Church accesses Interac
BELLEVILLE, ON—Some visitors to Desert Stream Christian Fellowship church thought they were victims of a practical joke when they saw the sign posted on the front door.
"We have a little yellow sign saying 'Interac welcome here' right on the doors, which people think is a joke until they come in and see the machine," laughs pastor Kevin Dowling.
The CIBC Interac machine has been located in the church's foyer for the last 15 months, part of an innovative strategy to encourage the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada congregation in their tithing habits.
Dowling says the decision to install the machine came at a time when the church board was struggling to come up with ways to meet a projected $40,000 shortfall in 2000.
"As a church, we're always looking at different ways of making people's participation as accessible and easy as possible," says Dowling. "One of the areas we really look at as a ministry in the church is giving. It's an act of worship."
Dowling notes that many of the 250-member congregation would either forget to bring their cheque books to church or not have cash on hand. When special speakers would offer books or tapes for sale, people were often running across the street to withdraw money from the bank machine.
Bringing Interac to the church seemed like a logical step, says Dowling. The machine is similar to the merchant's machines used to pay for goods at stores—parishoners can purchase items from special events or give their tithes directly to the church bank account, but cannot do other transactions such as deposits, transfers or withdrawals.
The machine also does not accept credit cards. "We don't want people to go into debt giving to God. That way it keeps the integrity of the people and of the church," says bookkeeper Mark McFaul.
"It's a lot easier on bookkeeping," notes Dowling. "When the ushers are done collecting the offering, there's less to actually count. It eliminates all the cheques." Once the service is over, the treasurer swipes his merchant's card through the machine and the money is sent to Desert Stream's bank account. A print-out of the day's giving goes into the offering plate to be counted.
The machine costs the church about $55 annually, and is well worth the savings in NSF cheques and bookkeeping hassles, says Dowling, who estimates 40 per cent of the weekly offerings come through Interac.
And, he adds, after the machine's installation in 2000, there was "a dramatic turnaround" from the projected shortfall, in the end leaving a $50,000 budget surplus.
Dowling doesn't credit the increase completely to the presence of Interac, but admits it has "been instrumental in enabling people to participate with their giving on a regular basis."
The congregation has "loved it. We haven't had a single complaint. They all thought it was a fantastic idea," says Dowling, although during the early discussions, some had raised the issue of bringing the "moneychangers into the temple."
Utilizing technology
To that Dowling says, "the reality is that it's simply another way the person is making the transaction of getting their offering to the church. How is it any different than writing a cheque?
"It's no different from using a video projection machine instead of overheads or overheads instead of hymnbooks. It's another way we use technology to make life easier for those who have such busy and hectic lives to start with."
The only problem now, Dowling laughs, is that "there's usually a lineup there every Sunday with people using it!"
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