I’m not questioning the conventional wisdom that senior adults tithe while younger adults do not. Although, maybe I should: I’ve never seen any actual research on the subject and conventional wisdom has a way of turning out to not be so wise when the light is shined on it.
Instead, I’m asking about the behavior of people when the offering plate is passed.
My theory (prognostication might be a better word) is that the next version of the “worship wars” won’t be over styles of music; it will be over the manner in which we give.
When my oldest, who is now 24, turned 16 we helped her open a checking account. The Blonde and I insisted she buy her checks from a third party – not from the bank – and that she order four boxes of checks (800 checks).
Eight years later, she is still on the first box.
Not that my daughter doesn’t spend money; she can shop with the best of them. And, she rarely carries cash. Like most people her age she pays bills on line and uses her debit card when at retail stores.
We are quickly coming to the day when paper checks will be museum relics.
What will we put in the offering plate on Sunday morning?
I have already heard some say they don’t like the idea of giving on line or of electronic fund transfers (eft’s). That somehow it is not worshipful.
I can’t picture my church installing the little machines to swipe debit/credit cards at the end of each pew.
It is not an issue for us yet. But the day is coming quickly.
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I agree this will be one of the critical issues faced by the church. It will, as you indicate, largely fall along generational lines. I suspect my generation (I am in my mid-thirties), is probably about the last “check-writing” generation, although that is getting blurred as we begin to utilize debit cards, electronic funds transfers (EFT), and online banking more. I know many people who, like your daughter, have rarely (if ever) written a check. I don’t believe the next generation is unwilling to give to a cause they believe is worthy. Quite the contrary, I believe they will give sacrificially if they believe in the cause (see note below), but some process must exist that allows them to give. After all, most of our churches stopped accepting animals and produce some time ago, and at some point some church opened a bank account so it could process paper checks. Change happens!
There are some real ethical as well as practical dilemmas to face, however. From an ethical standpoint, if you begin accepting debit/credit cards for charitable contributions, is the church enabling credit abusers to dig themselves further into debt? Personally, I think this could become a dangerous practice. If technology allows such giving to be restricted to debit cards and not credit, that may be an acceptable workaround. (Another question — if you accept credit cards for tithe, should the church also receive back 10% of the points/mileage/etc that you receive from the credit card company? I can see the give-and-receive-more crowd loving this one.)
Some would question the practice of allowing somebody to set up a monthly EFT of their 10% tithe, saying that eliminates the spirit of sacrificial giving, or something like that. Personally, I disagree … if I make the decision to set up this EFT of my 10% tithe, I still have to allow it to continue each month. The choice is still made, and confirmed on a regular basis. My thought is this should be the first step towards electronic giving.
As for online banking, most online banking allows you to enter a bill and the bank then issues a check to the payee. This would work today for anyone using such a service without any change within the church.
From a practical view, the handling of electronic giving is not something most churches are anywhere close to having the capability to handle. There are issues with bank fees for processing EFT and credit/debit transactions, which would lower the amount actually received by the church. An argument can be made here that overall giving will increase, therefore the amount lost to banking fees will not reduce the net amount received by the church. Another issue is security. Knowing the technical expertise of most church pastors and staff, I would not want my bank account or credit/debit card information to be stored on some church computer. This probably means that all of these transactions must be outsourced to some for-profit business in order to ensure a reasonable level of security. Hmmm, maybe a good business idea …
The church faces a major dilemma when confronting this issue, but will face a larger problem if it continues to think praise/worship music vs. hymns is the most important issue at hand. The cynical (as a cynic, I prefer to call it pragmatic) side of me suspects that one day many churches will happily sing their chosen music until they realize there is no more money in the bank as the younger generations grow up and reach the peak of their earning power, yet don’t give to the church because it is too difficult to do so. Meanwhile, there are many worthy causes out there to which they can give quite easily competing for their hearts, minds, and money.
Note – I also suggest that the larger dilemma faced by the church is not in providing a process to allow giving, but instead will be engaging the hearts and minds of the younger generation in order to motivate them to give. All of our petty conflicts certainly aren’t helping!
I’m 33, sorta an in-between age where you don’t seem to be old or young, but are both depending on who you talk to. I’m also a major nerd. I’ve had computers for over half of my life, and was on the Internet before it was easy to use.
I’ve been in church all my life. There is a difference in giving. Not so much that the older tithe and the younger don’t, I’ve personally seen both age groups tithe, and both not tithe. For those that tithe, they look at it as they can’t afford not to tithe. And for those that don’t usually look at it as they can’t afford to tithe.
The age groups do look at money differently. I pay with a debit card and use online bill pay almost exclusively. (I have a couple I have to pay with checks still). I really couldn’t image paying my tithe’s and offerings electronically. (Guess that’s that old part of me). But I don’t really see anything wrong with it. We are told to give our tithes and offerings. Not told how (other than give to the Lord first).
Giving is an act of worship. Worship doesn’t have to take place at church. So, online tithe pay? Why not. Most people I know write their checks at home anyway and just drop it in the offering plate on Sunday. I (personally) would find it difficult to worship standing at an ATM machine in the back of the church.
Our church has recently begun to offer the option of EFT for giving. This is the first church that I have attended that uses collection boxes at the exits rather than passing the plate. The old fogey in me feels that giving is gradually migrating out of the sanctuary. They are not requiring EFT for all people, but advertised it as an “easier, more convenient way to give.”
I guess it is that last phrase that bugs me…Of course, all of this beats having to herd an unblemished bull to the Temple door (Lev 4:3-4). I suppose that an ancient Israelite would scoff at our “easier, convenient way” of writing a check!
I do have one friend who gives his offerings through on line banking; then he prints out a copy of the transaction and drops that in the offering plate.
He says he does it that way because it gives him a sense of participating in the corporate act of giving.
David: I hadn’t thought much about the management of the technology. You’re right… there might be a nice little business there.
Terry: I have heard, anecdotally, of a mega-church that has an ATM in the lobby.
John: It’s the “gradually migrating out of the sanctuary” that bothers the old fogey in me. I don’t particularly want to write a check; but I do enjoy the community nature of giving during Sunday morning worship.