This article is part 3 of 4 of a series focusing on the four main ministry spaces of a church facility. Church Facility Solutions (CFS) helps churches create or repurpose existing facilities for future ministry growth.
There are four main spaces to consider when creating a new church facility or expanding your current facility — worship space, children’s ministry area, youth ministry space, and lobby. Carefully designing each of these spaces will allow the church facility to fully function and for the church to realize its potential!
So let’s talk about creating a special place that our youth and “teenagers” (the mY Generation) want to come to each week. There already exists a perception that going to church is boring. The youth space cannot be churchy. It should encourage stimulating activities—not just games and parties. It should foster interpersonal connections. But how do we accomplish this?
First of all, the church must create a dedicated, single-purpose youth space. Ideally, no sharing of multi-purpose rooms. The youth space must be theirs alone. Theirs to decorate. Theirs to live in. All theirs. Preferably with a separate entry. Pride of ownership. This room is not intended to just be used on Sunday’s, but many times during the week.
Secondly, it must be designed in such a way that each person can be engaged. The room should be designed to allow both classroom style and casual style seating. Classroom style so you can have chairs set in a way that each person must face the stage where the pastor will stand. Casual style so that soft seating can allow 2-4 persons to engage in separate connections to grow intimacy and accomplish effective mentoring. These are the places where our kids can discuss issues and reveal their personal challenges. This is the environment where new collaborative community service ideas are hatched.
Of course there needs to be a space where lots of activities can occur. It must be a large enough to accommodate group games (dodgeball, four-square, running around, etc) as well as individual activities (foosball, ping pong, video games, etc). How about a bowling lane?
You know kids and music. Not only do they want to listen, but they want to create music! There must be a stage for a band. And music equipment. And hopefully a sound booth. There must be high quality audio, visual and lighting. Youth know quality. They also want quality monitors for movie and television. Don’t simply invest all your AVL budget into the main auditorium!
Our youth today value serving others, and appreciate adult who genuinely care about them.
Barna research shows and recent studies confirm that they're leaving in droves. The Barna Group estimates that 80 percent of those reared in the church will be "disengaged" by the time they are 29. Barna Group president David Kinnaman describes the reality in stark terms:
"Imagine a group photo of all the students who come to your church in a typical year. Take a big fat marker and cross out three out of every four faces. That's the probable toll of spiritual disengagement as students navigate the next two decades."
When churches make the appropriate plans for the youth ministry area and address the needs of the “teens” in the church, youth ministry flourishes.
If you’re considering a church facility project that accounts for all four of these vital ministry spaces, our Church Facility Solutions (CFS) team is here to serve you. CFS works with local churches to create strategic facility expansion plans. We are a full-service commercial real estate development organization committed to serving churches. This vision aligns with our principals’ personal values as followers of Jesus Christ.
CFS provides A to Z services including strategic planning, financial feasibility, site or building selection, capital campaign, financing (as owner’s representative), project team selection, project and construction management (also as owner’s representative), furniture, fixtures, equipment, audio, visual, light procurement, and relocation coordination.
For more information on Church Facility Solutions, check out us out at https://churchfacilitysolutions.com or contact us at info@churchfacilitysolitions.com
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