Church & Worship Lighting Installation & Design in Los Angeles

Church and Worship

People congregate in churches to praise and worship God. The building styles of the first churches has a slight difference with the modern churches. The population in ancient times was not as huge as the population in modern times. Most of the churches in ancient times were built to contain a smaller number of people. Today, many churches are under construction. A church is only under construction when the number of congregants increases, or when you are just planning to start new. This is when more room or space is created to accommodate everyone. If you are planning to build a new church, consider some of the available church floor plans and designs. In addition to that, it is important that you be aware of the details you need to ask yourself throughout the process. Gone are the days when churches were just areas of worship.  Today, most churches contain multi-use facilities. Some of those facilities include;

1. Activity Space

Most modern churches have activity spaces, where different activities can take place. For instance, a church might have a football or netball pitch where congregants can meet once in a while and play against each other. This is also one of the best ways of raising funds to help the needy in society. You can have internal or external football competition as a way of fundraising. The funds can help the needy people and cater to the needs of orphans who are in orphanages.

1. Cooking or Warming Kitchen

Modern churches have been designed in such a way that they have kitchen areas. This space helps cater for the needs of congregants when need be. For instance, when most churches want to hold end year parties, congregants usually meet at church where they pray, worship, and have a New Year’s Eve party. This is why this multi-use facility is important. As some congregants are singing and praising God, others can help in preparing meals in the kitchen, and then people eat together as they wait to usher in the New Year.

1. Daycare Facilities

In some areas, parents prefer to leave their children in church daycare facilities as compared to employing house helps. This is because they are confident that their children are safe in the church, and in the process of being taken care of, they can also be taught the word of God. This can be a good foundation for the children as they get to learn the word of God, and how to live according to His ways at a tender age.

1. Classrooms

Unlike the ancient churches where children and adults could congregate in one place, the modern churches have more room for children. Sunday school classes take place in these respective classrooms. In addition to that, adults also have their various classrooms where they can meet, bible study, and discuss any other pressing issue.

1. Conference Rooms

These are the places where priests and other leaders meet to discuss ways of improving the church and any other matter that is affecting the church. In addition to that, congregants can also use this facility to form prayer groups and maybe discuss on the missions that they want to accomplish by the end of the year.

1. Administrative Offices

These offices mostly belong to church leaders. They are mostly private offices and they are made public to believers especially when they have pressing issues, or they need guidance on doing something. This is the place where they can get counselling and talk privately to the church leaders without worrying about someone else listening to their conversation.

Factors to Consider in the Planning Process

However, before structuring any of these multi-use facilities, you need to put into considerations the extra cost that is going to be incurred. This is why it is important that you take small steps in building the facilities, so that you do not strain all the sources of income in building all the facilities at once. Consequently, there are some factors that needs to be put into consideration before starting the planning process. Some of those factors include the following.

1. Your Needs

It is important that you lay down your needs before structuring the facilities. After you have listed the needs, think about how the available space will address all of your needs. Examples of some of the questions that you can ask yourself include the following.

• Do we need more space for worship or we need a fellowship hall too? Answering this question prior to building the structure will help in ensuring that you meet your needs and requirement when the building is completed and ready for use.
• Should the facility be expanded to include daycare facilities and classrooms? Since most of the congregants might be parents, it is important to put their needs first, and ensure that their children get the best care and teachings at church. This gives the parents ample time when they are in service because there will be no distractions from their children.

1. Consult with the Church Lighting design Engineer

Talk to the engineer whom you have hired to take onto your project. This is because the building requires design expertise and engineering. This means that you will have to involve the construction team in the planning process, but before you begin the process, you will need a team that is familiar with the basics, and can deliver what you want.

Questions to ask yourself in the Planning Phase

Building a new church is an exciting initiative. When the project is complete, it will be rewarding for the many generations to come. However, success is only guaranteed when you choose the right people and the appropriate designs to work with. One slight mistake and everything can turn into a headache very fast. Some of the important things to ask yourself before building the church is how much space do you need, where do you want to build the church, and how will the church pay for the whole process.

• Is a center aisle in the sanctuary essential?

Whether to build a center aisle or not is completely optional. However, a center aisle can be convenient for wedding purposes. It gives the best location of holding a wedding.

• What length should the steeple be?

It is advisable that the church steeple be the approximate height of the roof at the peak. More importance is given to the height as compared to the width. When taking this measurement, you do not want to forget about installing a lightning rod.

• Can a multi-purpose room be used for fellowship?

It is important that the multi-purpose rooms be designed in such a way that they can be used for fellowship. Multi-purpose rooms make the best fellowship areas.

Factors to consider when designing a church multi-use Space

Designing the multi-use spaces needs both you and your architecture’s attention. Working together leads to success and if you do things the right way, your congregation will appreciate your work for many more years to come. However, if you do something wrong, a time will come when your congregation will start fighting for the available space in church. Before you settle on beginning the building process, here are some points that you should put into consideration.

• Get to know your users and understand their respective needs

This is the main point to consider before you start the building process, because you only build what you know the people need. For instance, you cannot build a classroom where worshippers are going to play in. this is to mean that you cannot build a classroom when no one is going to use the facility. What you should do is determine your users, whether they are mothers, fathers, students, or footballers. After knowing your users, you can then proceed to design and build the various spaces according to their respective needs.

• Storage Space

Multi-use facilities should also have storage spaces where various equipment can be kept. For instance, the praise and worship equipment should be kept somewhere safe because they are used in the church on a daily or weekly basis, depending on how frequent believers meet. A storage space should be situated separate from the main worship building to avoid unnecessary noise when people are praying and someone is picking something from the store. Another example is the classrooms. Classrooms need chairs and even tables for the children to use. The tables and chairs should be stored safely and kept away from rain and theft.

• Location

Location is another important factor to consider in that the location of the storage room needs to be easily accessible and spacious. Consider the size of the equipment that you have in the worship area, and ensure that the storage space can accommodate the equipment. Furthermore, the location should not be far away from the main church because dragging the equipment for a long distance, to the church can be very tiresome. For big equipment, ensure that you can turn freely and easily in the corridors, in case there are any.

• Stage and Platforms

Thinking ahead of where the stage or platform will be is very crucial. If does not matter whether it is a big stage for praise and worship team, or a small one for youth performances. In addition to that, you can also create a temporary platform which can give the speaker a little height so that everybody can see him or her when the service is going on, Church and Stage Lighting is crucial for your platform. Audio-visual connections and power are also needed in a temporary platform. Moreover, you should also think about how this space is going to work during the day time. Consider erecting your stage and platforms in places where natural light can easily penetrate.

Consider building a shower

Although a shower might not be that important in these multi-use facilities, including them in the planning process can be of a greater advantage. For instance, travelers can easily rent the facility and use it for the period in which they are still around. This is convenient for them as they will be able to take showers and sleep in a conducive environment. Apart from that, your church might be lucky to be designated an emergency shelter. Have it at the back of your mind that showers might be expensive to install and maintain, and might end up being a liability. Ensure that there is someone in charge of switching it off when it is not in use.

Perfect ventilation

This is also another important factor to consider. Most of the modern churches today do not have the bench-sitting systems. This is because this type of arrangement can be inconveniencing especially if the church is small and the number of people who come to the service are many. The hall and open air type of arrangement are very convenient as everyone has his or her space and the flow of air is perfect. Ensure that the ceiling of the church is far away from where the congregation will be sitting to increase the flow of fresh air into the sanctuary. In addition to that, open space arrangement is the best type of sitting arrangement because it guarantees the flow of fresh air. Everyone has his or her chair and projections are made on the screen to keep everyone on the same pace as the preacher.

In conclusion, location, space and costs are the most important factors to consider before putting up a church. Ensure that the area where you want to situate your church is a legal piece of land and that nobody has bought that particular space. This will keep you safe from demolishing that may take place if you erect a structure in someone’s land. After determining the location, ensure that the space is enough for building the church. You can know this by involving your architecture. Multi-use facilities are also of great importance in the church. Ensure that you know the needs of the people before building the multi-use facilities.

Church Stage Lighting Packages are available by emailing us for a custom quote.