My church charges $35 per child (with a max family rate) but it is free if the adult volunteers. A girlfriend sends her children to VBS at a different church and their program is free.

New question: What is your VBS theme this year?

My church buys the program (which might contribute to the cost). Our theme was "A Wild Ride Through God's Territory" (a western theme). My girlfriends church puts together their own program. Their theme was ocean centered. The fact that they don't buy a program may factor into their ability to keep it free.

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"Poor people work for their money. Rich people make their money work for them."

Ours was "Sonforce Kids Special Agents" - kind of a take off of Spy Kids.

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Ours charges $40 and you still have to pay even if you volunteer! We chose not to send our kids this year since it would cost us $80 just to send them. It used to be free a long time ago but then they started charging and every year the price goes up which is strange b/c our church is huge so you'd think they would be able to keep the fees for vbs fairly low.

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SAHM to Elias 3/00, Camdyn 7/03 and Teagan 5/08

VBS is supposed to be outreach to the community. My husband is a pastor. Last year our church spent about $2000 on VBS and various ministries in the church supplied free dinners for 5 nights (on top of the approx. $2000 spent on materials). People could come and eat dinner, drop off their kids or stay with them if they wanted. Paying for VBS is shocking to me. By the way, our Sunday mornings run about 150 people, so we are a good medium sized church for a town of 9,000, but not the size to have extra 1,000's lying about. The church made VBS a priority, asked for individual donations, and worked the church's budget to be able to do this.

We just started vbs this summer at our church for the school aged children. I am sure there is a charge, but I did not pay attention because my kids are too little anyway. We had a big discussion about paying for sunday school in my neighborhood last year. Our church charges $50 a year for sunday school, which I personally feel is a steal. Sunday school goes from sept-april and I am sure th $50 covers the supplies and stuff. I also would have no problem paying for vbs, there is a cost associated with putting it on, so why shouldn't they charge? Also, from my background in health promotion and recreation, I can tell you that when people pay for something, they make more of a commitment. When things are free, people sign up but then don't worry about going which could take another kids spot or waste supplies that were purchased for the number that was signed up.

Our church does not charge for VBS. Although we do collect an offering everynight which goes to offset cost. We also do a Penny collection on Wednesday evening which is used for a special project. We weigh the pennies and divide by the # of kids in each group (Class) and which ever class has the most pounds of pennies per class gets a special treat. (usually popsicles) We do it as an outreach to the community. One year we gave away Veggie tales movies to families in the community to invite them to VBS. We are a small country church with about 300+ members. (most of them are older though). I have been involved with our VBS for about 10 years in one way or another. for the last two years I teach the kids the songs. (it has been my most favorite area to work).
This year we are doing "Avalanche Ranch" We start on the 15th.

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~Jill~

$5.00 per child.

Our church charges $10 for the first child and $5 for each additional child with a $20 max. Most of the others in the area are free, but also much larger. We also have cooler crafts, too.

We go to a lot of VBS's!

$15 per child

Maybe it's where I live, but VBS is free. It's about bring families into the church that otherwise might not come. I've never heard of charging for church!

I also over the years have worked as a Admin Asst for 3 different churches and none of them charged for it. It was included in the yearly church budget. Sometimes, through the course of the year a few members would contribute a few dollars here or there to be added to the VBS budget.

I am really shocked, my children in the past have attended 2 or 3 VBS programs over the summer with friends or family.

I don't think this is a good idea to charge for church. Even if some parents out there are using it as free babysitting, the children are still reaping the rewards. They are learning about God, and might even teach their parents something. You never know when a few days at VBS will change a child's life and open their eyes to something much larger.

I think VBS is the best way for churches to reach their community.