News

Churches deploy ATMs: Automatic Tithing Machines

March 15, 2011

Tithing is quick and easy for worshipers paying with bank cards at "giving-kiosk units" now located in numerous churches throughout the country.

"It's easier," said John Muscianes, in a story published in The Fresno Bee. He attends New Covenant Community Church in northeast Fresno, Calif. "I don't have to write a check. It's convenient."

Although SecureGive, a company in Augusta, Ga., has been selling kiosks for years, sales have taken off only in the past year. Now, about 325 churches nationwide use them.

"A lot of people just don't carry checkbooks," said Stuart Baker, director of sales and marketing for SecureGive. "We're moving into a cashless society. From a practical standpoint, it allows people to do what they already want to do — give."

New Covenant Community Church has provided online giving through its website for a number of years but installed a giving kiosk in late November.

The church's pastor, the Rev. Jän van Oosten, told The Bee that so many people use debit cards these days that "the kiosk is the way to go."

According to the Fresno Bee, New Covenant's unit is a sleek, silver pedestal topped with a computer screen, numeric keypad and magnetic strip reader. Prompted by on-screen instructions, congregants swipe their bank cards and punch in some numbers. After they're done, a receipt spits out. The donation is tax-deductible.

New Covenant's giving kiosk averages about 12 users on Sundays.

Would you use a giving kiosk to tithe? Comment below.