Gotta say – most interesting contrast in Holland was the red light district in Haarlem, which is directly behind one of these old churches. There was a whorehouse literally in the buildings where the old rectory would have been. I think Nietzsche would have approved.

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As for how much to put in the collection plate, I think S makes a good point about first time visitors, but I like to put something in the plate even if I’m only visiting because I know the good community work that the churches do. Maybe I only put in a few bucks, but I don’t attend a regular church anymore and I consider this to be my form of “tithing.”

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a) first-time or infrequent visitor to a typical worship service
b) visitor to a special event sponsored by the church but designed for the wider community
c) regular attender of the church

Speaking as someone who is a deacon in my church and who is often the one passing the collection plate down the aisles, I have zero expectation that first-time visitors to a Sunday morning service drop anything in the collection plate. I’m more focused on being glad that they’re potentially interested enough in our church that they even showed up to check us out! For an event that is more community-focused, such as a speaker or movie night or concert, I do think the polite thing for most people to do is to toss something in the offering plate, to help offset the costs of the event. The church may have paid an honorarium to the speaker, or paid for guest soloists, for example. However, since I recognize that everyone is in a different place financially, I’m certainly not going to react negatively to anyone who doesn’t donate, and unless you’re tossing in coins or ostentatiously flashing very large bills, I’m not even going to notice how much you give. Financial expectations of people in category C seem outside the scope of Tamara’s post….

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Church costs money to run. The first Sunday that we attended, I put $20 in the offering plate. Jeanine thought this was way too much. Afterward, we talked about it and I said that it would cost us twenty bucks to go sit at a movie so it only seemed reasonable to somewhat pay our way while we’re guests and checking things out.

She disagreed with me! But your posts makes me wonder again… is church really free?

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