The Baltimore Sun did a story on theater churches recently and the reporter forwarded it to me. It focuses on Baltimore area churches, but NCC is cited. For the complete story you can click on http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-te.md.church24jul24,1,6536499.story?ctrack=1&cset=true.

By the way, the title is one of my favorite sayings A local paper did a story on NCC years ago and titled it Praise the Lord and Pass the Popcorn. Ever since it’s been one of my favorite salutations when something good happens. Some people say “Hallelujah.” I say, “Well praise the Lord and pass the popcorn.”

Here’s some quips and comments:

Praise the Lord – and pass the popcorn
Worship: Movie theaters are just the ticket as an alternative to traditional church buildings.
By Laura Cadiz
Sun Staff
Originally published July 24, 2005

…At first glance, it might seem like an odd relationship – Holy Scripture in the morning, R-rated movies in the afternoon. But some church leaders who worship in movie theaters say they were called there by God to serve a greater purpose. The Annapolis Assembly of God went so far as to leave its traditional brick church, change its name to Church at the Mall and move into Crown Theaters at Westfield Shoppingtown Annapolis two years ago.”We felt that the Lord wanted us to move from where the property was and be a ministry that met where people typically go … into the mall, and specifically into the movie theater inside the mall,” says Jason Palmer, a church advisory board member. That divine directive has helped build the church membership from about 20 to around 100, Palmer says. The congregation has since sold its 1960s-era church building and plans to stay in the theater indefinitely, attracting “people who may not feel like the white-steeple church is their kind of church.”

A group from the Annapolis church visited NCC a few years ago before they made the leap from a church building into a theater and I’ve always been inspired by their story! It’s so counterintuitive and countercultural. Most people go from a rented facility into a church building. They did the exact opposite. I’ve met with half a dozen pastors and church planters across the country who have done the same exact thing. I think God is calling the church back into the middle of the marketplace. I’m not against church buildings. If they serve the community 24/7 I think they’re a great asset. So my comments aren’t prescriptive. I just love the way churches are redeeming spaces.

That philosophy is shared by other churches meeting in movie theaters.”There’s no pretense about it,” says Terri Stone, director of outreach at Christ’s Church of the Valley in Collegeville, Pa. Her church meets in seven theaters at a Regal cinema, and she says a movie theater is “not that church building, stained glass, omigosh, I have to be this super-holy church person. It’s kind of a come-as-you-are atmosphere.” It’s also a way for churches to connect with a younger crowd. Salva’s Discovery Christian Church – whose members are primarily in their 20s or 30s – offers a live band and shows clips of movies, as varied as Saved! and Spiderman 2, to illustrate spiritual overtones. “Two hundred years ago, a preacher would share a story as an illustration,” Salva says. “In today’s culture, movie clips are the stories of 200 years ago.”

I think movie screens are postmodern stained glass. Medieval churches has stained glass to tell the story of the gospel in pictures. We have the added benefit of being able to tell the story in moving pictures! You know the old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Moving pictures are worth more than that!

The theaters are also accessible. National Community Church, for example, meets in movie theaters at Metro stops throughout the Washington, D.C., area. The theater screens are viewed as “21st-century stained glass,” says the Rev. Mark Batterson. The church plays on the movie theme, using the slogan, “Now meeting at a theater near you,” and running trailers of upcoming sermons on its Web site, www.theaterchurch.com.

However, Carder said he worries that the entertainment environment can be a distraction. “The challenge for worship today is distinguishing it from entertainment or a spectator event,” says Carder. “It is made more difficult when surrounded by the symbols and signs of the entertainment world.” Carder said he understands the reality of having to rent space or finding alternative ways to attract members. But objectionable movies shown in a theater that just a few hours earlier was the setting for worship takes away from the church as a sacred place, he says.” One of the reasons we have built churches is … the space becomes symbolic,” he says. “I think we’re compromising that when we meet in theaters. We’re compromising the space as a reality of God.”

A couple observations. No matter what you do, there will always be someone sitting on the sidelines “worried about the potential downside of what you’re doing” I’d rather be in the person on the field making mistakes than the person on the sideline pointing them out

I appreciate the genuine concern about the church becoming a “spectator event” or “entertainment event” but that certainly isn’t unique to theaters. In fact, it’s just as dangerous if you’re sitting on an uncomfortable pew!

I philosophically disagree with two things Carder is “worried” about.

First, he says that meeting in a movie theater takes away from the sacredness of church. Jesus was a friend of sinners! He hung out in the wrong places with the wrong people! Did that make him any less holy? Absolutely not. It just made him more approachable. Which is the point! I think we’re called to redeem things and use them for God’s purposes! That certainly includes movie theaters!

Secondly, the “church” didn’t have “church buildings” until the fourth century! It didn’t allow them to confuse “going to church” with “being the church.” In a strictly literal or exegetical sense, you can’t “go to church.” The church isn’t a place. It’s people. And it doesn’t matter whether you meet in a building with a tall steeple or one with a big white screen and smells like popcorn!

Alright. Let me get off my soap box and back to work