We all know that an effective youth ministry is a key to future church growth, but sometimes it’s hard to imagine how you can attract youth while maintaining a church building design that’s efficient, cost-effective and functional. Recently we posted about the benefits of our Advantage Building, and with this post, we’ll show how that type of church design can also provide the flexible youth space you need.
What Do You Really Need?
Sometimes churches come to us and say, “We need a youth building.” Of course, it would be ideal if every church could have a campus and a budget large enough to build a children’s building, a youth building, a senior building…but most of the time, that’s just not the case. Instead, we’ve got to think creatively about maximizing the space and budget that is available—and that means creating flexible space to satisfy the needs of many parts of your church’s vision.
What we’ve found is that one large meeting space, as long as it’s designed well, can serve many different ministries, youth and adult. This is what the Advantage Building is about. You can meet the needs of your youth ministry in the same space where you worship and hold banquets—provided you design things right.
What Might This Church Building Look Like?
One of the most important elements for both youth spaces and worship centers is clear spans, which means avoiding posts and pillars that block the view during worship, or that three-point shot during a pickup basketball game. With our pre-engineered Advantage Building, we’ve created a church design that maximizes space while still remaining strong. You can seat 490 people in comfort for worship, then pull out banquet tables and have dinner for 326. In the same space, you can have a 74-x-42-foot junior high basketball court, complete with retractable goals and glass backboards that blend into the ceiling when you dim the house lights and focus attention on the worship platform.
The Right Church Design Doesn’t Sacrifice Efficiency
Sometimes churches come to us and say, “We need a church design that will be cost and energy efficient or we can’t afford to build.” The Advantage Building is the answer again. It has LED house lights, for example, which are incredibly energy efficient. Pre-engineered buildings are also cost effective to construct and install, while still providing an airy, open space for youth to gather and your community to worship. On the inside, a colored concrete floor is easy to clean without adding the cost of carpeting or the worry of spills during banquets or youth overnight gatherings. Those athletic lines, striped onto the floor, will disappear from worshippers’ awareness when you cover them over with chairs. Even the youth might not recognize “their” space set up for worship!
So if you’re feeling the pinch of pennies but still want to minister to the next generation, contact us today about our Advantage Building. You can also sign up for our free i3 webinars to learn more about how smart church design can support your budget and your church’s vision.