Tithing with Plastic

During the past Christmas season, more people than ever before did their Christmas shopping on-line.  I was one of the masses who decided that it was a lot easier to find what I wanted on-line and have it shipped to my home rather than braving the crowds at the shopping mall.  And … it was great!  It didn’t take much time, I could easily compare prices from one place to another and, ultimately, I was able to give even more money than I anticipated to my favorite Christmas charity!  What a win!

The web, of course, makes this all possible.  But not entirely.  There are lots of supplementing technologies without which, none of this would be possible.  And, probably the most important of these technologies is the ability to pay for purchases on-line.

So … why don’t we use those same technologies to pay our tithes?  There could be some great advantages:

1. Tithes could be automatically deducted in the amounts and at the intervals requested by the individual
2. It could help to remove some of the hassle of tracking and securing offerings each week
3. It would remove one of the more “alkward” transitions that take place in every worship service
4. Who uses checks and cash anymore?  (OK … I use cash … pretty much exclusively since going through Dave Ramsey’s “Financial Peace University”.  But this actually makes tithing a bit more of a hassle than using a check).

OK … there are also some potential disadvantages:

1. You don’t want people tithing with money they don’t have.  Using credit cards would be great for individuals who pay their balance off every month.  But, if it is being used as a “revolving line of credit”, that wouldn’t be a good way for them to tithe.
2. You don’t get the “satisfaction” of putting your tithe into the offering plate each Sunday.  True.  But, then that brings to mind the question about why we are tithing.
3. It makes it more difficult to call out “special needs”, particularly if people are no longer use to putting offerings into the offering plate.

I’m not advocating for this as a way of collecting tithes.  Niether am I saying that I think it is a bad idea.  I am just mulling the possibilities over in my mind.  I’m not aware of any churches that allow their congregation to tithe in this way.  Do you know of any?  If so, I’d be interested in hearing about it.

– The Church Tech