That is only hearsay, of course. Nevertheless, the Nave or worship area of some of the greater churches might earn increased appreciation following a clearance of newly classified unnecessary fittings. And a new look at electronic funds transfer possibilities. Due to the worldwide pandemic, refer to the year 2020 as the worst ever if you wish. But for many churches it revolutionised their use of contemporary digital technology. Some reported that they had learned an important lesson, i.e., that such technology has become an essential ministry tool. To encourage congregational members to worship at home, popular programs such as Zoom, Teams and YouTube ensured an amazing growth in online ministry that could be described as unprecedented as the Covid-19 virus and its ancillary strains.
Whether places of worship have adopted a total online approach to their services, or in person congregations, or a mix of both, the traditional format of giving Alms is rapidly being shelved for modern practices. At the same time, it cannot be denied that various fashionable donation schemes have slowly been creeping in over recent years.
Faithlife
LLC, formerly known as Logos Bible Software, a Christian
media company based in the United States, have reported
(
www.faithlife.com) that eighty percent of people do not carry cheque books, seventy- five percent of people carry less than $50 USA (£36 UK approximately, depending upon current exchange rate) in cash whereas fifty percent rarely carry any hard cash.
However, fifty percent of all people apparently prefer digital payment methods for all their financial transactions. As Faithlife LLC is an American organisation, I assume that their research undertaking refers to individuals in the United States. However, I also suspect that the conclusions of their research could easily be closely mirrored here in the United Kingdom. Bear in mind, for instance, the phenomenal growth of credit and store cards in recent years boosted by an increasing number of traders not accepting cheques. In the realms of commerce, Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) has seemingly become standard. For many years, employers have increasingly adopted paying their
employees and other accounts, notably invoices, by Banker’s Automated Clearing Services (BACS). BACS payments are used for bank transfers within the UK, including direct debits, and this system has been on track for some fifty years. Like BACS, Faster Payments (FP) are available for bank-to- bank transfers within the UK. It has been in use for about twelve years and is most suited to small sums. As the name indicates, this is a quicker way to move money between bank accounts. For peace of mind, a Faster Payments transfer is often completed within a few minutes.
Most banks and building societies do not charge for either BACS or FP transfers. Nevertheless, my understanding is that each finance house may levy nominal charges at their discretion.
Long before the birth of electronic funds transfer, Standing Orders were a common method of an instruction to a bank by an account holder to make regular
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fixed payments to a particular person or organisation. This system is still available, and, in fact, I still have a Standing Order for a monthly payment to be made to a commercial business. I set this up many years ago.
Direct Debit (DD) has virtually taken over from Standing Orders and, as mentioned above, these are usually processed through the BACS system.
There are two other schemes for processing electronic funds transfer. The first, introduced in 1984, is the Clearing House Automated Payment System (CHAPS). This procedure is for transferring funds within the United Kingdom, but as it is generally quite costly to process, it is best used for the transfer of large amounts, say £10,000 (ten thousand pounds sterling) or more.
At the time of writing, I am reliably advised that the average charge for a transfer by CHAPS is £25 (twenty-five pounds sterling).
The second method is the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT). This system allows banks and building societies to transmit financial data securely. It is particularly suitable for international money transfers as it is a network of financial institutions working as a team to ensure that transactions are credited to the correct account. At the time of writing, I am dependably informed that, as with CHAPS the typical fee for a transfer by SWIFT is £25 (twenty-five pounds sterling), although this could be higher dependent upon circumstances prevailing at the actual moment of transfer.
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