Hello All! I am coming to you because I need some help in a decision that is close at hand. I am in prayer regarding our Bible Study Child Care but I am also asking for your prayers to be lifted for this situation as well.

Our church has taken on the burden of paying for all of the child care needs for Women's Bible Study for several years now. Currently we have hit a budget crunch and I was told that we needed to come up with another solution. I must say that I believe in our church taken this burden off of our women. Studing God's Word should not be a luxury that women have to chose over providing for their children. (my view)

I guess I need to know if other churches are providing child care or if the mothers are having to pay for child care. And if so how is this being accomplished. My Church has around 1500 members so we are not a small church.

I truly would welcome your prayers on this one. I am struggling with it. Thank you so much for your help.

Blessings
Mel-

I have no words or experience to offer you in this other than to pray. Ask God for wisdom in how to handle this and be creative! Complications are opportunities...

Father, how jealous we are of the time we can spend eating Your Word and devouring every morsel that fills us up! Please give wisdom and insight into the need of these dear women who long to KNOW You. If a special offering or volunteers need to come forward, bring them! You are the Giver of all good things and we praise Your Holy Name. In Jesus Name. Amen.

I have no current experience in this area, but have headed up Christian Education in one church. Policy always was that the women pay for the child care necessary during the study time, except if the study time was on Wednesday night when there were children's programs already running, along with the nursery.

That church was about 300-400 people.

In my most recent experience in a women's cell group - they hire sitter(s) and each mother pays the sitter a set amount. I do not know what that amount is, but I believe it is cheaper than hiring a sitter to come into each individual home.

I understand your dilemma about the women having to pay for child care, but also remember Matthew 13:44: The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

I pray that you have wisdom in how to handle this as well.

Also, maybe ask your women and see if they can help come up with some creative solutions - i.e. taking turns with childcare, have your youth help get involved and have each mother pay a small fee, older members of your congregation who may be willing to come out and help. There are lots of ways to provide low-cost to no-cost childcare, you may just have to get creative.
I am sure that it will work out....

We had a basket at each table where our group discussions were held and women were encouraged to give towards childcare. This was a large study at about the same size church as yours.

Another study I was in, if you left your children in child care, you were expected to work a certain amount of times, depending on how many kids there were, divided by the number of weeks. Usually, that meant once or twice.

The women at my bible institute had evening classes a few times a week and the fathers were expected to baby-sit for those few hours. If this is possible, encourage the fathers to watch their own children. They can always take turns, pair up, or go on a "field trip." It would definately help alleviate some of your stress in finding baby-sitters for everyone. Also, encourage other church members to periodically volunteer for those children whose fathers can't baby-sit. See if the teenagers can earn service project hours for baby-sitting as well.

I always paid a fee. It was something like $2 or $3 a child.

The last church I was at had a one time enrollment fee of $20 for 10 weeks of study they were to pay first week. Then they passed a jar where older members could chip in to cover shortfalls.

Some churches have it worked out that they can offer tax receipts. Other say no because it is going directly to pay staff. I'm sure there is a way to work around that, afterall general offerings also pay staff and they are tax receiptable. (I'm in Canada)

We have paid childcare workers for our ladies Bible Studies that are held at the church now.
We include it in our budget. It was coming out of the preschool budget at first, but now it is a separate line item for the year. It covers paid workers for choir practice each week, ladies Bible study, and any extra church wide events.

At first in the Bible study, all the ladies were asked to give to a love offering each week and then at the end of the study it was divided among the workers and given either in cash or a gift card. During the last couple of weeks, the ladies in the study also brought items to be put into a goody thank you basket to be given to each worker.

Our workers must be over 18 in order to stay with the kids, but we have had older homeschooled teens helping the adult workers. they do not get paid by the church but do get some kind of credit in their homeschool studies.

Our ladies ministry leader has gone to the local college's Baptist Student Union and posted notes and made announcements asking for help in childcare duties. We have also used the Fellowhip of Christian Atheletes to help with childcare for larger, church-wide events. We then make a donation to the FCA usually based on how many workers they sent. I will always feed the college students and have a goody bag for them as a thank you to the ones that worked because they don't keep the money for themselves. They use the money to fund weekend leadership camps for high school students.

Childcare always seems to be an issue in any sized church! We have about 1200-1500 members.

Hope this has helped!