How does your church interact with the community regarding donations and fundraisers? The perception of many is that the church is a drain on the local community more than a blessing to it. We have been cautious (perhaps erring on the other side) to never ask the community to contribute to church activities. However, there are times when the church does something (i.e. disaster relief, Operation Christmas Child, etc.) where people want to contribute and the church can facilitate their donations without any benefit to itself. What has been your conclusion on the best way to minister to your community,...

I am often asked to support my recommendations that ministries offer technological solutions to giving. Let’s look at the flipside of the question – what happens when we don’t make it easy for our constituents to contribute financial support? As we begin the new year in 2011, here are 11 reasons to not offer online giving: 1. You want to frustrate those who no longer use checks or carry cash. Many today, especially those under age 30, do not carry or use checks. Nor do they carry much cash. Their financial lives revolve around the use of debit and credit cards. So when offering...

A former rector at St. Stephens Church in Colorado Springs is in big trouble… accused of stealing $392,000 from the church treasury. Rev. Donald Armstrong’s reasoning in court this week?  Well… he did use church funds to pay for his two kid’s college tuitions, but he did so in lieu of getting any pay raises for several years. In other words… you didn’t give me a pay raise, so I just paid my kids college bill instead. He said that all the checks were made to “Tuition Management Systems, and that the purpose of those checks should have been obvious. And each...

Obviously, this video has an agenda… I couldn’t find who produced the video… but who do you think their audience is?  And how will it be received? Your initial thoughts? HT:  JesusNeedsNewPR.net Share Sign up for our Weekly Email for Church...

A University of Pennsylvania professor and a secular research group decided to try to put a dollar value on churches.  They came up with a list of 54 categories and attempted to calculate what they described as the “halo effect” of 12 churches (10 protestant, a Catholic church, and a Jewish synagogue).  Here’s how they did it, according to Philly.com: A University of Pennsylvania professor and a secular research group decided to try to put a dollar value on churches.  They came up with a list of 54 categories and attempted to calculate what they described as the “halo...