Following the 2025 Synod’s focus on reaching youth and young people, Sydney Anglican Property (SAP) has been gathering insights to assist local leadership teams in designing, adapting, and stewarding spaces tailored for children’s and youth ministry.
To understand what makes a youth space functional, safe, and engaging, SAP spoke with Andy Stevenson. Having spent over 25 years in youth ministry across three local churches, and serving twice at Youthworks – where he currently leads the Ministry Support and Training team – Andy has seen hundreds of parish facilities in use for kids and youth ministry.
“When you observe youth groups, kids’ clubs, and Sunday programs week in, week out, and talk with the leaders running them, you quickly learn what a room needs to help ministry thrive,” Andy says.
The essentials: robustness and simplicity
A recurring issue in modern parish design is the gap between architectural aesthetic and practical utility. While floor-to-ceiling glass and open architectural voids look impressive, anyone who’s been around teenage kids will tell you that active youth ministry demands high durability!
“I’m noticing that when programs lack active games, primary school and junior high kids disengage,” notes Andy. “We need to be not afraid of doing heaps of active stuff, but often we are because our buildings and our spaces don’t allow it.”
Among the most effective facilities Andy highlights is Hoxton Park Anglican. The church built a large, multi-purpose sports-style hall that accommodates major gatherings and daily activities.
“The hall itself can fit 500 plus people,” Andy says. “It was just a basic big rectangle kind of concrete box, but lots of glass in the right places, and lots of side rooms as well. In particular, the floor had an epoxy coating that goes across concrete, so it softens the concrete a bit. It’s what you use on any indoor sports field. What that means is there are a whole bunch of lines for the different types of sports. You can play different sports there, but you can also play lots of different games and use all of those lines for different games as well. When you think about the different types of youth group games that people play or kids games, it’s actually perfect.”
Alongside durable flooring, two non-negotiable features for effective active spaces are acoustic management and ample storage. High-ceilinged, uninsulated halls create echoes that quickly exhaust both leaders and young people. Simple acoustic panelling on walls or ceilings absorbs excess noise and makes group management significantly easier. Meanwhile, floor-to-ceiling cabinetry can ensure sports equipment, AV gear, and tables can be packed away completely, leaving an uncluttered footprint.
Transparency and safe ministry
Designing for safe ministry requires clear visual sightlines across all youth spaces. Traditional designs with solid timber doors, minimal windows, and hidden corners are no longer appropriate. Best-practice spaces prioritise high safety glass panels, impact-resistant walls, and open sightlines that make room activities clearly visible from adjoining corridors or foyers.
“If you look at modern school architecture, they moved away from dark hallways with high, tiny windows,” Andy notes. “Instead, they use low partition walls and high glass panels. Churches should adopt the same principle. You want full visibility into breakout rooms and hall spaces so that ministry is open and transparent.”
This focus on visibility can occasionally create friction when a leader needs to have a sensitive, pastoral conversation with a young person.
“It is a balance,” Andy acknowledges. “Glass gives transparency for safe ministry, but less privacy for personal conversations. Leaders can adapt by stepping outside within view of others, using an open kitchen area, or speaking in an office with the door wide open. Visual transparency must remain the priority.”
Creating belonging and accessibility
For young people, feeling welcome in a parish building often comes down to ownership. When a room feels managed by adults, or shared reluctantly with the youth group, youth struggle to view it as their own.
Churches like St Luke’s Miranda, and MBM Rooty Hill have addressed this by involving youth teams directly in the layout and styling of secondary rooms. “Involving leaders and youth in fitting out a room makes a huge difference,” says Andy. He even suggests that the young people themselves participate in painting rooms – saving money and creating a great bonding activity at the same time!
Adding durable second-hand lounges, ping-pong tables and fresh paint gives young people a dedicated base without compromising the room’s usefulness for mid-week adult ministries.
Equal attention must be paid to neurodivergent young people who can easily become overwhelmed by noisy, crowded environments.
“Large youth programs require breakout rooms with live streams to accommodate youth sensitive to loud noises,” Andy explains. Having side rooms equipped with a live feed allows young people to step into a quieter environment without missing the teaching or feeling isolated from the group.
Parishes looking to improve accessibility can also consult specialists like Bec Baines, Youthworks’ accessible ministry advisor, who regularly assesses church spaces and provides resources for parishes.
Refreshing a hall on a budget
Of course, not everyone has a brand new, fit-for-purpose facility to work with. In fact, many parishes are operating with older, traditional church halls built in the 1960s or 1970s, and without a significant budget for upgrades. Andy emphasises that substantial improvements can still be made incrementally without major expenses.
“If a parish can raise $10,000 to improve an old hall, start with the fundamentals,” Andy suggests. “Sand and polish the existing timber floorboards, put a fresh coat of bright paint on the walls, install glass panels in solid doors for light and visibility, and buy durable plastic chairs.”
“If you have another $10,000, build proper floor-to-ceiling storage cupboards, mount a wall basketball hoop, and source a few good second-hand couches.”
Suddenly, a dark, cold 1960s building becomes a bright, functional space where kids want to gather.
Planning for the future
In all property decisions, aligning facility design with gospel strategy remains the ultimate goal. These principles have directly shaped SAP’s new approach to greenfield church builds through the Nucleus Design – a modular, cost-effective framework created in consultation with experienced ministry leaders including representatives from Youthworks. By incorporating Youthworks’ insights into space requirements, safe ministry visibility, and flexible room layouts directly into the Nucleus specifications, SAP is ensuring that new greenfield sites deliver ample, flexible kids and youth spaces from day one.
Whether embarking on a new build or refreshing an existing hall, prioritising durability, line-of-sight safety, flexible layouts, and sensory accessibility ensures our church properties will support vibrant youth and children’s ministries for decades to come.