If anyone out there reading this is planning on building a parish hall for their church, please, please, please consider building something that can double as a gym for the kids of the parish. My parents' church has a lovely, large parish hall (complete with a kitchen) that doubles as a gym. It is made of cinderblock and has really high ceilings and impact resistant windows. It is also carpeted, and even has a basketball key in the carpet (there is a hoop that can be lowered). Whenever they have a fancy dinner, or speaker, the place looks great. But is also is a great asset for the youth ministry, and is used regularly throughout the week for youth activities. Facilities like this help attracts kids and their families to the church, which is the ark of salvation. It is hard to start a youth ministry if there is no room for the kids to have as their own, or gym for them to play in.
We really need to make our facilities kid-friendly if we want to attract young families to the church. I hear more and more about people going to X church, "Because they have good programs for the kids." Not that we need to bcome an alternative to the Boy Scouts, but we do, I think, need to be a little bit more kid-friendly than we are. Having facilities for them is a good way to do that.
