The offering in Christianity is a gift of money to the Church.

In general, the offering is differentiated from the tithe as being funds given by members for general purposes over and above what would constitute a tithe.^[1][2]

In some Christian services, there is a part reserved for the collection of donations that is referred to as the offertory. Historically, the offertory takes place either in the middle of the service (or at the end) and is collected by passing a collection plate (which may be fancy, or simple).^[3][4] Other churches collect donations by placing a collection box reserved for that purpose (usually near the exit doors). More recently, donations are collected by electronic means, either as one-time or recurring items. The offering goes towards upkeep of the church building, various ministries such as that of evangelism, as well as to the poor, among other areas.^[5]

The offering is put at the service of the Church, for example for the support of the ministers of God, Pastors and missionaries, building maintenance costs, programs, helping the underprivileged (Christian humanitarian aid).^[18][19] For the affiliated churches, the offering also supports the services of their denomination (such as missionary organizations, hospitals, schools and theological institutes).^[20] According to a 2014 survey of 1,605 churches in the United States by Christianity Today, the top five expenditures are staff salaries (ministers) to 47%, the ministries and the support (Christian humanitarian aid) to 9%, the place of worship (mortgage or rent of the building to 7%, utilities to 7%, maintenance to 5%), the support for international missions at 5% and support for local missions at 4%.^[21] A 2016 study conducted by the Leadership Network and the Vanderbloemen Search Group among 1,252 churches in the United States, in Canada, in South Africa and in Great Britain, gave similar figures.^[22]

In 1948, the evangelist Billy Graham and his evangelistic team established the Modesto Manifesto, a code of ethics life and work to protect against accusations of financial, sexual and power abuse.^[23] This code includes rules for collecting offerings in churches, working only with churches supportive of cooperative evangelism, using official crowd estimates at outdoor events, and a commitment to never be alone with a woman other than his wife, unless another person is present.^[24]

In the 16th century, many Protestant theologians criticized the sale of indulgences by the Catholic Church, for the remission of sins.^[25]

The offerings and the tithe occupies a lot of time in some worship services.^[26] The collections of offerings are multiple or separated in various baskets or envelopes to stimulate the contributions of the faithful.^[27][28]

The account of the widow's offering (Gospel according to Luke, chapter 21) is often used by some churches to encourage the faithful to follow her example and make large offerings, despite a precarious situation.^[29] Various theologians have criticized this interpretation.^[30][31] They connect this story with Jesus' condemnation of religious leaders devouring the houses of widows in the preceding verse (Gospel according to Luke, chapter 20). Thus Jesus would not have wanted to show the example of a generous donor, but rather to denounce a case of injustice.

• Church service
• Church attendance
• Christian liturgy
• Poor box