Technology Use in the Black Church: Perspectives of Black Church Leaders Preliminary Findings

Historically, the Black church has played a pivotal role in civic engagement and social justice, and continues to do so today. Yet, few researchers have explored how decisions around technology use are made in the church. To address this gap, we conducted semi-structured interviews with five Black church leaders to understand how church leaders interact with digital technologies, both in general and specifically with the communities that they serve. We found that while Black Church leaders are eager to engage with technology, most of the engagement with outside communities is through in-person contact; opportunities to give online have a financial penalty in comparison to traditional methods of tithing and donating; lastly, technology use within outreach and ministries is highly dependent by ministry leaders – many whom volunteer their time.We contribute to research that focuses on technology use in religious organizations and community engagement of community-based organizations.