The Tithe Has Left the Building: Why Crowdfunding will Become a New Haven for Christian Giving

I wrote this article as part of an application to write for an online content creation business. This is what came out of the question: "What is the Future of Crowdfunding". I would be interested to hear your feedback on this, so I'm opening this blog up for comments.

A mass exodus of church goers will prove to be crowdfunding's most lucrative offering. The Covid-19 pandemic is reshaping the global economy; namely how producers and consumers conduct commerce. Churches, synagogues, and other religious institutions are scrambling to wrangle-in their wandering donors since the doors have closed (or attendance has been regulated). This could spell disaster for traditional religious institutions as we know them, but could prove to become revolutionary for the crowdfunding platform.

As a result of lock-downs, social distancing regulations, and concern for contracting Covid, millions of Christians have found that their faith hasn't withered because of a lack of organized religion. In fact, many have discovered new depths of relational intimacy, organic community outreach and authentic prayer; all independent of the four walls of the church building and the clergy desperately trying to hold its crumbling infrastructure together.

Generous parishioners are discovering, that the top-heavy mega-church model with its bloated staffs, college-like campuses, rock star-status super pastors, and Disneyesque youth programs, are simply not sustainable or necessary to achieve the intended fruit of their religious institutions. Like business owners and investors who are now seeing the value of remote work (which cuts costs and often negates the necessity for commercial space), church contributors are getting smart to the fact that their tithes and offerings can be used more efficiently elsewhere, while still fulfilling the sacred call to be generous.

Religious people want to give. They need to give. This sense of purpose and priority drives them to be some of the most collectively generous people in the world. Now that the church has left the building, we can also assume that its charity will follow with it. Like water finding its way to the lowest place, so the traditional tithe and offering will find its way to a more accessible and accountable platform to express generosity for the faithful in a post-pandemic world. As the entire understanding and expression of the church changes within a generation, crowdfunding can expect to be among its most prosperous beneficiaries.

What say you?