Three cheers to the Do More Ministry blog for telling it like it is at Offering envelopes aren't cool ... so what? Another blogger was complaining about offering envelopes that many churches use because they aren't cool (see The Uncool Offering Envelope):
... when I read the that the "cool factor" is a reason NOT to use offering envelopes ... I'm confused. When did "cool" become a requirement ... for anything ... in church? I don't care about COOL. I care about FUNDING!
Trying to be cool is uncool, because it means you're focusing on yourself. That's how you become dull and irrelevant. Trying to be cool makes you shape the way you raise funds to meet your own needs, not the people you raise funds from.
The need to be seen as cool (or smart, or modern, or anything else) causes nonprofits to make all kinds of stupid and self-destructive decisions. Like arbitrarily change they way they raise funds because the old way doesn't reflect well on them. That's a huge self-centered, and very common mistake.
I'm no expert on the effectiveness of church offering envelopes. And I agree they aren't exactly cutting-edge. But if they work, that's a good reason to use them. Cool or not. Same with everything else you do.
The real cool guys? They're the ones changing the world because they're raising enough funds with corny old envelopes. I'd rather hang out with them.
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