Most churches have been doing church online (only) for a month now. There have been many and varying impacts of doing church solely online during the COVID-19 pandemic.
One side effect may be that giving is down. This is from 2 primary causes:
- Some people only give when they attend church.
- Many people’s work has been impacted, so they are working less or not working at all, so they have less money that they are tithing or giving from.
However, if your church has been promoting online giving for a while now, you may not be experiencing a drop in giving. In fact, I heard of one church whose giving has increased since they have gone to doing church online only.
If you are a pastor, staff member, or decision maker at a church, online giving is a necessity at this time. In fact, it isn’t hard to set up and is very affordable.
It is also important that your online giving solution offers the ability for your members and regular attenders to set up automatic recurring giving. This gives people the option to set a specified amount of money to be given every week or month. Doing this eliminates the “I’m not at church this week, so I didn’t give” reason for not giving. This is a solution not only for the situation we are all in now, but for when people travel for work, are on vacation, or sick.
But as you are ask church members to continue to give regularly to the church, encourage them to give (time, talent, or money) to those in need now. This shouldn’t replace or reduce the giving they make to the church but be in addition to it.
Due to COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, the US government is sending most US citizens stimulus checks. Encourage your church members to give generously of that money, especially if the coronavirus has not negatively impacted them financially.
In 2 Corinthians 9, Paul encourages the people of Corinth to give generously and with a joyful heart.
Paul mentions that several things will result from their giving:
- Those receiving the gift will have their needs met.
- Those receiving the gift will joyfully express their thanks to God.
- Those receiving the gift will pray for you.
I would also add that the giver will likely experience a blessing in ways they never imagined. It may not be a financial blessing but God will bless those who give joyfully.
For God loves a person who gives cheerfully. – 2 Corinthians 9:7
For more information about adding online giving to your website, go to https://www.ourchurch.com/online-giving-for-churches/ . If you are an OurChurch.Com customer and want to add online giving, Login to MyOCC and go to https://myocc.ourchurch.com/giving.php.
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