Is it better to open a business as a non profit or small business?

Whether you run it as a non-profit or as a for profit you need the same techniques because you'll run it exactly the same way to be profitable. The difference is what you do with the profit and the way you are taxed.

Since you've never been in business before, I would strongly recommend that you talk to a business counselor before you do anything especially spend money. I'd call the local office of SCORE (go to http://www.score.org/ and input your zip code to find the chapter nearest you), the advice is FREE.

The counselor at SCORE will most likely advise you to write a business plan which is very good advice because it will force you to dig out all of the start up details and the costs of starting a Christian youth activity center and force you to also understand all of the aspects of this business including the customers you'll concentrate on (your market ) and how you'll go after them.

Try this link :

http://www.ychange.com/small-business-consulting-a...

and read some of the articles especially the ones about a business plan and starting a business.

Good Luck

If you're still not completely recovered, an online job might be a good choice. You can change the job/add to it later. I saw on the news that some folks have taken to blogging for profit. Sounds a little strange, and it might be a hard job to start. Not to mention continue for a good length of time. Who (else) knows? Have you seen the LinkedIn website? You could join there and discuss this same thing with other people.

If you don't know then chances are you should be a for profit business. Check out the business section on about.com. They have a lot of good business articles there.