Excerpts from Clyde Kilough's Oct. 28 letter are reprinted here.

As we all know, technological advancements are rapidly innovating the way we do many things in today's world. Commerce is one major area, with everything from shopping to paying our bills increasingly taking place through the Internet and other electronic means.

Growing numbers of people now pay their bills electronically, and more and more members and coworkers have been asking that we make that option available for them when making donations to the Church. In response to those requests and inquiries, we have recently taken the steps necessary to make it possible for you to make contributions to the United Church of God in this manner.

A new electronic donation option will be available, beginning Nov. 15, which will make it more convenient for many of our members and other donors to make contributions. This is our sole motivation for taking this step. In no way does this represent a change from our adherence to the scriptural command to "freely give" the truth of God to all who desire it, as it was freely given to us (Matthew 10:8). It simply makes another way available for those who wish to make contributions to do so. Nor will it affect our practice of issuing quarterly and annual receipts to all donors for all donations, whether given by paper check or this new electronic means.

Two avenues are available through these means—either electronic check or credit card. If you choose to donate electronically, we strongly urge you to use the electronic check option and not the credit card.

There are several reasons for this. One is that we do not wish in any way to encourage the wrong use of credit cards by our members—including the giving of more money to the Church than they can really afford and actually going into debt (which credit card use can easily lead to) in order to make donations. That is not our intent and that is not wise.

A second reason is that it would be quite costly to United if the membership (which contributes close to 90 percent of the Church's total income) switched from sending paper checks to using credit cards. For this service we would be charged credit card fees, which are quite high.

So, again for emphasis, if you wish to contribute "electronically," we urge you to use the electronic check option.

These new electronic options can be used beginning Nov. 15 by logging onto the Internet at www.ucg.org and clicking on the "online donation" link. An input form will appear on your computer screen and several questions will appear that will lead to the secure electronic transfer of funds to the United Church of God. You will be asked to enter your UCG index code (which is the 11-character PIN beginning with the letter "U" that appears on your Good News mailing label and other mailings from the home office), the type of donation being given (first tithe, Festival fund, assistance fund, etc.), and the amount of the donation.

I will stress again that the electronic means is only an option and anyone who wishes to continue making contributions in more traditional ways—chiefly through checks or money orders—may certainly do so. We are neither encouraging nor discouraging anyone to change from sending their tithes and offerings by paper check to sending them electronically. Also, if you are already using your bank's online check writing feature to send your contributions, are happy with it and wish to continue using it, that is perfectly acceptable. We are simply making this new electronic option available on our Web site, and if you wish to continue making donations by paper check or money order or other check writing service, that is fine.

All of us on the Council of Elders and in the home office administration never cease to be thankful to all of you for your faithful and generous support of the work of the United Church of God. We are so greatly privileged to have a part in these "latter days" of fulfilling the dual commission Christ gave His Church—preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God to all the world (Mark 16:15) and caring for those whom God calls into the Church (1 Peter 5:2).

Please remember that your effectual, fervent prayers for God's guidance and blessings on the work of the Church do make a difference, regardless of the amount or the medium of your financial contributions!