From October 19-21, approximately 600 coders, designers, marketers, strategists, evangelists, and others gathered in 30+ cities to work on 50+ projects of missional importance. Beginning in Auckland, New Zealand and ending in California in the United States, hackers collaborated in this global missional hackathon, using their talents for God in the digital space. Here is a brief look at what happened across the globe during the weekend.

Asia

Bangkok, Thailand: Two projects were prototyped at #HACK Bangkok, including the creation of a mentorship program that offers career advice as a way of reaching students who are difficult to reach with a Gospel-first evangelical approach.

Chiang Mai, Thailand: Hackers at #HACK Chiang Mai tackled the problem of human trafficking through creating a data input for trafficking cases. They also worked on creating a Bible correspondence course for tribal groups and improved a website for reaching Thai youth.

Hong Kong: This was a single-day event where hackers created a database of local churches to help people find a relevant church near them.

Iligan City, Philippines: This event was postponed and will happen later in the year.

Manila, Philippines: Thirty-five participants at #HACK Manila worked on five projects, including a dating app called MODO that promotes a healthy and wholesome environment for meeting people.

Singapore: Participants at #HACK Singapore worked on a few projects, including a project to disrupt the city’s sex trafficking industry, a project that began at the previous year’s event.

Oceania

Auckland, New Zealand: Participants at #HACK Auckland worked on two exciting projects focused on Pacific islands. The first was building a website for Great Commission Ministries to serve the people of Papua New Guinea. They also created a “standing order form,” a software service that allows local ministries to print on top of a PDF form for submitting automatic payments. The second was Pukapuka Visual Bible Story, creating an audio and visual version of a Bible story in Pukapuka, a minority language in the Cook Islands.

Melbourne, Australia: The Aussies at #HACK Melbourne worked on four projects, including AI to give language coaching for missionaries and a project to provide free water to impoverished areas, and digital Gospel tracts in 59 languages. “God got the right people here for the projects that we’re doing,” says city lead Joshua Montzka. “When you bring together people who are passionate about technology and passionate about the Lord, there’s a desire for it not to end,” says Michael, a first-time attendee. “I’m excited to see how this can develop into an effective combination of faith, technology, and passion for the Kingdom beyond just short-term projects,” he said.

Africa

Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire: Ten students and young professionals at #HACK Abidjan worked on a discipleship app and a video explaining the Four Spiritual Laws.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: At #HACK Addis, 40 young digital practitioners took part in the hackathon, working on projects such as a Bible App based on blockchain technology. Prior to the event, the local Indigitous team shared about the vision of Indigitous for an hour on a private TV station.

Harare, Zimbabwe: This event has been postponed and will happen later in the year.

Jos, Nigeria: Those who attended #HACK Jos worked on projects such as the Walking With Jesus Bible Study App, AskBuddy — a question-driven mentorship app, and the Dwell in the Word Bible Game.

Kampala, Uganda: 27 participants from Uganda, Kenya, and the DRC collaborated on three missional projects.

Lagos, Nigeria: The attendees of #HACK Lagos collaborated with those at #HACK Jos on the three projects listed above.

Lomé, Togo: Among the projects worked on at #HACK Lomé was a mobile library of content to act as a bridge between villages through the sharing of testimonies, music, and more.

Nairobi, Kenya: Twenty participants, most of whom were attending #HACK for the first time, collaborated on three projects, including a project to connect patients to doctors using Artificial Intelligence.

Europe

Chișinău, Moldova: Participants at #HACK Chișinău met in two locations to collaborate on three challenges, the Library CMS Challenge, the Gospel Storytelling Challenge, and the Street Child Challenge.

Hilversum, Netherlands: In the Netherlands, hackers collaborated on two projects, including a game for a Knowing God website in the Netherlands that can be used by churches, schools. The 30-second game offers “a really small step to faith,” says city lead Jacob Vis.

London, United Kingdom: 120 hackers gathered for Kingdom Code BUILD, part of #HACK, and formed 23 teams working on projects such as a way to track your weekly spending and suggest a 10% tithe to a charity of your choosing, a Bible story app that presents the narrative in a more modern and engaging way, and a Bible reading project that uses a virtual garden that grows or withers based on your reading engagement.

North America

Austin, Texas (U.S.): This event has been postponed and will happen later in the year.

Chicago, Illinois (U.S.): This event has been postponed and will happen later in the year.

Louisville, Kentucky (U.S.): Those who took part in #HACK Louisville were the first to use a new yet-to-open coworking space. While at the new venue, they worked on a project to gain a greater understanding of food insecurity within the city.

Modesto, California (U.S.): Sixteen Modesto hackers finished a project that began at the previous year’s #HACK event, creating a highly secure one-way communication platform for missionaries in secure countries. At the end of the #HACK, they had a working Minimum Viable Product to use and test.

Silicon Valley, California (U.S.): Those who attended the event in Silicon Valley met in a local church’s co-working space, made to serve the community through allowing events like this. Attendees had two seperate tracks from which to choose, taking part in the hackathon or taking part in a design sprint to build prototypes to help Foster the Bay provide a loving home for every child in the Bay Area.

Toronto, Ontario (Canada): This event has been postponed and will happen later in the year.

Latin America

Panama City, Panama: Participants at #HACK Panama City worked on two projects, including a personality test that uses the Jesus Film, a project that was started at the previous year’s event. For city lead Selegna Díaz, one of the highlights was having participants from two different missionary organizations. “It brought a lot of good ideas of how to work together as a body of Christ,” Selegna says.

Rio de Janeiro, Brasil: Thirty hackers worked on five different projects that tackled issues such as mental health, global aid, and more. One project, called Late News, focused on bringing the Gospel to persecuted areas with no access to the Internet. “God worked miracles this week and it’s been really special for us, experiencing everything God is doing as a way for us to be sure that He is with us,” says city lead Adryana Diniz. “God is blessing us because we are doing something important for the church.”

Salvador, Brasil: Twelve people formed two teams working on projects of missional importance.