Everyone today, church leaders included, is facing increased pressure from inflation. The cost of everything is going up, including the cost of a new church building. Fortunately, there are good stewardship options besides new church construction. Here are some different ways that church leaders are modernizing existing church design features to keep up with a developing church vision for ministry in the community.
Updating Your Worship Center with a Modern Feel
Here’s one before-and-after example where we worked with church leaders to update the look of a worship center without needing to make major changes to the church building itself. While older attendees might appreciate the familiarity of pews, swapping them out for moveable chairs increases flexibility in the use of the space, and feels more familiar and comfortable for younger attendees. Replacing traditional chandeliers with modern lighting fixtures increases illumination, while a fresh, cool color palette helps draw in younger families.
Renewing Your Foyer Helps Welcome Guests to Your Church Building
Some churches are also renovating foyers in existing church buildings, as this next set of photos shows. As a first-impression space, the foyer often needs some renewal even after just 20 years or so. In the first foyer comparison photo, you can see that adding the dramatic texture of rock to one wall and darkening the ceiling helps to focus attention on the welcome desk, making it clear where guests can get answers to their questions.
In this second foyer before-and-after photo, you can see how the trend in gigantic information centers has been superseded by the smaller kiosk (not shown in this photo) and a focus on the café, with its opportunity to build relationships. As your church vision for bringing people to Christ changes over time, your church design needs to adjust as well—but that doesn’t have to mean constructing an entirely new church building. Instead, thoughtful renewal of existing spaces can make a big difference.
Reimagining the Multi-Use Spaces in Your Church Design
Another place where your needs can change over time is with multi-use facilities. In the last comparison photo, a sports ministry area of your church can be changed to better include more screens and related technology that will help make worship and other events more attractive, especially when viewed online, while keeping its sports function
Another area driving the need today for modernization in a church design is technology. Church leaders need increased lighting levels and higher-quality audio capture for effective online worship. They also need better video projection capabilities and effective systems for controlling all the technology aspects that support appealing virtual engagement.
In our next post, we will share an example of one technology upgrade we have done to help an older church building meet modern church vision needs. Meanwhile, be sure to sign up for our next free i3 webinars, where we share the latest information on how to make the most of your existing church design, as well as what a new church building might have to offer.