I love going to the movies with my friends. I love the time spent together. I love the race for tickets and the search for good seats. I love standing and talking as we buy the popcorn and pop and making fun of all the pre-movie stuff on screen. I love anticipation that comes when the "Our Feature Presentation" comes on the screen. I love being able to sit and enjoy the movie and being able to be with people without having to interact or talk. Finally, I love talking about the movie at the end. The movie theater was designed for people, young and old, to socialize and to get away from everyday life. It is a place to have fun, be together, and reflect and be by yourself at the same time.
Is the movie theater a good place to do church? Can a church benefit from a theater environment? I think so because the theater is a place where personal growth and reflection, and fellowship and community come together and complement each other perfectly.
The theater environment encourages focusing on the main message/feature presentation, with room for socializing and thinking before, during (minus socializing), and after. Furthermore, it appeals to the un-churched people because the movie theater does not say church in the traditional sense, it says church in the crazy and outside the norm. Since the norms and impressions that come with traditional church turn-off a lot of un-churched people, the theater can bring these people into a spiritual environment and an encounter with Jesus Christ that excludes the excess and uneeded baggage.
The theater environment encourages focusing on the main message/feature presentation, with room for socializing and thinking before, during (minus socializing), and after. Furthermore, it appeals to the un-churched people because the movie theater does not say church in the traditional sense, it says church in the crazy and outside the norm. Since the norms and impressions that come with traditional church turn-off a lot of un-churched people, the theater can bring these people into a spiritual environment and an encounter with Jesus Christ that excludes the excess and uneeded baggage.
Last Sunday, LifeSprings Christian Fellowship went on a road trip to The Meeting House church at the Empire Theater at Sportsworld. I thought it was a good experience and I enjoyed it. What's nice about a theater is that it keeps people, like me, focused. When you have aspergers like I do, you can be easily distracted in certain environments and completely focused in others. For me, the theater keeps me focused and helps me concentrate on the service and on the message being presented. It also allows me to be in a social environment and be comfortable because it's in an environment where I can be social and in my own world at the same time. The Meeting House captured both of those elements and I think they greatly used to their advantage. I also liked that everyone else was focused on the message as soon as the sermon started. I was very comfortable in it.
I think that LifeSprings is making a good choice in moving to the theater. The next road trip is to another LifeChurch campus in Niagara Falls. I look forward to it because a) it's a road trip b) I think it'll be a better example of what Church in a Theatre, LifeSprings style will look like and c) it's always fun to go to Niagara Falls. So, I enjoyed this field trip and I look forward to the next one!
Thanks Andrena....I think God can use all kinds of environments to have his message of love and grace delivered. Each environment will create its own challenges and it will be up to God's people to pay attention to the moving of GOD within each local expression of the church and to respond accordingly.
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