Church opts for iPads over offertory plates
B.C church solves a new problem for the digital age: How do you accept tithes from a congregation that no longer carries cheques or cash?
VANCOUVER, BC—For most churches, the standard collection of tithes and offerings continues to be part of the worship service. But not for Westside Church in downtown Vancouver. It offers its people the option of giving by debit and—more recently—by credit card.
“We’ve never passed a plate at Westside,” says Chad MacDonald, Westside’s pastor of ministry development. “It’s always been ‘you’ve got to go outside and seek it out.’ All the giving is done in the lobby. You go outside to the Connect Centre in order to give.”
The thinking behind this approach is that this is one way to connect with the mostly single, young professionals who live downtown, and who MacDonald believes present “a huge opportunity” to be reached for Christ.
More than 1,000 people on average currently attend one of the church’s two Sunday services.
“I think our average age is 27,” he says. “And like me—I’m 32—most of them don’t use cheques anymore or even carry five dollars cash. So there’s been the need to have a way to give tithes and offerings or pay for something other than just by cash or cheque.”
Within a year of its launch in 2005, Westside introduced debit terminals. But last fall, around the same time that it moved into its new building—a former 1,700-seat theatre in the heart of the downtown core—it began using a mobile payment system offered by Square, a company founded in 2009 by Jack Dorsey, the creator of Twitter.
This wireless technology allows worshipers the option of giving by credit card. All they have to do is go up to a volunteer who collects payments using an iPad equipped with a free Square reader. This is a small device that clips into the headphone jack and turns the iPads into processing terminals.
“They used to have this bulky point-of-sale system that was attached to the wall with two phone cords they couldn’t get away from,” says Semonti Stephens, Square’s product communications manager based in San Francisco.
“With our tools, the volunteers are able to meet people where they are. They can have a conversation with them, and thank them for what they’re doing.”
It is also used for all kinds of church-related transactions, such as buying a book or paying for a conference.
Donors are immediately e-mailed or texted a receipt, and the mobile payments are deposited straight into Westside’s bank account within one or two business days—minus Square’s 2.75 per cent flat rate service charge per swipe.
“I think the people are just really blown away by the experience,” says Stephens. “They enjoy the technology. They think it’s fun to sign the transaction with their finger.”
But MacDonald concedes not everyone in the church likes seeing a portion of their gifts going to pay user fees—and it is a policy the leaders revisit often. And while he supports this method of giving, what matters more to him is the “heart” of the one making the gift.
“That’s one thing we always have to be checking,” says MacDonald, “not just how we give but are we giving sacrificially.”
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