This Practice Is Stealing 10 Minutes from Every Service

How many times have you had this experience: You have put together a sermon that you feel is going to be powerful and effective, and you’ve worked with your worship leader to pull together a set of songs that will accent your message and lead people into worship. You’re looking at your order of worship and it’s coming together perfectly…but you forgot the offering.

As you look over the service, you’re not sure how you’re going to fit this important element in. If you put it between the singing and the sermon, you’re undermining the momentum, flow, and the seemingly natural progression from worship into Word. But if you put it after the message, it detracts as well.

But the Offering Is Worship

I know there have to be people reading this who are thinking, “Giving is an important aspect of worship! You can’t tell me taking an offering detracts from worship.”

You’re right! Giving is an act of worship. The problem is that the way people give isn’t scripturally prescribed. The traditional passing of the plate is no longer the ideal.

What if changing the way churches emphasized and practiced giving could help us stop seeing offerings as a pro forma activity? What if changing the way we give could help us get better at choosing intentional generosity?

Overhauling the way we deal with giving can seem overwhelming—especially when we confuse the process we use to collect money with the spiritual practice of giving it. When it comes down to it, the methods the church uses to collect the offering of the church is not nearly as important as teaching them to give.

Mobile Giving Solves the Giving Problem

Not only does an emphasis on mobile giving fix the problem of lost momentum in a church service, it can give you ten extra minutes in your service.

Think about it: if it takes you 10 minutes to take an offering, that’s a loss of over 8 hours of service time a year! Is this really the best way to use this time? What if an emphasis on mobile giving could give you more time for sermons, sacraments, and songs—while encouraging people to give more!?

It can!

Here’s a real-life example of a church in Puyallup, WA, that experienced a 1000 percent increase by emphasizing mobile giving.

Generosity in Transition

A trend that the church has been seeing for years is a drop in church giving, yet charitable giving is on the rise. While many would consider this to be because of low church attendance, we’re starting to see where the real problem is.

Charities and ministries that rely on the donations of others to remain solvent have been quick to adopt new platforms for raising and collecting money. Charities like World Vision and Compassion International have apps that help you engage with your sponsored child, schedule reminders, and give—all through their app.

Churches are still putting all of their eggs into the offering basket. Even if they provide multiple giving solutions, many congregations still aren’t championing them. Instead, they’re focusing on that 10 minutes of the service where they pass the plate in hope that people are carrying cash and checks. In essence, they’re giving up valuable time in the service to focus on a practice that’s giving them diminishing results.

Meanwhile, at Pushpay we’re seeing churches with story after story of increased giving that doesn’t depend on taking a physical offering.

The Mobile Giving Revolution

Right now, your church can make the decision to get involved in the mobile revolution! By giving people the opportunity to give in the manner they’re growing accustomed to, you’re moving your church in the right direction—and adding valuable time to your services.