Why We Hack

Innovation doesn’t happen in isolation.

It takes people — gathered with purpose, aligned around mission, and willing to build together.

At Gloo, we believe that open communities must gather together. To learn from one another. To share ideas. And to build what none of us could accomplish alone. One of the most powerful ways we’ve seen that happen is through hackathons.

Code and Calling

Imagine a room full of people from different walks of life—developers, students, technologists, pastors—all huddled around laptops and whiteboards, chasing bold ideas together. Incredible things happen when a group of people unite around a shared mission, working urgently, creatively, and in community.

We’ve seen it again and again: breakthroughs born not from solitude, but from shared purpose and real-time collaboration. That’s why we love hackathons.

If you’ve never been to one, the word hackathon might sound a little intimidating. But at its core, it’s a simple and powerful idea: gather people, give them a challenge, and a limited amount of time—and watch what happens. Hackathons are all about creative constraint. They’re about solving real problems with what you have on hand, uncovering unexpected solutions under pressure.

Think Apollo 13. Faced with life-or-death constraints, engineers had to build a CO₂ filter out of duct tape, tubing, and spare parts. That spirit, the drive to build something meaningful under pressure, is exactly what fuels hackathons. It's not about polish or perfection. It's about possibility.

And when that energy is directed to work rooted in faith and purpose, the results can be transformative.

Hackathons become launchpads for bold ideas. They create space for rapid experimentation and risk-taking. They bring urgency, alignment, and a spark of divine creativity. Most of all, they help people move from intention to action, to make real progress on the things that matter most.

A Glimpse From The Field

Recently, we hosted a hackathon in partnership with FaithTech in Dubai, UAE. It was an extraordinary gathering of leaders from across the globe who came together with one goal: to meet the real-world needs of churches and ministries in the Middle East.

Over 60 participants joined 8 teams to explore urgent challenges:

• Improving resource distribution among churches

• Protecting sensitive ministry work in an age of surveillance

• Exploring web3 and blockchain for secure mission communication

• Building agentic AI tools so human relationships can flourish

The results were inspiring.

The winning team developed a secure discipleship network powered by blockchain. It allows missionaries to safely invite others into a conversation in high-risk regions using biometric-secured app with one-time access codes. Once in the app, users can safely find and message other nearby believers through encrypted groups, track and monitor trust over time, and ultimately form deeper connections—all while remaining anonymous and protected. It was a bold, beautiful solution, and built in just a few days.

Planning to Hack?

We love hackathons and would love to tell others about what you are planning. If you are organizing a hackathon, or an innovation event of any time, that is happening soon, would you let us know? We’d love to hear about it!

You can submit it here and we will add it to FaithStack, an emerging hub that we are building focused on missional innovation. We want to help innovators find each other, share ideas, and build tools that serve people and glorify God.

And wherever you are, we encourage you to gather with a community. Connect with someone different. Build something bold.

It just might change everything.

Written by Ali Llewellyn & Nick Skytland