The church gym.
A place where memories are made, hoop dreams are born (and then often crushed), potlucks are hosted (if there’s not a fellowship hall big enough to accommodate the crowd), and a suitable venue for the occasional church play or production (Psalty, anyone??).
Church gyms also serve in many ways as the symbol of days gone by, when church basketball leagues (and other sports ministries) ruled the day.
Today, they’re predominantly used to provide space for kids to run around after the Sunday morning worship service; perhaps provide a polling space on election day every few years; and—the closest ties to its legacy—host the random early morning or late evening group of neighborhood men looking for a space to ball (most of them well past their prime, if we’re being honest).
But we also recognize that the potential is so much greater. I mean, what other rooms are so large, so open (those high ceilings!!), so multi-purpose, and so (generally) underutilized?
In conversations with churches and community organizations this past year, we’ve dreamed about ways to breathe new life into the church gym—everything from hosting an affordable, community-oriented gymnastics club to renovating it into a musical venue, and so much in between. The church gym is one of our favorite spaces to reimagine.
Church, the ball is in our court. Let’s dream together.
With love from a well-past-his-prime-baller,
