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One of the big questions in creating a creative theme environment is how much is this going to cost me? Since I began designing children’s facilities in 1999 I have seen a once infant industry blossom into a major financial industry. I have seen churches that have spent several million dollars decorating their children’s ministries. Make no mistake, I love looking at every one of these designs.
But how much investment is necessary to optimally reach your community through your financial investment into your children’s area? Obviously every church is different and each church must determine for themselves what that financial number is going to be. Here is something to keep in mind as you think about making your dollar work the hardest for you. At some point the return on your investment in decorating will max out. Meaning, your effectiveness in reaching young families through your children’s ministry design, at some point will reach its maximum and then begin to decline. No matter how much additional money and design elements you pour into your facility you will not be any more effective in reaching more families. So, here is an example. Let’s say to optimally design your children’s facility it’s going to cost you $100,000. To some of you that is an amazingly large number and to others is nothing but a weekend’s offering in children’s ministry. But, that’s our optimal point in our example that will reach young families in your community by your children’s ministry design. You could continue to invest in more artwork, 3D sculpted pieces, play attractions, even animatronics for your facility. The truth is that pouring more money into your facility doesn’t mean you’re going to effectively reach more families through the décor than your original $100,000 investment created. There is a limit and a financial responsibility that you must consider. I believe a theme is good for about 8 – 10 years before you need to make a concept change. For example, if in that 10 year period you include a play feature at $80,000 and that play feature brings in 20 additional families. You have spent $4,000 per family. Would you typically spend $4000 to get a single family into your church? I haven’t heard of a church yet that will admit to that. Now consider this, would your $80,000 play feature investment be more wisely invested into a fantastic marketing campaign of billboards, children’s ministry website, and monthly postcards to the community and so on over the course of 10 years? That’s $8,000 a year in some form of an WOW outreach campaign.
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