Vbs - LifeWay

Church Web usage expanding;
includes electronic offering plate
by Jenny Rice
Traditionally, church members give
tithes and offerings to the church by
placing cash or a paper check into a
brass plate passed during Sunday worship.
In today’s anytime, anywhere culture, more
and more church members are giving tithes
with the click of a mouse or automatic draft
from online bank accounts.
“The trend in e-giving is a cultural move
as fewer people of the younger generations
carry cash,” said Ben Stroup, coordinator of
LifeWay Christian Stores’ offering envelope
services. “We live in a plastic, online banking
world where growing numbers of people
prefer to exchange funds electronically rather
than carry a checkbook or cash.”
Statistics show growth in the use of
the Internet for financial transactions. In
December 2007, Pew Internet and the
American Life Project reported that 53
percent of American adults participate in
online banking and more than 35 percent pay
their bills online.
Church members are not the only ones
becoming more tech-savvy. According to
the April 2008 Barna Update, Web usage by
churches is also growing.
“Back in 2000, just one-third of Protestant
churches (34 percent) had a church Website,”
stated the report. “That exploded to 57
percent in 2005, and has inched upward since
then to 62 percent.”
Church Websites now feature podcasts of
sermons, online member directories, blogs
written by ministers, and tools that allow
church members to give their tithes online.
“Churches are exploring the theory that
people who give electronically may tend
to give more consistently because giving
occurs even when the church member is not
38 Facts & Trends