Incorporating Hospitality Space into Your New Church Design

A key element in a church’s vision is helping guests and members alike feel at home. One way to keep people coming back is to incorporate a welcoming hospitality space into your church design project. Read on to learn about and see hospitality spaces in some of the churches we have designed. These ideas come from a recent free i3 webinar with our own interior designer, Jennifer Snider and they will show some of the ways hospitality areas can add value to your church building.

Creating Comfortable Conversation Spaces

One great way to connect with guests is to provide spaces, often right off the lobby, where they can comfortably sit and talk with church members to learn more about what’s going on. As you can see here, we’ve created a welcoming, living-room atmosphere in the hospitality room at Blue Grass United Methodist Church in Evansville, IN.

Simple things like elegant bookshelves, side tables with lamps, and seating that complements the carpet tiles all help to draw people into the space and encourage conversation. You can also see that the church has brought in a few extra chairs, which makes it easy for a weekly small group to gather in a place that feels like home.

Allowing Flexibility in Your Church Design

Of course, not every church is able to set aside space just for conversation, especially if space is at a premium in your renovation project or new church design. Hospitality spaces can easily become multi-ministry spaces, as you can see here with Gateway Church of the Nazarene in Oskaloosa, IA. In addition to comfortable chairs, plants, lamps, a wooden-framed pane window that faces into the hallway, and warm wooden paneling, there is a fireplace which helps make the space feel warm and welcoming.

But above the fireplace is a television which draws the eye and projects presentations, which makes it easy to turn this space into a small classroom or chapel space when needed. Small groups can easily hold meetings in here, or even a festive dinner.

Repurposing the Space You’ve Got

There are many ways to create hospitality spaces like these. Sometimes when you’re redesigning an existing church building, it can be difficult to imagine how to get the best use out of your existing facility. This is where our experience with church design can help you make the most of all your space. It’s also why we created our free i3 webinar series: so that you can see what we’ve done with other churches and get some ideas for your own church design. So sign up today for our next webinar, or contact us to talk about what you need in your new or renovated church building.