Looking through my email this morning, I came across this story about online giving for churches. I found it rather interesting.
With the online donation option, the diocese joined a growing group of churches nationwide that are using technology and the Internet to make weekly giving easier.So what do you think about this growing trend in light of a verse like…
Churches say high-tech donations are a response to changes in society, with fewer people carrying cash and using credit and ATM cards and the Internet to make transactions.
Just as the rich rule the poor, so the borrower is servant to the lender. – Proverbs 22:7, NLTAre churches encouraging their congregations to go into debt by using credit cards for weekly giving? Is that something a church should do?
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December 26, 2007 at 08:36
We use credit cards quite regularily. Our congregation also allows the use of debting ones bank account for the regular giving. But I will not shame myself, nor God, by making sacrificial giving trite. It’s too easy to just allow the transaction to go through.
Giving – as obedience – should be a struggle within the hearts of all Christians.
December 26, 2007 at 08:47
Our church just established a means for electronic fund transfers for those who would like to do it (especially when people travel, etc.), but I don’t believe we’re pushing it as a new norm.
I can’t quote book-chapter-verse on this one, but I believe the act of giving to the church is an act of worship, and should not be reduced to just another credit card transaction.
And there is scripture to remind us that giving should be as the Lord has prospered us, and that the borrower is slave to the lender. So going into debt to give to the church is just as wrong as giving to a TV evangelist instead of to a local church (I know that’s another topic, but…)
December 26, 2007 at 09:18
I sure hope they aren’t actively encouraging their congregations to go into debt. It doesn’t seem indicate that in the article.
However, I do see the concern that it may be an unintended side-effect. Considering our culture of debt, it seems unlikely that this payment option would be a trigger for someone to go into debt. Instead of avoiding the issue, the church should offer financial counseling of some sort, which probably is desperately needed anyway.
Another interesting side-effect of this payment option is the fact that the church no longer gets 100% of your offering. Should members give an extra 2.5% – 4% in order to offset the transaction fees?
December 26, 2007 at 09:18
No a church shouldn’t encourage its members to go into debt. However debit cards, not cash, are the way people who don’t want to go into debt are paying just about everywhere else. I literally write 2 checks a month. On the Sunday after the 15th and the Sunday after the 28th (if i remember my checkbook…sometimes its a few weeks before I remember to bring it). Every single other purchase is online or paid by my debit card. I’ll use cash if I have it but I rarely have any.
In this day of direct deposit where people rarely see their money and are increasingly moving away from check writing I don’t have a problem with people using debit cards. I do think credit card use should be discouraged but I don’t think the ability to use a credit card should render the entire payment medium useless to the church.
December 26, 2007 at 09:20
If you don’t like the idea of giving “through” a corporation, try out http://www.needsharing.org It is a web application that lets you find people in need and you give directly to them. According to the creator, it will be searchable by geographic area soon. It is also a great way to find people in need of your excess stuff.
December 26, 2007 at 11:21
We just ended online giving after offering it for a couple of years. We liked the fact that with the particular service we used we could require payment whenever people registered for events online, but were concerned about the possibility that it might allow someone to go incur debt. Wish we could distinguish between debit and credit cards or allow account drafts only, but it still seems a bit cold-blooded, even to someone who doesn’t carry cash (or even a checkbook) any more.
December 26, 2007 at 13:41
I believe that this is an awesome way for someone to give. The church should be teaching financial responsibility to all of its members, anyways. But like Chris said earlier, financially irresponsible folks shouldn’t render online giving unusable to the church. I don’t carry cash with me at all anymore and I never have a checkbook with me. I have missed a few tithe payments in the past because I didn’t have the checkbook with me and never remembered to bring it the next week either. Now that I have the ability to give online (In fact, I set it up!), I can make sure that I am always giving to God first.
December 26, 2007 at 22:44
I think it’s a good backup option to offer to the congregation, but I’ll personally never give regularly this way. For me the act of physically withdrawing actual cash and seeing it leave my hands makes me more conscious of my offering and reminds me not only of what I am giving, but what God has given me to allow it. If it’s a completely automated transaction that happens on a monthly basis for example, although the actual gift is the same, the heart element is definitely NOT the same for me. Everybody’s different, but for me it gets a thumbs-down.
December 26, 2007 at 22:47
It really is the “first fruits” when the first transaction is to the church. Online giving allows that money to be paid first whether Sunday is the day after payday or not.
December 27, 2007 at 05:03
I never thought of using a credit card to make an online donation to my church. I give to my church online using my checking account debit card. I choose to do this because I attend an SBC church, and I find “passing the plate” so distasteful that I give online so as to not play a part in the ritual.
December 27, 2007 at 13:15
Hi brothers & sisters.
Tithing is always important as we honor our God with what He provides us with as part of our loving adoration in obedience to His holy Word.
The topic at hand is rather clear and Scripture teaches it so well. Praise God!
No indebtedness is encouraged by God and yet, credit is an asset that when wisely used is of great help.
If we choose an electronic means to tithing or a personal one, God blesses the heart that gives freely, abundantly and gladly regardless of the method, provided it follows Paul’s recommendations in 1st and 2nd Corinthians.
Grace, mercy and peace unto you all.
In Him by His grace.
December 27, 2007 at 14:30
I think I can see plus points and minus points, but that the main thing is that the church teaches how to give from a spiritual standpoint and leaves the how up to the giver. Some people can’t access cash easily and cheques are getting expensive to process – Sainsbury’s is a major UK supermarket and will no longer accept cheques: cash or electronic money only.
On a related note, I’ve seen one or two UK congregations that are Amazon affiliates.
December 29, 2007 at 19:05
Does anybody use paper checks except those who give to their churches who have held out on electronic giving? Even paper checks are processed electronically at the banks.
January 11, 2008 at 00:14
This is an interesting topic. Our church has decided against it because we don’t want to encourage debt. We have a Crown Ministries program at our church and this would seem hypocritical.
In my research on church use of the Internet, I did come across one church that was able to find a service provider who would distinguish between credit cards and transfers from a checking account. The guy I talked to said that the servicer thinks that they are a “pain in the butt”, but that they decided it was the only way they could do it. They are a large church and had enough transactions to make it worth it.
Dave