Large, multi-use spaces in U.S. church design are a trend driving another trend: portable room dividers.

Church facilities today feature large, open rooms that allow flexibility. The church gym, fellowship hall, even atrium or foyer are being used increasingly for multiple activities, giving congregations the most for their floor space. Some churches even use worship space for a variety of purposes—wheeling in walls and setting up chairs to accommodate classes for adults and children, for example.

"Learning areas are becoming the most versatile of all areas," said Kurt Williams, a builder with Indianapolis-based T&W Corporation. Williams has more than 15 years experience in church construction. "This versatility is needed to accommodate changing ministries and sizes of age groups and classroom attendances."

Companies that specialize in partitions understand versatility. They also understand the need to make the setup and take down processes as simple as possible for churches that will be using volunteers primarily.

For most dividers there is little or no assembly or installation required for freestanding partitions or portable classrooms. Dividers use hinges or magnets to stay in place. They range in size from four feet to eight feet tall, and are usually unlimited in length because they can be hooked together with additional panels.

Often churches purchase panels not to be good stewards of their floor space, but to accommodate a growing congregation.

Wayside Baptist Church in Miami has more than 1,000 active members. Sunday school alone draws 700. They offer 14 youth classes as part of a strong youth ministry that uses a family activity center (gym) as a vital tool in reaching the young people in the community. When Saturday night basketball games are over, portable room dividers are rolled out to accommodate small youth groups that meet Sundays in the same space.

It’s a simple space solution, according to John Beck, director of maintenance for Wayside. The partitions are simple to set up and easy to store.

"They roll," he said. "It’s not a problem. It works." At least, it has been working as a temporary space solution for the past two years.

Setting up classrooms in a gym does present an acoustical challenge, however. "That’s the only problem because we’re inside a gym," Beck said.

Other partitions, such as the VersiPanel and VersiFold offer a more soundproof barrier with screens that extend to meet the floor. But of course that design sacrifices some of the portability of panels that roll on wheels. VersiPanels are stored away by rolling them up like carpet. In contrast, Screenflex partitions are attached to a storage frame or can be attached to a wall at one end to fold back for storage.

Accordion walls that attach floor to ceiling offer the better acoustical control of any temporary space dividers. But they also function more like real walls and require more planning for installation. Hufcor, a large manufacturer of operable partitions, recommends buyers take a good look at the space they want to divide and notice the location of exposed sprinkler heads, columns, windows, chair rails, or any other mechanicals that could interfere with the installation or operation of the proposed partitions.

Lighting, heat, ventilation and electricity may also be considerations before walling off an area. Rerouting systems is expensive.

Churches should also understand building codes, the structural support needed for certain partitions that are attached to the ceiling, and the storage space requirements for walls that must fold away somewhere.

Good Shepherd Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa recently folded and stored the room dividers they used for a decade. The church finished a new facility and moved in last fall.

The congregation used partitions for 10 years to section off four Sunday school classes held in the basement fellowship hall.

According to Pastor Wesley Bruss, the decision to purchase panels was based primarily on the church budget.

"At the time it was a cost factor," he said. "It was better than having open rooms, but not as good as solid rooms," he said, because of the noise. Both adult and children’s classes met in the same area.

But Bruss said the congregation will probably keep the partitions for future transitions in a growing ministry.

The National Association of Church Design Builders suggests that churches that see themselves 20 and 30 years into the future will be better able to use their site and plan for increased space.

Room dividers are a sign of ministry transitions at Wayside, too. "We do renovations all the time and move the people," Beck said. So while sitting in a partitioned room may offer some logistical and acoustical challenges, it is not a sign of a marginalized ministry. On the contrary, the partitions at Wayside signal a healthy, growing youth outreach.

Young people who meet for classes and groups in partitioned rooms are awaiting a more permanent place in a new youth facility currently under construction at Wayside.