A CHURCH in London was a hive of innovation at the weekend as Christian technologists gathered for a 24-hour hackathon event.

The Kingdom Code’s annual BUILD event teamed coders, developers, and programmers with ministry partners, including Stewardship, Safe Families UK, and Mission Assist, to create, design, and build apps and programmes.

Working in the sanctuary of St John’s, Hoxton, from late afternoon last Friday through to 8 p.m. on Saturday, they worked on games, giving apps, AI tools, and assistive-listening technology. Regular prayer and worship punctuated the tapping away at laptops and tablets, while some participants brought sleeping bags so that they could nap while working through the night.

The event, which has been running for 15 years, attracted about 100 people from across Europe. Many met for the first time around their project table.

The director of digital and content strategy at the Bible Society, Toby Beresford, said that the charity took part in Kingdom Code because it was a place where new ideas for digital apps could be tried and tested: “We are aware that the digital world is a mission field in and of itself. We really want to see the Bible being part of that mission.

PHIL CREIGHTONOne hundred people attended the event in St John’s, Hoxton

“You can get quite a long way in 24 hours and have a workable prototype that people can touch, feel and try. For Bible Society, it’s a really good way of seeing innovation happen with some great Christian designers, developers, and entrepreneurs.”

Another team, led by Onyinye Nwachukwu and sponsored by Christians Against Poverty, developed a tool to help debt clients to upload and process paperwork. “The project automates the scanning and processing of documents,” she said. “It means debt coaches can have extra time to build a relationship with a client, providing them with help and support.”

The team at Discipleship Tech worked on expanding The Serpent and the Seed — currently an adventure game for smartphones — for desktop computers. “We wanted to build something a non-Christian would enjoy playing,” Andy Geers, who organised the event, said.

FaithTech, an international movement linking Christians in the technology industry, supported the event. Its director of global communities, Kevin Burgess, flew in from Canada for it and said: “The volunteers take these causes, problems, and challenges, and try and not just build redemptive solutions, but build in a redemptive way.”

Next year’s BUILD will be held from 9 to 10 October, hosted by FaithTech London. For more information, visit: kingdomcode.org.uk and faithtech.com