The Mogiv Minute

(NOTE: This article was originally published on SermonCentral.com as part of a four part series on giving to the church. Once you’ve finished reading this one, head over to Sermon Central for other great articles on church generosity!)

Working in business development for a church giving platform, I am often asked if there is a Biblical precedent for churches using digital technology to accept tithes and offerings; any scriptural evidence that “text-2-give is acceptable to the Lord? I’ll save you a concordance search: there isn’t.

In many ways, the Bible remains frustratingly vague when it comes to our most pressing questions about stewardship and generosity. This may explain why so much of our preaching about finances remains frustrating and vague.

How should we teach our people to give? How often? And how much? Do we teach that believers have to give to their home church? Or is it okay for our congregants to send money elsewhere? And what about tithing? Is that the minimum requirement for Christians or the maximum? Is it even relevant to New Covenant believers?

Over the years, many good-faith efforts have been made to answer these questions. More than a few pastors and theologians have attempted to codify the ABC’s (and $1.23s) of giving to the church. And yet, for pastors and parishioners alike, these efforts have provided little assurance. (more…)

One of the most frequently cited and widely used reasons for the rapid growth of digital giving over the past decade is the proportionate decline in checks during that time.

And the trend continues! In fact, according to one report, we are on pace to write our final check sometime in the year 2021. A mere six years away!

Nowhere is this “check-less” trend more prevalent than with Millennials, 20% of whom have never written a check in their life. There are piles and piles of statistics to back this up (like these), but – for today – I thought we’d forego stats and focus on some good, old-fashioned anecdotal evidence. (It is election season after all.) (more…)

Ring the bells! Bang the tambourines! The blessed day has finally arrived!

That’s right, after months of talking, tweaking, and testing, Mogiv‘s new and improved administrative dashboards have finally been released into polite society.

Why all the excitement? Because we love churches! And we know that bookkeepers, treasurers, finance secretaries, and business managers are some of the hardest working people on any church’s staff. So anything we can do to make these warriors’ lives easier, is a BIG WIN in our book!

Our new dashboards do just that! Here’s how… (more…)

Through my work at Mogiv, I’ve had a front row seat to the rise of mobile giving in recent years. But even I was surprised to discover just how much mobile giving increased in 2015.

A recent study released by npENGAGE revealed that mobile donations were up a whopping 45% during the last few months of 2015.

And that’s not all they discovered. Here are a few other key takeaways from the article… (more…)

Huzzah! Another New Year begins. New calendars. New seasons. New starts. And – of course – new goals!

My wife and I were on a jog last week and we decided to use that time as an opportunity to go over our 2016 goals. We tried to think of at least one for five key categories (aka The Five ‘F’s’): Family, Friends, Faith, Finance, and Fitness.

Most of the ones we came up with will be familiar to anyone with even a passing interest in calendar- based resolutions. Run two half-marathons. Save a chunk of money for our first house. Get plugged into a small group at our new church. All the staples. haha.

What we lacked in creativity, we tried to make up for with specificity. By picking measurable activities and goals, we’re hoping to have more success this year than we have in the past with our more general resolutions. (e.g. Get into shape! Make some new friends! Eat less(ish) candy! etc.)

Maybe you have some resolutions you’re working toward in your own life. Or maybe you’ve got some goals that you’d love to see your church accomplish in 2016. Expanded ministries? New outreach opportunities? Maybe adding an additional service or breaking ground on a new facility? The opportunities are endless. (more…)