Multipurpose buildings solve membership ‘growing pains’

Multipurpose buildings solve membership ‘growing pains’

Many churches throughout the state are building multipurpose facilities instead of separate sanctuaries, fellowship halls and educational buildings to accommodate rapid growth in membership and ministries, experts say.
   
Although these spaces can be extremely useful to expanding churches, they may cause discomfort without proper planning.
   
“One of the most effective means of evangelism is for Christians to form relationships with non-Christians in their community,” said Gary Swafford, director of church planting and building services at the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.
   
“Multipurpose buildings provide a venue for community activities that allows Christians to meet and form relationships with other Christians and non-Christians,” he said.
   
Building professionals often advise churches to construct multipurpose facilities to save money during the building process.
   
In “Designing Church Buildings for Southern Baptist Churches,” Rowland Crowder stated, “The high cost of construction, escalating interest rates, increasing utility rates and the possibility of a real energy crisis will perhaps make multiple use of space more desirable, or maybe even necessary. The day is gone forever when a church can really afford to build separate space for so many of its programs.”
   
David Payne, owner of Payne and Associates Architects in Montgomery, added, “With the cost of construction being as high as it is, you just about have to have numerous multi-use spaces in the church. The last thing a church is usually able to afford is the sanctuary.”
   
When Clearview Baptist Church, Pinson, began feeling growing pains more than a decade ago, they decided to construct a multipurpose facility as an intermediate step between their old sanctuary, which they had outgrown, and a new worship center, according to worship minister Wes Haley.
   
Using a master plan, church leaders decided that eventually the two-story space, which seats about 1,000 and contains numerous meeting rooms and offices, would be used for recreation, fellowship, educational and office space.
   
Today, the building is used every day of the week for sports, mid-week meals, youth activities and worship.
   
“We feel like it is very good stewardship of our resources because the building is in constant use,” said Haley. “It gets used week in and week out. A sanctuary tends to be the least used facility and the most expensive to build and maintain.”
   
While recommending these types of facilities to churches that need more than one building but can afford only one, building professionals advise other church leaders to also carefully consider their needs and the needs of their community.
   
“They are wonderful tools for all age groups,” said Swafford. “If you look at the five functions of the church, a multipurpose facility provides a suitable venue for Bible study, fellowship and outreach by calling people into the building for community events.”
   
Swafford advises churches to start by studying their own facilities.
   
“Evaluate the needs of the people in the community and that will help determine if they should build a multipurpose building or not,” he said. “Also, consider other churches and agencies in the area to determine what needs their church should meet. The goal is to find a place where services to the community need improvement and then offer those programs and facilities to meet those needs.”
   
This type of planning builds up the community while opening the door for evangelism, he added.
   
Before constructing multipurpose facilities, churches should also consider the design and use of available space in these types of buildings.
   
Haley suggested that churches design the building with several small and medium meeting spaces within the large area.

In addition, he says that church leaders should know whether they want to take the main large room and divide it into meeting spaces or make some of the Sunday School rooms larger than others before constructing the facility.
   
“There are times when just having small group rooms are (not) enough,” Haley added. “There are times when churches will need a larger room for an assembly or meeting or for some organizational meeting, so they need to take that into account. Sometimes (this) causes space conflicts.”
   
Another consideration when building multipurpose facilities is the length of time in which the facility will be used for various programs. According to Gary Nicholson, architect and master planner at LifeWay Church Architecture, many churches build these spaces expecting to use them short-term  and build a dedicated worship space in their next expansion.
   
“Sometimes churches find that they need more educational space instead of worship space and this could lead to crisis in the church,” he said. “The way to prevent that is to have a (good) master plan and stick to it from the beginning.”
   
Churches should also prepare for the “very labor intensive transition” process necessary in rearranging the building space, according to Nicholson.
   
“If you are planning to use a room for recreational and worship you have to have enough storage space,” he said. “Many churches underestimate the effort and storage space that this requires.”
   
While conducting research on multiple use of church space, Crowder found the following information:

    –Multiple use reaches more people. “Worship attendance and Sunday School attendance increased during the multiple use of the buildings,” he said.
    –Finances increased in proportion to the numerical rise in attendance.
    –Buildings planned for a multiple use schedule occupied less ground coverage.
    –Maintenance and custodial costs decreased in proportion to the number of persons in attendance.
    –Furnishing needs were reduced by approximately 40 percent in ratio to attendance.
    –More time was allowed for better long-range building planning.
    –There was a substantial saving in utility costs in ratio to attendance.