Instead of passing a plate, bag, or KFC bucket during services, my church collects tithes and offerings through tall, narrow, plain wooden boxes placed at the entrances to the worship center and in a few other buildings. When I attended the new members class, the pastor explained the elders made this decision to reduce the perception among visitors that the church “only wants their money.”

I hear this all the time—that many seekers (and not-so-seekers) believe the church talks too much about money or cares more about people’s giving than their salvation. This is ironic because, first, Jesus talked about money all the time and, second, many pastors I know are terrified to confront the issue at all much less overdo it, and, third, with the high rate of debt and low rate of savings in our society it seems we have an obligation to teach people about biblical stewardship.

But I digress. What I find interesting about the offering boxes is that even though the method of collecting the money is different, the idea is still mentioned from the pulpit each week. Without fail, the person doing the welcome and announcements will mention the presence of the boxes and remind members to give as part of their worship.

It’s also interesting that the principle is important enough to our leaders that they are willing to forego a tithe of another kind. The senior pastor estimates the church could receive 10% more money each year by passing the plate—those impulsively-given fives and tens add up. But they choose to do without that cash in favor of making a statement.

Finally, it’s interesting that our church is a very generous church. Whether this is caused by the offering-box method or happens in spite of it, I don’t know, but we consistently make or exceed the budget for each year plus give many thousands of dollars to the poor and needy of Orange County and to special efforts like hurricane relief.

So what conclusions to draw? The practice doesn’t seem to be hurting us, and I’m not aware of a biblical precedent for passing buckets so the question seems more practical than theological. What do you think?