As part of our latest study, the State of the Church 2020 project, we set out to learn how practicing Christians—a group already notably committed to their faith and to attending churches—describe the presence of technology in their faith formation, from weekly sermons to weekday drives.

Barna has been looking at the impact of technological advances for some time. (To read more about Barna’s exploration of the digital age, check out this post.) Overall, we see that the influence of recent digital trends on churchgoers is undeniable, though perhaps not as extreme as you’d expect. Further, there appears to be great opportunity to thoughtfully use digital tools toward the goal of spiritual growth.

The Video Sermon Fad Isn’t a Trend Just Yet In recent decades, there has been increased interest in livestream or satellite services, in which congregations, typically at mega- or multi-site church campuses, rely upon a video feed or in some cases even a hologram to hear from a speaker. But while the buzz around these technologically advanced sermons has grown, that might not be true of their usage. New Barna data suggest these services are still a novelty. Very few—just 2 percent of practicing Christians—say they attend a church that uses a video or livestream sermon, with the large majority (97%) still sitting under the teaching of a live, in-person preacher. Though respondents in larger churches (200+ attendees) are more likely than those in smaller churches to report receiving virtual sermons, the group of attendees is still too small overall to be reported on with any statistically significant detail.

Millennials Use Devices More at Church—But Are They More Distracted? If technology hasn’t exactly transformed the way sermons are delivered, it has at least had an effect on what congregants regularly do during sermons.