Digital dollars in the church. Has the church become an enterprise where convenience is all important? It’s so clear that the church as a whole is working towards making our experience as convenient as possible in order to extract as much coin (figuratively) as possible.
This is why I formed Indie Church. Nobody is expected to give to Indie Church. It’s our goal to give to others, individually. You have the choice to give. And who to give to. You can do it and find a need to help others aside from these organizations who make the church an enterprise.
Here’s what prompted me to post this…
From:
http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2007/09/atms_automatic.html
ATMs: Automatic Tithing Machines
How can you pass the plate to people who don’t carry cash? You can’t. So the next big wave may be the “Giving Kiosk” in your church’s lobby.
“A lot of people no longer carry cash or a checkbook,” says Marty Baker, pastor of Stevens Creek Church in Augusta, Georgia. So he installed two ATMs in 2005. The experiment has been a success.”
Are we being ridiculous? Are our churches giving to the community or hoarding up wealth for their operations, overhead and whimsical entertainment? People have real needs and there are too few churches being about the Master’s business of feeding the hungry and caring for the poor.
We need to repent people. Give to your family. Give to your neighbor. Feed the poor. Heal the sick. Love one another. Store up treasure in heaven.
I think a lot of this convenience talk comes from Nelson Searcy and his whole systematic approach to church business.
I have always thought it to be a bit inorganic, not to mention impersonal. We invite people to contribute whatever they wish to our little community, but don’t make a big deal out of it.
Tithing as the institutional church has laid it out, is not required of members or leaders.
Good to see your site rolling. I too am starting a new site currently at Indefaith.org in an effort to help folks that are starting indie communities. Feel free to come and check us out.
k
I think all of this “convenience giving” talk comes from Nelson Searcy and his systematic approach to everything.
We provide a box to receive contributions in, that we place in the back of the room at our gathering, and invite folks to utilize it for their contributions and comments/suggestions.
We never recomend how much to give, nor do we require tithing from any of our participants including leaders.
I am way too conflicted about tithing as the modern church has grown to understand it.
Good to see your site up and working. Come by and check us out at indefaith.org. We are a new forum site that is gearing up to support folks that are starting new indie communities.
Oddly, my comment count is showing no responses.. hmmmm. Thanks for your comments John!!
Now it’s back. 🙂
John,
Teaching tithing isn’t scriptural in the church. It simply cannot be argued that the tithe is required. I’ll have more on that in future posts.
Thanks for contributing to the discussion!
Sorry for the double post. I thought I lost it, so I reposted. WordPress can be frustrating at times, but I think it’s the best out there as far as blogging goes.
The last line of that article kind of freaked me out:
“Whether we’ll have an offering plate with a card reader one day, who knows,” he said. “But we’re certainly not far from that.”