A few years ago, we heard about and met a company that had introduced giving by text overseas and were bringing it to the United States.  At first, I was skeptical.  We've been doing this long enough to know that not every new thing is an improvement.  Adoption is more important in the long run than innovation.   We decided to watch, listen and learn.  We became convinced in late 2015 and began building our own, integrated, version of text-to-give in mid and late 2016.  Last week we rolled it out.  Here is how we became convinced.

The past several weeks our pastors have emphasized end of year giving.  20% of the annual giving for our church every year comes in December.  As I reflect on end of year giving, here are four different scenarios that might be helpful to consider in planning your end of year giving campaign.  I think you'll realize, like I did, that online giving is not just important, but essential.   

Tomorrow I'm heading to the Church Leader Insights training on Assimilation.  I thought it might be interesting to write something ahead of time about my thoughts about the topic and then follow it up with thoughts on what I learned about assimilation from this excellent training by Nelson Searcy.

Is it Biblical to make donations to your church via the Internet?  Yes! 

Editor's Note:  This entire article is satire.   The views here are not really the views of the author, nor are the the views of Churchteams.   This article is intended to educate by using irony and sarcasm in exposing and promoting the advantages of online giving in conjunction with traditional giving.  Please enjoy this fun article as no offense is intended.

Online giving is no longer a fringe concept for churches.  Churches all over the world are making it possible for donors to give via the internet.  But what are the hidden costs?  What are the benefits of the different methods for online giving?  How do you understand all the online giving lingo and jargon?  This article will answer these questions.