For the past five weeks we’ve been teaching (@MapleGrove) a series called Miracles. This week we used the illustration of Jesus’ first recorded miracle in the Bible – when Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding.

You can listen to the message here. (Week 5 – Water to Wine)

So the basic point of the message is this; if you want a miracle from God you have to do what God tells you to do.

• (Jesus) mother said to the servants, “Do whatever (Jesus) tells you.” John 2: 5

• …faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:17

• Because Jesus and the servants obeyed, a miracle happened.

• …I will show you my faith by what I do. James 2:18

And of course, with all the doom and gloom about the economy right now, Pastor Gary can’t help but using the example of finances to illustrate the point. Do you want a miracle with your finances? Are you obeying God? Don’t tithe? If you want your finances to get better, tithe. Try it. The bible says “test me”.

And here’s where it get’s interesting… he’s heard about a church where they offer a money back guarantee. Sounds a little risky, doesn’t it?

Then, after thinking out loud “do I want to do that?” … he says “I have that faith” … “For the rest of the year, if you tithe, and God doesn’t bless you, I will personally give you your money back.” Not from the church, but from his own pocket!

I’ve heard of other churches that have done this, it’s not all that new, but I have yet to find one where the pastor has done it personally. Now that’s personal faith.

If you would like to give to MapleGrove Church, you can start the process here.

In this article, Kent Shaffer lists some of the most common ways churches are offering this option.

PayPal has no set-up costs, but the percentage they take from you is much higher, and the usability (though improved recently) is still far from friendly to the end user. The giver must create an account with PayPal to set-up recurring giving and it takes way too much work to actually happen for most people. We have seen sites increase their sales by 20-50% when changing from PayPal to a payment gateway.

Secure Giving Forms aren’t secure at all. A person ends up with your credit card numbers and who knows where that will end up leading.

Service Providers are more secure, but you will pay way more that this really costs. Secure server certificates don’t have to cost $300 anymore, and there is no reason these services can’t be more integrated with your website.

Payment Gateways – I would argue that the cost isn’t the problem here, it’s the fact that most of the gates are set-up to only swing one way (in). In the example provided, note the disclaimers…

If you would like to cancel or modify your giving schedule, you can contact us at giving@churchonthemove.com. For cancellations or changes, please allow adequate time for processing, which is done during our regular business hours.

So on pay day when I realize that I need to adjust my gift for the next week, I have to email someone and have them do it for me? What if it’s too late? Why do I have to tell someone?  I think people want more control and privacy than that.

So, what works best? We have found a solution can be had for a lot less money than you think. We recently developed one for MapleGrove that allows users to create an account (that integrates into our mailing list software) and give either one-time or recurring gifts, they can set, edit, or stop their own gifts 24/7/365, and no human has access to their credit/bank card numbers. It uses a payment gateway through Authorize.net (no set-up fees for churches with our provider).

For those that are using any of the above, I’m interested in hearing about your results. What has worked for you? What has failed? How many of your people give on-line? How have on-line giving systems increased your giving?  Please post your comments.