Editor’s note: Those of you who frequent the site probably notice that Dave generates a lot of the content himself. While he is away, you will likely see my name on posts a lot more often. Just think of it as me making up for lost time since I haven’t posted in a while. This article is a repost from my own blog a while back.
Yesterday, I got a strange call. As a pastor, I am no stranger to odd requests and since the church phone rings in our house; we get to answer a lot of calls that might be better left to the machine. When I answered the phone yesterday morning, the person on the other end didn’t bother with any pleasantries like an introduction or name; she simply blurted out the words, “Do you take credit cards?” I have to admit that I was caught completely off guard by both the question and the directness with which it was offered. The only response I could come up with that quickly was, “This is a church,” with an astonished tone of voice.
Obviously this girl has made a lot of these calls, because she wasn’t fazed in the least at my response. She said that she understood that she was indeed calling a church and asked me again if we take credit cards. At this point, I simply said that we don’t take them and she clarified my statement by saying that if people wished to give to our church they must do so by cash or check to which I replied, yes. She didn’t explain why she had called or say anything else at this point, but simply disconnected the call. I still have no idea who they were or whether this was a survey or what. I was astounded at both the tone of the call and the content and it jarred me into thinking about the reasons for the call.
I know that there are churches that do take credit cards. As our society increasingly moves away from writing checks (which is something that we rarely do I will admit), and cash becomes less used in favor of the ease and convenience of debit and credit cards at the register (which saves those poor cashiers from having to count out change); this may become more of an issue for churches. I am curious what you all think about the situation. I have personal aversions to credit cards in church because the Bible actively discourages indebtedness because the borrower becomes a slave to the lender (thank you Dave Ramsey for helping me learn that lesson), so I can’t imagine this being a good idea for that regard. But debit cards function in the same manner as credit cards in terms of how they are processed; so if you make provision for the use of them, you open the door to the credit card issue again. I am curious what those of you who read this think about this issue.
And since I am already talking about money, I have another subject to mention along those lines. I have written previously about the fact that ministry must be a calling as opposed to a career or else it will ultimately be in vain. I still stand by my statements in this regard and recently heard another story that deepened my convictions in this matter. While I cannot share any details here, it came to my attention that a sister church had called a pastor who decided not to come because they couldn’t meet his salary demands. As a pastor who has spent many years in a bi-vocational role, I still find it hard to imagine how a pastor can make a decision based on the salary he will receive from a church. I know this can be a thorny issue for some, but for me it goes back to the heart of what Jesus taught in Matthew. Our Father knows what we need to live, and He has stated plainly that He will provide for our needs. I can echo what Paul said about learning to be content with much or with little. God has been gracious to let me experience both; and I learned well that He took care of me in either situation regardless of what I made.
Money is one of those issues that can really get intense. It is said that arguments over money are the most frequent kind of arguments, so it is bound to be a touchy subject. I think the Word makes it clear that if money is our master; we will have no room for another. Given the way the Bible discourages getting into debt, do you think God would take a credit card? Is it wrong for a church or ministry to do so?
What do you think?