1 of 2

Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Chicago, Illinois, was in the midst of an expansion program, but its Sunday school teachers needed more space before the project would be completed.

"We had an important building project going on at the time," says Sandy Wunluck, the church's secretary, "but our Sunday school teachers were very short of space. They needed rooms for their classes, they needed boards to hang things on, and they needed storage space for their materials [to avoid] having to haul things back and forth. The only solution we could come up with was to divide our gym with partitions."

So, the church contacted Rich Maas, vice-president of Screenflex, also in Chicago, for help. Screenflex met their needs.

"The folks at Prince of Peace are typical of our customers," Maas says. "They come to us with space management problems that often can be boiled down to answering one basic question: What do you want to accomplish with the space you have? Fortunately, in many cases, partitions are the answer."

Today many partition manufacturers are meeting a common church need—the need to divide large rooms, whether they are gymnasiums, fellowship halls, or even sanctuaries, into smaller areas that can be more efficiently used for Sunday school classes, board meetings, and the like. Dividers are especially useful in multipurpose settings (see "The Community-Centered Church," p. 12). Let's take a look at what's out there.

Partitions are an easy solution to many church space problems, Maas says.

"Unfortunately, what most people think of when they think of partitions are the big, heavy monsters of yesteryear," he says. "Our partitions are light, and they fold and unfold in seconds. They can be moved quickly and easily without damaging wooden floors or carpeting."

Screenflex products also have tackable surfaces, to which materials can be stapled as well. That means there's no need to take everything off the partition when it is folded and stored.

"Leave everything where it is, fold it up, then unfold it next Sunday for the next lesson," Maas says.

Because the company understands that no two churches are alike, it offers a wide variety of panel sizes in both free-standing and wall-mount versions. Portable classrooms are also available.

Versipanel, located in Phoenix, Arizona, produces a fabric-covered, semi-rigid, free-standing panel that can be shaped as needs dictate.

"Our product is a covered foam core, similar to the material life preservers are made of," says Lee Stevenson, Versipanel's president. "Our product is lightweight—weighing only three-quarters of a pound per square foot—and the panels come in two sizes, 6-by-12 feet and 6-by-22 feet." Custom sizes are available, too.

Stevenson says his church clients place a high priority on easy mobility and storage.

"Versipanels are easy to move, and they can be rolled for storage or flattened against a wall to get them out of the way," he says.

Churches use Versipanels to create both temporary space, such as classrooms in a large multipurpose room, and more permanent space, such as an office cubicle. And, several of them can be joined together, end to end, to create more complete enclosures. Stevenson adds that pictures and other visuals can be mounted to the panels with Velcro, pins, or other devices.

next page... |  1 of 2

share this page