Why Your Church Needs Mobile Giving
Steve Fogg

Mobile giving is here already. Many churches already use it. Some of you may be thinking, why are you only writing about this subject now?

To be honest I’ve held off because I think that the broader culture hasn’t owned it in terms of adoption. Until now.

Before I dive in, this isn’t a post about the technical aspects of mobile giving, but rather it is designed to help you lead up and make it even easier for your community to give. Now back to the topic.

In Australia, Apple Pay has been out for some time, I’m sure it may have been out even longer where you may be reading this from. But even a digital disruptive Goliath like Apple is struggling to change how we pay for our groceries.

Tap and pay or PayWave as we call it here in Australia is still the number one method of most small payments.

At the heart of the adoption issue for mobile here is a lack of trust and security. We may trust Apple to keep our passcodes and fingerprints on our phone to open our devices and make very small app payments, but when it comes to larger amounts of money we are much more cautious about sharing very sensitive data.

That is slowly changing. But it will take some time.

Some may be asking, what does that have to do with mobile giving?

The issue is the same, it all has to do again with trust and change. Most people I know aren’t used to giving through their phone. They are very happy to give cash, share their credit card number or pay through the internet.

I actually think that any church that adopts mobile giving now as a giving option is tapping into a brilliant strategy.

Firstly because there are so many casual givers in churches who don’t come prepared but switching them over through mobile giving, you will help some of them become faithful regular givers. You will need to be intentional in doing it if you adopt this strategy and include your whole congregation during a Sunday service. Don’t just put the text number up on the screen and expect people to switch. If you want people to change, you have to lead it.

Another advantage I think mobile giving has is that you can someone can give in a moment where they feel compelled to respond and it is very simple for most people to do it.

I think that mobile giving is taking off. In a few years time, it will become just another way to give.

If you do adopt mobile giving as a strategy then you should reinforce these two key messages.

1 It’s safe – People will need educating to build their trust around this method of giving. They need to be reassured that it is completely ‘secure and safe’

2 It’s quick – People love convenience. If it’s too hard to change then they won’t. Show them how quickly you can give. Demonstrate it in your service.

4 Mobile Giving Options
1. E-Church (Pushpay)
2. MoGiv
3. Kindrid
4. Tithe.ly

Each giving solution has some advantages and disadvantages. You need to choose one that suits your needs. They all have great videos that explain how simple they are to use and set up which will help inform your choice.

The above article, “Why Your Church Needs Mobile Giving” was written by Steve Fogg. The article was excerpted from www.stevefogg.com web site. January 2017.

The material is copyrighted and should not be reprinted under any other name or author. However, this material may be freely used for personal study or research purposes.

This article may not be written by an Apostolic author, but it contains many excellent principles and concepts that can be adapted to most churches. As the old saying goes, “Eat the meat. Throw away the bones.”