Bryce Collman spent years as an executive in the electronic payment processing business. He saw an opportunity at the end of 2009 to start a company that offers churches lower rates for processing credit and debit card transactions, and he was eager to spread the word.

But visits to church leaders to tout his money-saving method produced several surprising responses. “As we talked with organizations, churches specifically told us, ‘No credit,'” Collman recalls.

“A Dallas-area church did not want to put their members at risk of creating debt in order to support the church. They were adamant about it.” He responded by developing an option for online giving that he says will reject a credit card if someone tries to use one.

Churches who have adopted online giving generally say it steadies their weekly giving patterns, since someone can still tithe regardless of whether they’re sitting in church on Sunday. As online giving grows more popular—one-third in the “2010 View from the Pew” survey say they regularly give online—Collman says he expects more churches to look into the debit-only option from his Texas-based Ardent Giving Solutions.

The reason: church leaders likely hear horror stories about credit card debt through personal finance ministries like Financial Peace and Crown Financial, but still want the benefits of online giving, forcing them to wrestle with this question: Are credit cards appropriate for tithing?

Read More: http://www.christianitytoday.com/yc/2010/winter/creditcardquestion.html