The stewardship of space

By Rich Maas

Chances are, your church doesn’t have a money tree. (And if it does, please send me a seed!) Kidding aside, two facts remain: 1) Your church can do more good for its community with more money than it can with less; and 2) Building programs are very expensive.

As such, common sense and economics dictate that if you can make better use of your church’s existing multipurpose space, you can avoid costly building programs. The result is more money to fund your growing ministries.

At Our Redeemer United Methodist Church in Schaumburg, IL, five separate Sunday school classrooms are easily set up in this multipurpose room.
At Our Redeemer United Methodist Church in Schaumburg, IL, five separate Sunday school classrooms are easily set up in this multipurpose room.

You might be thinking, Sounds great! But, how do we get more use out of our multipurpose spaces? This is exactly the question administrators at Our Redeemer United Methodist Church in Schaumburg, IL, asked themselves a while ago.

A study in smart use of space
These administrators found their answer in the form of portable acoustical room dividers. For their specific needs, they chose 7-foot-4-inch dividers. Since the multipurpose room has 8-foot-high ceilings, this meant the dividers would close 90 percent of the distance between the floor and the ceiling. They believed this to be the ideal scenario, as there are enough walls to make the temporary spaces feel like actual rooms, without interfering with existing lighting, heating and cooling systems.

The congregation is now able to easily divide the room into two — or several — separate areas.

Most commonly, half the room is used for the child care ministry while the other half hosts a senior citizens program or some other event. On weekends, one church member might have a wedding shower in one part of the room while a baby shower is hosted in another. At other times, the room is divided so that one part is used for Christmas pageant rehearsal while the other is a craft-making space. Obviously, the dividers are also used to create several Sunday school classrooms, help create privacy for Bible study programs, and much more.

If you don’t have a money tree — but want to make multipurpose spaces do more for your church — consider portable room dividers.

Rich Maas is vice president at Screenflex Portable Room Dividers in Lake Zurich, IL.

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