The virtual collection plate works for givers
Many churches count on electronic tithings
By LESLIE A. PAPPAS, The News Journal, Wilmington, Delaware
Updated Sunday, June 24, 2007Having kiosks in churches allows parishioners to make electronic payments.
Dan Bartlett, 32, of Frenchtown Woods in Glasgow, does all his banking online. When he does have to write a check -- which happens only about five or 10 times a year -- he has to hunt for the checkbook.
So when he learned that his church, Milltown Community Church of Duncan Woods, accepted tithes through e-commerce site PayPal, the "overwhelming convenience" of the online option made it an obvious choice.
"I sit down and reconcile all my bills every month," says Bartlett, who has been tithing with PayPal for a year and a half. "I pay my bills, look for deposits ... and then I take 10 percent and I submit that as a PayPal payment to the church."
For Bartlett and other churchgoers, tithing has gone virtual. A growing number of churches in Delaware and across the country now accept donations via online payments, automatic bank account transfers, and even debit and credit cards. San Francisco-based Visa U.S.A. Inc. reported volume of credit, debit, or prepaid card transactions going toward religious organizations increased 21 percent last year.
About 10 percent of Milltown Community Church's 45 members now use PayPal, Pastor Bruce Cox said.
Church member Cleve Sinor, 41, a Wilmington physician who sometimes misses services because of work, said he likes the convenience of being able to tithe from home as soon as his paycheck comes in.
"I can do it in a minute," Sinor says. "It's very simple, very easy and I don't have to worry about writing a check."
Aldersgate United Methodist Church of Talleyville doesn't use PayPal, but does accept automatic payments from church members' bank accounts, says Royal Lowthert, the church's business administrator.
"It happens like clockwork," said Lowthert, who sets up the electronic withdrawals using a church member's blank check. Since the church began the practice two years ago, about 35 of the 485 church members who pledge regularly take advantage of the automatic deductions, Lowthert said. The automatic deposits are good for the church budget, because they provide a more steady stream of income than the weekly in-person tithes, Lowthert said.
Church income, he said, comes "in the form of a bathtub" -- high in the beginning of the year, then a long, low dip until the holiday season at the end of the year.
"By the end of August or September, our expenses far exceed our income," Lowthert said. The more people sign up for automatic payments, "the more linear our income becomes."
Churches save money
At Resurrection Parish Catholic Church in Pike Creek, one out of five parishioners have signed up for automatic deposits since the parish began offering the option about three years ago.
Business Director John Werner uses Vanco Services Inc. of Minnetonka, Minn., to facilitate about 100 monthly transactions. The $13 he pays in fees per month is "peanuts, chump change," compared to the benefits, Werner said. He spends about 25 minutes per month on paperwork dealing with electronic transactions. In comparison, it takes seven volunteers about 21 hours per week to separate, tally and record the weekly influx of envelopes filled with checks and cash.
"Volunteer hours could be spent on a lot of other things," Werner said.
A host of third-party organizations are now capitalizing on the trend.
MyChurchDonations.com. of Glendale, Calf., created a Web site to facilitate online tithing in 2001, and has enlisted 50 churches and one synagogue across the country.
"It really cuts down on the overhead" for the church, says Douglas Nies, the company's co-founder. "The church gets an e-mail every time a donor does a donation online. ... and the church has a complete accounting on our Web site."
Giving kiosks
In Augusta, Ga., Marty Baker, senior pastor of Stevens Creek Church, has taken giving one step further, creating a kiosk that can be placed in a church lobby.
The machines take any type of debit, charge or credit card, including Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. Churchgoers swipe their card and transfer money directly into the church's bank account.
Baker and his wife launched a company called SecureGive about a year ago to market the machines, and have since installed them in 31 churches nationwide. SecureGive collects a monthly fee from the church, plus a fee for each transaction.
"Mainly we see contemporary, growing churches that are more open to this," said SecureGive co-founder Patty Baker. "They tend to be a little more cutting-edge, using PowerPoint and video in the church. ... The main thing it offers is convenience, especially to young families. They live everywhere else with their debit cards in their hands, so they can do it at church as well."
Not all churches are comfortable with the alternative tithing methods.
When members of the Bible Fellowship Church of Newark first started asking for automatic pledges a couple of years ago, Pastor Bill Schlonecker pondered the implications.
"What is the whole purpose of tithing?" Schlonecker asked. Tithing is not for God, but for worshippers, who learn through the act of giving to place trust in God, he said.
"What's lost if there's an automatic deduction?" Schlonecker wondered. "If it's just done automatically, do we then rob people of that conscious, purposeful decision?"
In the end, Bible Fellowship Church decided to accept automatic deductions, reasoning that each Sunday during the offering, people who set up automatic payments would be reminded of their electronic pledge, even if they hadn't actually placed an envelope onto the offering plate.
An act of worship
The Rev. Rick Dodson of Pike Creek Bible Church in Newark also reflected on the issue and has decided he'll never accept automatic payments.
"Your mind and your heart is not engaged when you do that," said Dodson, who sees the offering as a time for reflection and contemplation. "It's a time when you think about, wow, hasn't God been gracious to me? ... and we respond biblically by giving back a portion of what He's given to us."
Automatic giving is "not only inappropriate, I think it's an affront to God," Dodson said. "Churches who adopt that kind of philosophy are more interested in getting their parishioners' money than helping their parishioners understand that giving is an act of worship."
"What we do, we do very purposefully," Dodson said. "You wouldn't mail somebody their Communion cups at home so they could do it whenever they want."
Contact Leslie A. Pappas at 324-2880 or lpappas@delawareonline.com.
