Featured Best time in service to recieve the offering?

I attend two different churches as one has a evening Sunday service at two O'clock. One church has a offering box at the front of the church which I prefer and the other takes up a offering before preaching starts. IMO taking up a collection is like begging , but when the box is at the front it is more like a free will offering on the givers part. People should give from the heart not because they think someone is watching who will condemn them if they don't. Now to the children in the service while the preacher is preaching. I believe churches should have nurseries for kids four years old and under. There is nothing more distractive than a bunch of babies crying while the preacher is preaching the gospel. Preaching the gospel is the most important part of the service and it is also at this time Satan will send all kinds of distractions to keep peoples minds of the gospel. It is compared to the birds of the air that steals the seed before it can take root.

 

I like the offering box at the front of the church, in theory, especially in small churches because with traditional passing the plate, when the ushers leave the room with the money they can pretty much determine who has given how much money. With a box in front, they wouldn't be able to do that. But like JDF says, since giving is a form of worship it ought to be done during the service.

I remember when I was in a small church, maybe 50-60 in attendance. I would give cash (in an envelope) in an attempt to remain anonymous but I believe the ushers could figure out who was giving what based on the positioning of money and offering envelopes in the offering plates.

Yep. I've often noticed that babies and small children might be quiet and behaved through the service (for the most part) but on those occasions when we have an invitation, that's when the babies start crying and kids start to fidget.

 

Hi Brother Saltzer,

I attend a Primitive Baptist church. It is like yours in regards to giving in that it does not pass a offering. If one desires to give, they give the money to the treasurer while at church or as I do mail it to him. I do not find "passing an offering" to have any scriptural basis and can also pressure people to give for the wrong reasons IMO.

 

Mail it to him? That's not the Bible way! Don't you primitives lay it at your elders' feet? (per Acts 4:34ff).

 

Brother Jerome,

I like to mail it to the treasurer to not attract any attention to my giving as giving it during service may do.

 

I don't think there is any good time to take money during the service. Offering plates should be collected, piled up and burned.

 

The same reason the idols were torn down and burned.

 

I've often wondered how the people in the churches in the NT received their offerings. For example, Acts 2:45 mentions that they "sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need."

How exactly did they go about collecting all those various kinds of donations? Who exactly did they designate to collect them? Hopefully it wasn't a guy like Ananias or his wife....Which leads me to wonder what those two were thinking when the "collection committee" came to them?

You lucky married guys, I'm sure the Mrs. has never put on that she needs a new dress [along with all new accessories to match] now! "Honey, you KNOW I can't be seen Sunday morning without a new purse and new shoes! What'll people think? You wouldn't want them to think I married a cheapskate husband, would you?

Or, if God's blessed you with teen aged daughters, and with the new school year rapidly approaching, you've probably already been hit with what some of those angelic teenage girls consider "Old Dad" to be nothing more than a two-legged 24/7/365 ATM machine, right? "But daddy, I just CAN'T be seen wearing last year's styles! They're ANCIENT HISTORY! See, right here in the newest teenage style magazine it shows you want the in-crowd at school are wearing! You wouldn't want your daughter to be considered a dork, would you?"

I doubt whether family things like this have changed that much over the years.

What about other NT churches? I imagine the Corinthian church at first had some interesting debates over how to take up an offering...how much to give, when to give it, and whom should we trust who's honest enough to hold it?

There's probably more issues we could cover when it comes to how the 1st century Christians took up their offerings, but these are some things about which I've wondered so that my giving conforms to what God wants.

OTOH, since I haven't read any "book, chapter or verse" in my Bible that specifically addresses all the fine details of the many giving-related questions I have, maybe God just wants me to go by what He has put in His Word and leave the unmentioned fine points up to what the HS urges me to do.

Am I right or wrong in this conclusion?

I'd sure like to read what you have to post on this.

 

Question: How does your church keep the lights on, keep the church cool/warm, have water, supply for missionary work?

Speaking purely from personal experience, my church uses the weekly offering to provide for missionary work (helping in the field, preparing food and benevolence donations for those in need, etc.), and to keep the power on, to keep the church relatively comfortable inside, to have running water, and to upkeep the church grounds. Our pastor does not receive a salary from the church, as he has a job outside the church. Instead, he is given one weekly offering (which honestly often turns out to be the smallest offering that month). Often he will return much of the money given him, keeping only enough to cover his expenses (gas, etc.) and the remainder will be placed back into the church fund.

Remember, when Jesus Himself looked at a "collection plate," He didn't command that it be thrown out or destroyed, but instead commented on the giving habits of those giving to the treasury.

 

The best method I have seen thus far is a box in the entry way for monetary giving. No plate is passed during the service.

 

1) No pressure on visitors or unbeliever, no one sees the plate after it's passed your row, allows more free giving from more hallowed sources, etc.

2) Yes.

 

At a former church the pastor during a sermon series on giving made the statement "I may not know what you give, but I know if you give".

Same church different pastor (whom I respected), there was a special Sunday night youth service. A majority of the kids parents did not attend the church as they were picked up through the bus ministry. Mostly lower income families. This particular night the place was packed with parents, it was a great opportunity to hopefully get a few to start coming. Offering was never taken up on Sunday nights, but this particular night the plate was passed. I guess the pastor/deacons/youth minister (somebody?) thought these families ought to chip in some, gas was high at that time. Personally, I didn't think it was the right thing to do.

 

You just aren't looking in the right place. The plate comes past him. Whether or not it is true, he feels all eyes on him.

 

There is a local church near my house where the Senior Pastor stood up once before the sermon and stated that it took at least $10,000 per week to pay all the church salaries and keep the lights on. That made me sick. The church in question was a Baptist church fifteen years ago, but they built a massive new sanctuary and stripped the denomination name off the church name. All of this happened when the Senior Pastor in question arrived.

 

Or this:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xv6yno_ma-pa-kettle-kettles-at-the-fair-clip1_shortfilms

Ma & Pa Kettle at the Fair @ 25:00-26:00, a pewful of Kettle boys' thumbs thump the bottom of the offering plate as it passes, sounds just like coins!