By Andrew Crawford
Places of worship serve not only as the focal gathering point for the congregation to worship, but also double as community centers, food banks, emergency shelters, and so much more when needed.
Some busier places of worship in larger towns are open seven days a week, with a wide array of people using the space for various activities. In an ideal world, most places of worship want to serve as a central community hub to help promote their outreach.
One way for religious facilities to maximize their interaction with the community is to utilize the typically large sanctuary halls and meeting rooms as multipurpose spaces.
By having Sunday service in the morning, followed by a recreational basketball league in the evening, religious facilities are able to maximize the use of space while expanding outreach within the local community.
In order to get the most out of the space they have, these facilities are greatly benefitted by choosing flooring that can serve multiple functions.
While VCT may be easy to maintain and relatively cheap, it doesn’t make a good sports floor for recreational activities. A hardwood floor may be better for recreational activities, but won’t hold up as well to table and chair use.
When it comes to getting the most out of your space, a resilient athletic floor system such as padded polyurethane or cushioned sheet vinyl will allow the most diverse use of the space.
Regular church activities involving tables and chairs pose no issues, while any recreational activities greatly benefit from a floor with athletic properties.
Here are a few examples of religious facilities that took advantage of the benefits resilient athletic flooring have to offer.
Pleasant View Baptist Church
Port Deposit, MD
14,000 square feet of Polyurethane Flooring
The folks at Pleasant View Baptist Church (PVBC) had recently built a large addition to their church when they got in contact with Abacus Sports.
They had a great vision of a space that would become a local community hotspot for religious and recreational activities. With 14,000 square feet of space to work with, Abacus and the PVBC team designed a gym floor and layout that would maximize the use of the space while still meeting all of their basic needs.
The end result is a seamless polyurethane floor system called Padenpor XTR that will hold up to all of the tables and chairs the church uses every Sunday.
Once the chairs are put away, the space can be opened up for basketball, volleyball, pickleball, or any other activities the church would like to host.
With such a large, beautiful space at their disposal, the PVBC team is even able to host basketball leagues at their facility!
Mariners Bethel United Methodist Church – Hope Center
Ocean View, DE
5,715 square feet of Polyurethane Flooring
Mariners Bethel United Methodist Church is located about 15 minutes away from Delaware’s beaches in beautiful Ocean View.
A longstanding community hub, the leadership team at Mariners dreamt of creating a true multipurpose athletic space to help promote their outreach within Ocean View, specifically with the younger generation.
Deemed The Hope Center, this project took over 10 years to become reality. The leadership team worked with local contractors and designers to develop The Hope Center into a beautiful, state-of-the-art facility, complete with a commercial kitchen, meeting rooms, stage, and full-size gymnasium.
Abacus helped identify and provide a seamless polyurethane flooring system that would meet or exceed all of the churches needs for this space.
The end result is an aesthetically pleasing space with a unique design that is sure to keep the community coming back!
Andrew Crawford is sales manager at Abacus Sports Installations Ltd., which has 30 years of installation experience in the American sports flooring market, www.abacussports.com.
