widely used tools. The pattern is consistent with last year’s preview, which pointed to comparable adoption across the board.

Some differences may stem from wording or sampling rather than a true rise or decline. Overall, the broader trend appears steady: technology adoption has stabilized into a baseline set of tools.

Looking ahead, the report says ease of use, price, and reputation are the main drivers of new tech adoption. It also flags mobile church apps, tap technology, and multilingual tools as leading priorities for the next three years. That emphasis aligns with broader giving-and-operations trends that MinistryWatch has noted, as ministries prioritize tech investments such as automation and donor systems alongside donor engagement.

What the report suggests

The 2026 State of Church Technology report suggests churches have largely settled the adoption question and are now sorting out the boundaries of technology’s influence.

At the same time, the report suggests churches are not entirely comfortable with what they have adopted. Leaders credit technology with improving care and connection, yet remain cautious about its effect on congregational health. That tension is especially evident in the gap between growing AI experimentation and the much slower pace of AI governance development. All that begs the question—will improvements in governance close the divide in 2027?

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