During the summer of 2020, Back Bay Church in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, launched a new way to accept offerings.
A self-described tech and computer guy, Lead Pastor Adam Bennett became interested in and invested in cryptocurrency, a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on a government or bank to uphold and maintain it. Soon after, he was chatting with church members and someone joked, “Maybe we could start taking tithes in crypto.”
“Of course, me as the nerdy lead pastor, I thought, I wonder if we could do that?’” Bennett says.
He soon discovered that the Salvation Army accepts cryptocurrency and found several websites that allow businesses to accept crypto. Setting up an account at Coinbase.com took less than an hour, and a “Donate With Crypto” button was placed on the online giving page at the church’s website. Just like in traditional online giving, the button prompts users to enter how much they want to give and allows them to enter their “wallet” address.
“If we want to use that money, we transfer it to our ‘wallet’ and then transfer it to our bank account. Or, if we’re buying something that takes crypto, we just pay in crypto,” Bennett says.
For churches and ministries that feel lost discussing the topic, Bennett encourages them not to be afraid.
“Technology is not your enemy,” he says. “The best way to learn about technology is to use it.”
Bennett envisions a world 10 years from now where people keep a chunk of their money in crypto. That, he says, has implications for global missions.
“Sometimes missionaries are in a place where the financial situation is not as stable as in the U.S.,” Bennett says. “If there were a way they could conduct financial transactions in something untouchable by foreign governments, that’s beneficial. We can transfer funds around the world very quickly, and [do it] nearly free.
“Cryptocurrency is the ‘internet’ of our future,” Bennett says.
