FaithTech Pivot: from Events to Community

Several months ago I asked a whole bunch of people I’d consider core to the FaithTech world this question: “what is FaithTech to you?”

The most common response: “oh, you’re that group that does cool events!” It was evident we had a problem.

First, most people used “your” language instead of “our’s.” They did not have ownership. They simply attended. Second, it was not a community nor a movement to them. It was an event based organization.

Now, there is a place for a group that does events. It just wasn’t what I felt God was leading FaithTech to become.

Community is where depth happens. Where problems are discussed. Where the messy things of life get dealt with. Additionally, community has a regular cadence in one’s life. It is something where we see others often, get into one another’s life, pray and experience genuine love.

James 5:16 says “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” Additionally, 1 Peter 4:8 says, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

Therefore as of September 2019, we officially began a process to pivot away from a group that focuses on doing events to a community that solves big problems.

Here’s how this looks:

• We will meet regularly in our cities. Our city communities are moving to meeting weekly in tech companies / coffee shops / homes as project teams or discussion groups and then once a month the entire city community meets. Chicago and Toronto have already made the pivot and Vancouver and Silicon Valley are preparing for the new year.
• We are focusing our efforts on FaithTech Labs. We want to be able to answer: “how do you go from a problem to a working tech solution with a group of volunteers?” We will build a model that shows it’s possible. (Here is one example: “Four volunteers build epic app for aviation charity”)
• At our monthly meet ups, there will be 3 simple parts: (1) eat together (2) learn together (3) build together — each project teams uses this time to work, plan and recruit new team members.

FaithTech exists to bridge the gap between faith and technology. We help people in the tech ecosystem find community and steward their skills to glorify God. Therefore we want our model to be simple yet have enough structure so that volunteer leaders can lead well.

Moving forward, we will still do one-off events like Hackathons OR global events like the Global Missional AI Summit. However, our resources and time will be focused on city-level community, connecting Christians in tech with one another and partnering with churches and charities that want to explore innovative ways to advance the mission of the Gospel!

If you are interested in being a part of a community like this, reach out to our leaders. We currently have communities meeting in Chicago, Silicon Valley, Vancouver, Toronto and Waterloo. Moreover, if you want to see a FaithTech Community launch in your city, reach out to me directly (email: james@faithtech.com or slack) to learn more!

Learn more about FaithTech at faithtech.com.

Want to join the movement? Start here.