The average small church spends an average of $556 annually for VBS—about $250 below the average budget of $800 for churches overall. Some of the churches we talked to didn't even spend $500. Here are some of their cost-cutting ideas, as well as a few from our editors.
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Involve the congregation and let them know the needs. With a budget of $600, Memorial Baptist Church in Cincinnati drew almost 30 kids to its VBS last summer—about five more attendees than the church's 25 members. "We began by sending around children in our church to members, asking for their spare change," says Pastor Steve Wilson, who each spring begins to talk about the upcoming VBS event from his pulpit. The church also publishes a list of VBS needs in the weekly bulletins and encourages members to watch for used items at garage sales and thrift shops.
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Call on other churches. After noticing that several area churches in Monroeville, Ohio, were using the same safari theme her 150-member church had selected for its VBS, St. John's Lutheran VBS director Judy Haughawout asked if she could have or borrow their props and decorations. The churches quickly responded. A few weeks later, VBS learners wandered into St. John's basement-turned-African jungle complete with life-like giraffes and lions, zebra art, and a safari sunset.
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Create instead of buy. Props and decorations can consume a large slice of the VBS budget pie, especially when the materials are expensive. To cut costs, 150-member Assembly of God Church in Naselle, Washington, "shoots" line drawings onto butcher paper with an overhead projector, and artistic members paint the images. Then, they mount each image on cardboard cut from large boxes to make 4-by-6-foot life-size figures.
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Go into the community. Drawing unchurched kids requires relationships with unchurched families. Meet and connect with people in your community by involving them in your VBS. A few months before VBS, stop by local businesses like grocery stores, restaurants, and machine shops and ask for boxes and crates. Ask if you can check back in a few weeks for more. Memorial Baptist regularly solicits moving companies for used mattress and wardrobe cartons—ideal for backdrops and cardboard cutouts for props.
Maximizing Space
For a small church, space issues are often the highest hurdles. If your church doesn't have enough rooms or its own building, VBS can seem like an impossible feat. Churches we talked to have innovated and improvised.
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Go off-site. Oakhill Community Church in Elgin, South Carolina, takes VBS to the children and at the same time reaches unchurched kids and their parents. Because the church of 80 members meets in an elementary school, an on-site VBS event isn't an option. Last July, Pastor Doug Mize and several VBS volunteers traveled to a different neighborhood each Sunday and hosted an evening VBS Block Party. Since its launch five years ago, Oakhill has hosted VBS each year. The first two years, leaders operated it out of a member's home. The next two years, they held it in the town's community center.
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Use every ounce of space. If your church has a small building, survey every area and think outside the typical bounds of sanctuary and education rooms. Assembly of God Church rotates learning centers (teaching/Bible story, music, crafts, snacks/recreation) in all five of the church's rooms, including organizing the craft area in the foyer.
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Get creative. One small church in San Diego uses its VBS learning areas to enhance the overall theme and maximize space. More than 50 percent of the kids are unchurched. Leaders rotate learning centers and divide rooms into six to eight class sections (groups of six to eight kids) with blankets or something that fits the theme. "Last year, my son's group met in a life raft in the corner of a room, and he loved it," says one parent. The rotating groups are only together in their "rooms" for 25 minutes.
Finding the Manpower
Whether it's VBS, community service projects, or Sunday school, volunteer shortages plague all churches. For small congregations, this obstacle can often be the deciding factor in hosting or not hosting VBS.
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Rotate learning centers. Like hundreds of churches across the country, Ranch Chapel in Crooked River Ranch, Oregon, uses learning centers, eliminating the need for teachers for every age group or class.
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Take turns. At Memorial Baptist Church, VBS volunteers help other small churches in the area with their VBS events, and in turn, those same churches send people to Memorial Baptist for its VBS—enlarging both churches' volunteer base.
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Partner up. Contact other small local churches and band together for one large VBS that doesn't drain your resources. Kids will enjoy the big group feeling, and each church avoids volunteer burnout.
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Go to the experts. Involve your community by enlisting local artists to create murals, props, and backdrops. Tell them about the overall theme and give them creative freedom to "wow" you.
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Think nighttime. Host VBS in the evening and resource a whole new group of volunteers—tapping into working mothers, single professionals, and youth and college students with summer jobs.
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Involve youth and senior adults. Publishers have wised up, and many now provide VBS materials that require little set-up time and easy-to-follow instructions for atypical leaders like youth and senior adults. Be proactive and ask for some face time with these groups; let them know you need them.
Excerpted from the January/February 2006 issue of Outreach magazine, © 2009 by Outreach, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission. For more information: OutreachMagazine.com.
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