Electronic Giving

A year ago, Brian Kluth explained the seven reasons churches should offer e-giving options now.

7 Reasons Churches Should Offer Electronic Giving Options
Why an offering plate and giving box can't cut it alone anymore.
by Brian Kluth

For many years, churches pondered (and even debated) whether to collect offerings by placing a box in the back of the sanctuary or by passing the plate. Today there is a much more important issue that is transforming how people give and how churches collect offerings: various forms of electronic giving, such as websites, mobile devices, electronic funds transfer, and more.

To dramatically illustrate my point, consider what would happen if you went up to the average 28-year-old and asked that person to write you a check for something. In most cases, he or she would look at your strangely and say something like, “Checks? Ahhh, I don’t use checks.” But the truth is, whether someone is 28, 38, 58, or 78, fewer people are using checks and instead are using various forms of electronic options for all of their financial and giving transactions.

So, let’s take a look at the top 7 reasons your church must offer (more) electronic giving options:

1. Scripture instructs ministers to “collect” people’s offerings. When I have been in other countries, I have sometimes seen churches use VERY LARGE offering baskets (as big as waste paper baskets!) to collect people’s offerings. People were taught to “give from what they had,” which often included eggs, bread, rice, money, and so on. The baskets had to be large enough to hold everything people brought. In some cases, I saw churches that built “tithe houses” so people could bring the best portion of their harvest to the church.
The biblical mandate is that ministers “collect” people’s offerings and churches and ministers need to use whatever methods are available and most helpful to empower their people to be faithful and generous givers.

2.Some of your people do not use checks at all. Or, many will not have a check with them in the service. When you limit giving options to checks or cash, those without checks either will give nothing or will only put in a small amount of cash since they don’t carry much cash and mainly use debit cards, credit cards, smart phone apps, and online transactions to handle their finances.

3. Each weekend, 25 percent to 30 percent of the people who regularly attend your church are gone. If you have a church of 100 people, your average weekly church service attendance is probably 70 to 75 people. In a church family of 1,000 people, you likely have 700 to 750 attending on Sunday. Sickness, family commitments, sports, vacations, out-of-town trips, and other reasons will keep many people away from church each Sunday. Most people that miss a church service also will miss giving because the church has limited their giving opportunity to just a few minutes during a worship service. While some people will give more the next time they are in the service, most people will not.

4. Each weekend, 10 percent to 15 percent of your people will be in the building but will not make it to the worship service. Many people that serve in the nursery or a Sunday school class often miss going to a worship service on the weekends when they serve. There are a number of people who will only be able to get to church for one hour, and will choose to attend their Sunday school class rather than the worship service. When you limit giving to only happen in a worship service, many of these people will not give at all.

5. Electronic giving is a growing trend that will not go away. Church leaders must respond in a positive and appropriate way. Technology donation companies are finding more and more churches and nonprofits are turning to them to help fulfill their desire to offer electronic giving options. As a growing number of people depend on electronic giving to manage their finances, churches must come along side their people to help them be faithful and generous givers. Electronic giving is here to stay and it is growing. While ministering in a church in Australia, I found out from the pastor that more than 90 percent of people’s giving was done electronically (online, electronic funds transfers, and through giving “cards” in the pews that allowed people to give by debit or credit card).

6. Electronic giving helps you easily connect for special offerings. In every church, there are monies collected for a variety of things beyond the general weekend offerings, including building projects, benevolence giving, missions projects, missions trips, Christmas offerings, year-end offerings, pastor and staff love offerings, and more. When you have electronic giving available, a simple e-mail with a "Click here to donate" link is all you need to encourage generosity that will generate significant extra gifts in your church family. Without electronic giving, you're confined to collecting an offering in the church services and sending out time-consuming and expensive mailings.

7. Churches in America are in the midst of the worst economic downturn in our lifetime. In the annual STATEofthePLATE.info research we conduct in partnership with Christianity Today International, we are in the midst of a 2-year, double-digit percentage decline in church giving--something we've never experienced in our lifetime. Nearly 40 percent of churches last year saw their giving decrease from the year before.

I believe that scarcity brings clarity. We are now at a time when we need to teach God’s Word on finances and generosity and create as many ways as possible for people to be faithful and generous givers to God’s work. This will mean offering more electronic ways for people to give 24/7/365.

Evaluating E-giving Options
When working with any company that can provide electronic giving options for your people, you want to make sure they can offer you:
Online giving (one-time, recurring).
Electronic funds transfers (where people sign up to have their offerings withdrawn weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly) from one of their financial accounts.
Debit and/or credit card giving options (some churches prefer to only use debit cards).
PDA/iPhone/Blackberry/Cell/Smart phone applications.
Facebook fan page donations. o The ability to collect and process debit/credit card information on a mail-in offering envelope, sanctuary offering envelope, or registration form for a retreat, conference, event, and so on.
Note: While there are some small fees associated with processing electronic giving, the amount you gain will be far, far, far greater than any costs incurred.
In closing, if you are collecting offerings by passing the plate and/or by having a box in the back, don’t stop doing this! With electronic giving, you are adding to what you are currently doing. This provides people with a variety of workable options for them to be faithful and generous givers to the Lord’s work.

These seven reasons make a great case for online giving.

I suggest this article be distributed at your next Finance and Stewardship or Board Meeting. Members should give online giving serious consideration.

Jan Couch
Stewardship Ministries Director

Prayer Line

Bro. Jones,
We kicked off the prayer line last Saturday the 11th. Bro. Clint Knowles started the prayer line with the opening prayer. Bro. Sylvester Smith, Bro. Taylor and Sister Judy Lyles prayed for our national and international leader ships, state leaderships and for a spiritual revival for our churches globally. They also prayed for our nation and its leaders, especially prayed for God fearing men and women to come to the leadership of our nation. Afterwards Bro. Pruitt spoke the word. He spoke the word based upon James 5: 16 -18.  “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit”. The words were very powerful. The presence of God was so intense and I felt it in my room. Though Elijah was a man our caliber, God honored him because he was a prayerful man.
We will be doing this every Saturday from 9:00 AM to 10: AM. Please tell all the pastors to announce in their church about this prayer line so that it will be beneficial to all the members and ministers of our church.
Bro. Wessly

Sunday Service

 Prayer for needs

 Children's Corner

 There is a River

WOW

Our WOW Ladies had a great bible study on Rachel. Next month we will study Mary and Martha. Household club winner for February is Betty Poole. Congratulations Betty!!!!
Here is Betty's wish list:
Cascade dish washing tablets, Dawn, All washing detergent, Dove body wash, Dove soap, Charmin tissue paper, and shave gel. Remember purchase $10 worth of any of the above products and bring to Betty during the month of February.

Camping Ministry!

Partner with us to help save a life! 

The research is staggering. Prisoners, drug users, dropouts, runaways, and rapists all share something in common. The overwhelming majority of them come from homes without a father. Fatherless homes produce more than half of all youth suicides, as well as the majority of kids with behavior disorders. Kids are twenty times more likely to end up in prison if their dad is not involved in their lives.  - The Resolution for Men

The reality is, we cannot provide all hurting children in our society with an earthly father. However, we can give them the ultimate father, God Almighty! The whole vision for outreach camp is to bring the lonely, unloved and hurting children together and show them the unconditional love of God! 

State leadership is asking for all churches to unite together and receive a love offering on Sunday Morning, Mach 25, 2012  to sponsor children for Outreach camp. We are believing God for enough funds to sponsor 150 kids from the ages 8-12! If every family sponsored one child each, at only $110 we could exceed our goal quickly! 

Please join us in prayer for outreach camp 2012! We are expecting a supernatural move of God that breaks every generational curse. He's big enough and more than enough! 

Outreach Camp 2011 Totals!
Number of Campers:
Salvation-63
Sanctification-48
Holy Ghost-32
Baptized-68

See attachment for promotional flyer!
Thank you so much for everything!!!

All financial donations can be made out to Camp Boothe "Attn. Outreach Camp" and mailed to P.O. Box 240, Greenpond, AL 35074. 

In Christ love,

John and Felichia Douglas
Outreach Camp Directors
(205)520-6814
johncdouglas1@gmail.com

W.O.W.

WOW bible study will be Sunday evening 5:00 at the home of Denise and Haleigh. We will be studying Rachel. Genesis 29-35. We will also draw for our February Household Club winner.

Don't forget Extrodinary Women's Conference April 27, 28 at the BJCC. Make your plans to attend.

Sunday Service

We are so blessed to have a baptism this morning. Praise God for souls being saved and the presence of God in our services.
Those baptized: AJ Burns, Trey Burns, Jonathan Smith, Kim Smith, Wyatt Smith, Madyson Smith and Luke Stronge.

 Madyson Smith

 Luke Stronge

 Trey Burns

 AJ Burns

 Kim Smith

 Wyatt Smith

Jonathan Smith

Singing With The Psalms

New Bible Series begins tonight! Singing With The Psalms is a inspirational and uplifting teaching taken from Psalms 120-139!

Household Club Winner

January's household club winner is Mary Lathon.
Her wish list includes: Dawn dish soap, Mr. Clean cleaner, Dial soap, bleach, and paper towels.

Remember W.O.W. ladies if you would like to be a part of the household club get an index card and make a list of your favorite household supplies (ie. cleaner, laundry detergent, tissue, paper towels ...) and give it to Denise or Laura. Make sure you put the name brand if you have a preference. A winner will be drawn each month.