Anyone else NOT use church offering envelopes?

[Anonymous]

We do a direct debit, and get a quarterly (as well as end-of-year) statement from the church. Pledges allow the church to plan for the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:a pledge? seriously? A PLEDGE???????????? WTH?

I'd run from a church that "encourages" any such thing. Seriously, my dad is a pastor and I can't fathom the though of asking people how much they intend to give during the year.

Do the freaking budget based on the previous years.

Most churches do this, so I'm not sure why you're behaving like it's unusual or offensive, especially since your father is a pastor. You really should know better (or, I suspect you do but you're being obtuse).

I sit on the Finance Committee of our church. We do actually base budgets on six-year averages, but pledges make up 2/3 of the budget. It's common and there isn't anything wrong with it.

Well I should have said I'm from another country then. I'm in shock to know this. What if the person loses a job, gets a salary cut, has sickness in the family... what do they do? Go into debt to pay what they promised what they were giving? This is absurd!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:a pledge? seriously? A PLEDGE???????????? WTH?

I'd run from a church that "encourages" any such thing. Seriously, my dad is a pastor and I can't fathom the though of asking people how much they intend to give during the year.

Do the freaking budget based on the previous years.

Most churches do this, so I'm not sure why you're behaving like it's unusual or offensive, especially since your father is a pastor. You really should know better (or, I suspect you do but you're being obtuse).

I sit on the Finance Committee of our church. We do actually base budgets on six-year averages, but pledges make up 2/3 of the budget. It's common and there isn't anything wrong with it.

Well I should have said I'm from another country then. I'm in shock to know this. What if the person loses a job, gets a salary cut, has sickness in the family... what do they do? Go into debt to pay what they promised what they were giving? This is absurd!

It sounds like you're getting worked up about this, and there is no need. It's really very simple. If your financial situation changes, your annual giving changes, regardless of the pledge. If you lose your job, you might choose to give less. If you get an unexpected bonus at work, you might choose to give more to the church than you had originally pledged. The pledge is for planning purposes -- both for the church and for you.

Our family factors in what we give to our church (by electronic debit) along with all the other charitable contributions we make about once a year. We think about our church, our university's annual fund and our kids public school fundraiser. We don't make a zillion dollars a year so our contributions are not that large, but they are thoughtfully planned.

[Anonymous]

I thought they used the envelopes for attendance purposes, so that they can answer if you are "in good standing" aka practicing Catholics for the purpose of marriage, godparents etc. Isn't that why faith direct gives you the cards to put in the basket? Because really, the person next to you isn't going to pay attention to what you put in, why bother with the cards if you already donated online.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We use envelopes so people don't see how much we give.

+1; and I assume it makes it easier for the treasurer / money counters to keep track of offering information... look up number vs. looking up names. Everyone has a number, and I dont' think it's in alphabetical order by each person's name

[Anonymous]

I can't believe there's four pages on this topic.

[Anonymous]

I don't use them because we have our donation autodeducted from checking monthly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought they used the envelopes for attendance purposes, so that they can answer if you are "in good standing" aka practicing Catholics for the purpose of marriage, godparents etc. Isn't that why faith direct gives you the cards to put in the basket? Because really, the person next to you isn't going to pay attention to what you put in, why bother with the cards if you already donated online.

God can answer if we are in good standing, and He is the only one who matters.