I have been attending church for most of my life and during that time I have of course tithed (well, not always,but I do try!). I have filled out that little envelope, marked where I wanted my money to go and dropped in the offering bucket as it came by. I never once thought about what happens after the buckets are collected…until about two months ago.
I was asked if I wanted to volunteer in the finance department on Mondays when they process the tithes and offerings. I agreed because it sounded like fun. I know, I am an accounting nerd! Now that I have been doing this for about two months I can see what everyone does wrong and I of course know how to fix it! I complete this process every Monday with two other ladies and we have come up with a solution to our problems. We decided that we need to educate the church population on the do’s and don’ts of tithing. A video before service would serve this purpose and we have put together a list:
DO use an envelope when giving a cash donation. Please write your full name on the envelope. Do you know how many Bob’s there are in our church? We don’t know who you are if you don’t write it down!
DO place your money neatly in the envelope. It is not necessary to fold it our crumple it like a piece of trash!
DON’T use an envelope for a check. It is not needed. All your information is on the check for us and all we do is throw the envelope away anyway.
DO put in the memo line of the check what your donation is for. T for tithing, O for offering, M for missions and so on.
DON’T give us dirty coins…you know we have to touch them to count!!
DO give cash anonymously if you feel led to do so. Just don’t crumple it up or fold until it is tiny. We do have to straighten the money out to give to the bank.
DON’T seal an envelope if you do not wish to write on it. That way we can recycle the envelope.
We are not trying to be overly legalistic…just trying to make it easier on our Finance Department!
What do you do with your tithes and offerings?
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That’s too funny. I never thought about that. People really crumple their money? Odd.