The church I've been attending (non denominational) never passes the plate or even mentions donations or tithes, with the only special exception is fund-raisers for a local homeless shelter or love offerings for people about to go out on mission trips (and even then it is a little mention, not a beg.) The funny thing is that financially, we are in much better shape than most other churches in town.
Tithing is a form of worship. So where I go there is a collection box in the front of the church so during singing people just bring it to the front.
Brought not collected.
Sometimes they drop it before or after the service.
Someone told me once that finances are talked more about in the New Testament than Salvation but I never counted up either one so cannot say for sure.
Tithes should be a gift of love, not seen as a requirement.
I do believe in tithing (don’t always do it, unfortunately). I don’t see anywhere where Malachi has been repealed. I do believe tithing is certainly not meant for GOD but for US. The purpose of the tithe is to a) promote God’s mission on earth, and b) to allow us to give that we may receive. And if Bono’s God isn’t short of cash, then what’s Bono doing with all these fundraisers? Just get it from God.
I strongly agree. A collection box in the back is quite sufficient.
Research even shows that when churches transition to such . . . there’s a brief dip in contributions but then they rise to former levels, if not a bit above.
I never could figure how the left hand was not supposed to know what the right hand was doing when a dozen people were watching your hands as you handled the passing plate/bag.
I also think that plate passing kind of greatly hinders if not obliterates freely joyfully giving without coercion as an act of worship between the giver and God alone.
We tried that in our church. People would bring their donations to the front of the church, no plate passed. We almost went under! Then we had a series by Robert Morris on First Fruits giving. It was a four week video series. From that point on our giving exploded! We are so far ahead in our budget now that it’s amazing. I think you have to take into consideration the area where you live, the financial condition of the people in the church, their willingness to give a tithe, etc., etc. This particular method really worked for us. I don’t think there’s just one way to do these things.