Just before we were all told to “shelter in place”
recently, I had been accumulating some assessment tools to help churches
evaluate their ministry effectiveness. One of the questions I ran into was, “What
year is it in your church?” As it turns out, that was a very pertinent
question. Many churches are learning that technologically speaking, there was
some ground to cover to make their practices and needs intersect in a healthy
way.
During this time one of our very sharp deacons/treasurers
in a growing country church contacted me to ask, “What are the best approaches
to online giving?” I posted that question on Facebook and I wanted to take a
few minutes to synthesize the answers I received. There was some very good
input.
Use online Bill
Pay. Sara said, “As a millennial (I hate to even call myself that), I use
online bill pay so much that it seems to be the easiest option for me. Now is a
great time for churches to push that as their first choice for tithes. There's
no charge to either party in most cases and you can set it up to pay on a set
schedule. I think a lot of the time members just forget more than are greedy
and don't want to tithe. It takes that part away. Wouldn't it be great to get
your whole congregation set up on a tithe schedule?! Here's an opportunity! The
easiest way would be a social media post with the churches name and address.
You could also send an email. My second choice would be PayPal because I
already use it so much. An app or third party web site is great but kind of a
pain. It's an added step I don't think of doing to go to the church web site, look
for a link, sign up, sign in, go find my debit card ... That's a lot for
generations with no attention span. A PayPal link is super easy and all my info
is there already. Bam. Done.”
So here is a lot
of the other feedback I got about various platforms for online giving in no
certain order):
1. Lifeway Generosity
- Even though Lifeway is currently offering free use for their digital giving
service I have repeatedly been told that people are “getting nowhere with them”
in terms of responding to inquiries. 😕
2. Givelify – Max
Rodgers, pastor at Northern Heights Baptist Church in Cordele, GA said, “We
have started using www.givelify.com. It's free and simple, three steps or
less once you have initially entered your church and info. The rates are
competitive 2.9% per transaction and a flat $.30 transaction fee. Since
providing this option our gifts have increased. The only downfall is that you
can't give a ‘check' electronically.”
3. PayPal/Square up
– George Pabst, pastor at Crossroads Church in Guyton, GA said, “We use PayPal
for online and in person electronic giving. We used square up (www.squareup.com)
for in person and liked it but [they do] not [have] online website option. [It
is the] same price for non-profits. I think 2.7% [with] no per item charge or
monthly fee. The newest card reader can swipe or read chips.”
Stripe/Church Trac
– Michelle Finch, Ministry Assistant at Oak Hill Baptist Church in Millen
said, “We are using Stripe (www.Stripe.com) through Church Trac. We are pleased
so far. We started using Church Trac in January. It is very user friendly."
4. Securegive.com
– Our friend Pastor Tim Tatum at Linden Church of God is Webster, FL is using
this service. “Securegive uses four platforms: online, mobile, text and Kiosks.
We are using the Online and Mobile options.”
5. EasyTithe.com –
Marcus Burchfield, pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church in Ripley, TN said, “I
followed and went with Easytithe. [It’s a ] user friendly programming in my
opinion.”
6. Giving.faithlife.com
– Our friend Kevin Farmer, pastor of Highlands Baptist Church in
Brooksville, Florida said, “Faithlife Giving … works well with our website.”
Holly Jenkins, treasurer at the Baptist Church at Ebenezer (Rincon, GA) concurred,
“I analyzed several options. PayPal, EasyTithe, PushPay, [and] Faithlife.
Faithlife offered everything we needed at the lowest cost to our church. Our
church size is the 100-150 range.”
7. Anedot.com –
Tonya Shellnut, State Government Relations Director at Alliance Defending
Freedom expressed caution about the way some platforms use information sharing
and recommended Anedot specifically because they do not.
Finally in a
general sense … now is a great time to embrace useful technology. Sustaining
healthy stewardship practices during these times is just one aspect of this. Many
churches are finding that using video meeting technology, like Zoom to sustain
small group connections is vital. With the additional time that many are likely
to experience during the month of April it may be helpful to examine the
overall technological effectiveness of your church system at this time. I’m finding
that there are some great and timely webinars available, many of them are being
hosted by the Georgia Baptist Mission Board (gabaptist.org).
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