What do you all think about the practice of giving church members offering envelopes. Or, about the church keeping records of a person's specific giving in general. I know there are a lot of issues related to taxes and people like to get tax deductions and the like, but I have always been a little wary of the church tracking my long-term giving. I personally never used the envelopes I was provided with, but since I wrote checks the records were still there. In some ways, when I know my giving is being tracked I feel like it influences my motives for actually giving, which is what motivated me asking the question. When I know other people are looking at how much I give (whether they are judging me or not), I feel like I've lost some of my freedom in giving.

In the Sermon on the Mount we are encouraged to give "anonymously", although I think that passage is probably teaching that our motive for giving should not be so we can look good in front of other people. In other places in the NT, some people's giving is definitely not anonymous.

Any opinions?

John