When his mother checked into a nursing home, Travis Collins was pleased the short-term rehabilitation didn’t interrupt her giving to First Baptist Church of Mount Washington, Ky.
The 81-year-old member is one of nearly 20 people or families who have signed up this year for automatic checkbook deductions to contribute to the church’s budget.
“That’s one less thing she has to worry about,” said Collins, pastor of the central Kentucky congregation. “What we’re trying to do is facilitate the giving of offerings.”
First Baptist has joined a trend toward electronic tithing. While the numbers aren’t clear, a suburban Minneapolis firm that processes such payments for 3,200 churches sees a growing interest in the practice.
“The momentum is clearly there,” said Len Thiede, senior account manager for Vanco Services. “We’re getting contracts every day. We’re seeing a huge influx right now, with 2001 stewardship campaigns going on.”
It isn’t clear how many churches are involved. An article last year in Leadership Journal estimated 5 percent of all U.S. churches use electronic transfers.
Bobby DuBois, associate executive director with the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, said he is unaware of any Alabama churches that offer such an option for tithing by members. However, two Birmingham churches — Shades Mountain and Hunter Street — said members may have checks mailed from their banks, with members responsible for making arrangements.
An automated giving plan among Lutheran churches has seen a 517 percent increase in participation, with about 3,100 currently enrolled.
While Lutherans and Catholics are Vanco’s leading customers, about 90 have a Baptist affiliation, ranking the group third.
“A lot of churches are signing up because their people are asking for it,” he said. “Word gets around that it does work and more people are satisfied that it does.”
Several Southern Baptist churches that have implemented automated giving report that their members have been slow to embrace the new method.
Only approximately 20 families — of an average Sunday attendance of 800 — have signed up at Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury, Texas, since the fall of 1998.
Minister of education and administration Brian Hill said the option began as an experiment that has worked out very well. He estimates that 90 percent of the participants are senior citizens. They like its convenience and the feature of continuous giving while they’re traveling, he said.
“Those who are using it wouldn’t have it any other way,” said Hill, who plans to publicize the program more actively next year. “What it could change is the work at the church (office). There’s a lot less to deal with. You don’t have to deal with an envelope and we get a report once a month, which is a lot cleaner.”
Highland Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., had eight families choose an automated giving option after it was launched. But since then, financial secretary Betsy Neill said, no one else has expressed interest. Financial secretary Pat Bowen said many people are waiting to see how it works before making a commitment.
Others are reluctant to give up their offering envelopes, she said.
“It would save me a lot of time if the whole church would do it,” she said. “Bookkeeping-wise and getting deposits, it’s much easier on the bank and us.”
One consideration that could influence acceptance is potential savings.
Bowen said the topic of envelopes came up at recent budget meetings, with some committee members surprised that First Baptist spends more than $2,000 a year to print them.
Added to that is postage, plus the cost of paying for returns when people move but fail to leave a forwarding address, she said.
Another is increased giving. According to a recent report in The New York Times, one church in New Jersey discovered those giving electronically donate an average of $277 a month. That compared to $111 for those using traditional methods.
The pastor of First Baptist of Mount Washington believes resistance to automated donations will relax over time.
Collins compares the cautious attitude to the introduction of the offering envelope system a few decades ago: “Whenever Baptists first placed their money in an envelope, my suspicion is that people thought it was too mechanical.” (BP, TAB)
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