Tech Trends that can help your Ministry in 2020

There is so much advancement happening in the technology field that helps us on a daily basis. Whether it is the development of the smart home or cloud computing, technology is developing at a rapid pace these days. From a ministry perspective, it seems like it was just yesterday I was using a Day Timer paper planner to keep myself organized as a Middle School Intern. I then went to a Palm Pilot, then a Palm Treo and then ultimately to an iPhone, all within a span of 10 years. We benefit from these advancements not only personally but professionally as well.

As we enter 2020 there is new technology and updates to current tech that is trending on a high note right now. Staying current and up to date on this technology can really help you and your ministry. Here are some tech trends for 2020 that your ministry should be aware of and look to implement in some way.

5G – This is the next-in-line to 4G (LTE/WiMax). 5G boasts a theoretical maximum speed of 20 Gigabits per second which is a ton faster than the quickest LTE network today. One way that this will help you in your ministry is download and upload speed. For example, if you want to download a 2-hour movie for a ministry gathering, 4G can do that in 8 minutes. With 5G, you will be able to download the whole movie in just 3.6 seconds. Faster is better, especially when you are limited in time. Samsung’s S10 already has a 5G phone out and Apple is preparing to release 5G enabled iPhones in the Fall.

AI – AI is not new as you experience it daily with Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri as well as other products all over. AI is “a system’s ability to correctly interpret external data, to learn from such data, and to use those learnings to achieve specific goals and tasks through flexible adaptation.” (reference). While it is not anything new, what will be happening in 2020 and beyond is more AI development and products. Here are a variety of ways you can use AI for ministry purposes.

Drones – Just like AI, drones are not new. However, what is happening is that they are becoming more affordable and providing better camera quality. This helps ministries that like to do videos and pictures without having to pay a fortune in overall cost of a new camera or hiring a camera professional for great quality. You can use a drone to take pictures and videos that will help promote or highlight an event in your ministry. Here is a list of drones you may want to look at.

Gaming. Gaming has come a long way since I was a child (my family owned an Atari). The Nintendo Switch is extremely popular now with plenty of student ministries purchasing these for ministry use (I have one for our ministry and students love it). In 2020 Xbox and Playstation are both releasing new consoles that should be hits with students and great way to engage and interact with them for social events or big youth events.

VR and AR – Virtual Reality (VR) puts the user in an environment while Augment Reality (AR) enhances the users environment. Both AR and VR have been around for a bit (smartphones use AR a good amount now). I first heard about VR at a digital ministry conference 5 years ago and Churches were just starting to think about the possibilities of having a Virtual Reality Church experience. You can check out what VR Church is doing or what other Churches are doing with VR and apps to get some ideas on what is possible.

Cyber Security. As with everything great that happens in technology to help us, there is always some people out there that want to use these developments to hack and steal from others. That is why it is so important that what we put more things on “the cloud” is secure. Use secure passwords and protect your accounts so your stuff is secure.

These are the tech trends I see happening headed in 2020 and continuing to develop. There are a lot of other tech trends happening that are not listed. That is due in large part because while they may help us personally, there is not a direct ministry implication as of yet. As these trends continue to develop and grow, there will be a lot of ways ministries can begin to use them.

What do you think? What tech trends are you seeing in 2020 that can help your ministry?   Share your thoughts or experiences below or on social media using #ymsidekick when you share.

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