With ministry-related payments and charitable giving on the rise, and as many as half of American adults carrying a credit or debit card, can you afford not to offer credit and debit card donation options to your members and contributors?
I found this site selling credit card kiosks quite amusing. My question is why not just upgrade to a full service ATM right in the church entry way.
Practically speaking, it would be difficult to argue that tithing with a credit card is any different from current tithing methods (at least in the western protestant church). Though depending on how - and where - these devices would be implemented, within the church building and within the worship service, one could anticipate potential changes in the public/private aspects of tithing.
From a theological perspective, corporate tithing in modern worship services already bears little resemblance to the communal ways in which the Church practices prayer, the reading of Scripture, worship, and the Sacraments. With the exception of occuring in the same span of time, there is more that is private and individual than there is public or communal in regards to the modern practice of tithing.
I hope that whatever the form of tender, the Church can begin to more faithfully review the significance its practice (why we tithe) , rather than simply reviewing its methods (how we tithe).
Ron Blue says, “Generous Living would not stand for this! You shouldn’t even have a credit card.”
It does make me think though..how can you tithe with a credit card when it isn’t even real money? I tithe online, but that’s a little different. It actually comes from an account with money in it, not something that I will pay off at the end of the month.
Money, even the paper stuff, is more representation of some external value than it is valuable in itself, and the same would hold true of checks.
Prior to Christ, the Hebrews tithed their tangible possessions, mostly livestock, in lieu of national currency. In either case, goats or andrews, you’re giving up something of value.
Plus, sensible people only charge what they have money to pay for, not what their credit limit allows.