The Diocese of Oxford e-news of 5 July has helpfully provided a link to the following communication from National Stewardship Team which is seeking 40 churches to test the card-readers for a period of several months. In return participating churches will get a free card-reader and low Parish Buying rates on transactions. 

Card readers in church

Would you like to trial a card-reader in your church?

We are seeking 40 volunteer churches to take part in the national trial for accepting card payments, including contactless, for fees and payments such as hall and room hire as well as for donations. The churches need to test using the card-readers for several months. We would ask you a lot of questions about how easy you found it to sign up, how easy to use, what you used it for.

We want to use your experience to help create some guidance for the whole of the Church.

In return you get a free card-reader AND the specially negotiated low Parish Buying rates charged on the transactions (more details about these soon).

We are trialling two card readers from companies who came up with the best overall proposals for useability and price for use in the Church.

What will you need?

• A connection (3G or 4G) or Wi-Fi where you are taking payments
• A smart phone (android or iPhone) or an iPad
• An email address
• A church bank account
• Authorisation of the treasurer or PCC to enter into an agreement with the company
• To be registered with the Parish Buying Service (you can register for free here)

What happens at the end of the trial?

That depends on the results of the trial at all the churches and what you tell us. Based on your feedback we may decide to sign a contract with one or both of the companies. If it is only one company it may not be the one you were testing, but then you won’t have spent any money on the reader. So you can decide whether you want to move companies.

If you would like to take part in the trial please enter your details here.

Comment

Regular readers will be aware that Archdruid Eileen (a.k.a. the Revd Gary Alderson) has posted a Collect for a Church Contactless Collection Device on web site of the Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley. We understand that this is not obligatory prior to initiating a trial, and would caution against over-enthusiastic use of the aspergill near the device.