Please think very seriously about this. The worship assembly of the church has a “worship God” (vertically-focused) emphasis to it (John 4:24). That’s obvious. But, the worship assembly of the church also has a “come together…for edification” (horizontally-focused) emphasis to it (1 Cor. 14:26). This involves EVERY avenue of worship in which we engage, including our giving.
The Greek word that is translated as “contribution” in Romans 15:26 is the word koinonia. That same Greek word is translated “fellowship” (12 times, including 2 Cor. 8:4) and “communion” (4 times, including 1 Cor. 10:16). The word koinonia means “close association involving mutual interests and sharing of members.” By using that word for “contribution,” God wanted Christians to know that inherent within the giving that we do in our weekly worship is a sharing and fellowship with each other. The giving is not just about me…but about us…giving together.
I am thankful that when our elders introduced online giving that they also introduced those green slips, so that everyone could join in and share together in our worship, no matter how we give! Let’s use them…as we fellowship in giving!