When the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Kettering, Ohio (USA), decided to accept donations through the Internet, treasurer Ed Mann noticed contributions from people who hadn't usually given.

The increase came mostly from college students away at school who maintained their membership back at their home church.

"It wasn't a huge amount of money but they had an opportunity to give that they wouldn't have otherwise," Mann says.

After the Adventist Church in North America launched the Internet donation program last year called Adventist Giving, the church has received more than $1.5 million through July from members who would rather give online than put cash or a check in the offering plate.

"As a church we have to go with the way people are handling their finances today," says Fred Kinsey, assistant to the president for communication for the church in North America. "I haven't written a check in a year and a half. Everything I do is online."

More than 80 Adventist churches in North America now use the system and another 120 are in the process of signing up.

Church leaders expect about 20 percent of North American churches, or 35 percent of members, to participate in the program.

Other Christian organizations, such as the Full Gospel Baptist Fellowship, the Promise Keepers and the National Association of Evangelicals, already accept donations online, says Ed Reid, Stewardship director for the Adventist Church in North America.

A few Adventist churches already had their own online giving programs when church leaders in the North American Communication and Stewardship departments began pushing for a region-wide program that would be available to thousands of Adventist churches.

Reid has a theory: "When you actually do all of your banking online and you come to church, something occurs that I call 'wallet roulette.' The offering plate comes around and you put in whatever you have in your wallet but if you could have done it online you would have given more."

Reid adds that giving tithes and offerings online is convenient for people who travel or are not able to attend church regularly.

But with the convenience comes a price. Credit card usage fees -- usually about 2 to 3 percent of a transaction - initially kept members in Mann's church in Ohio from using the system. As the program grows church leadership in North America is now discussing which entity will pay the fees -- local churches, larger state-wide administrations or the church's North American Division headquarters.

Some members might be hesitant to participate because they say there is a spiritual exercise in physically putting money into an offering plate, Reid says. Others may not be Internet savvy or feel it isn't a secure way of doing business.

"No financial information is stored online, making it, in some cases, safer than writing a check," says Adventist Giving administrator, David Green, who holds a master's degree in Internet security.

While several church leaders said that young people were more likely to give tithes and offerings online, Mann notes that all age ranges in his congregation use the program. [Editor: Taashi Rowe for ANN/APD]]

For more information, see the Web site http://www.adventistgiving.org