solafide (http://solafide.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "The Church Day-Care Business:Read and Weep":
Many a WELS congregation has been told that starting a Christian preschool/daycare will help them grow and be relevant in the community, while also spreading the Gospel (UOJ).
In reality, these congregations quickly find that they can't support even the 1 or 2 teachers they call for these programs because there is no way for them to become self-supporting. As soon as they get close, they're told that they have to expand the program, build new facilities, or some other thing like build a Christian day school (K-8).
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GJ - One way to bankrupt a congregation is to start a pre-school, as if it will grow to be a regular school, then expand the day-care with all the state requirements for an administrator, spending tons of money while subsidizing the cost to compete with neighboring diaper-changing services.
Here is one clue - if the actual costs of the day-care are hidden from the congregation, the business is eating a hole in the budget.
