National Community Church

Last Sunday the internship took us to Washington DC to check out National Community Church, located in a movie theater at the basement of Union Station. This field trip served several purposes, namely being that it gave us an opportunity to view a different expression of the church, and it helped us to be immersed into a church with first-hand experience of what movement truly is. This is a church that started with 50 people in a small DC Public school, and is now serving over 2,000 people in 4 different locations around the District. They also own a coffee house in DC which started as an abandoned crack-house, and has since been transformed into a clean, relaxing environment for members of the community to engage in fellowship, as well as enjoy one of the best cups of coffee in the whole city.
We initially met up with one of Tony's former bible study students, who is currently in charge of the "In-Service" Ministry at NCC. This is a group comprised of several volunteers who put together bag lunches on Saturday evenings and then distribute them to the homeless on Sunday mornings before the third service at NCC. However, the act of distributing the lunches is not the amazing piece about this service, its the relationships that have been developed because of it that is truly amazing. A sense of community has been built for the homeless people of this area because they know that every Sunday they can come to get a bag of lunch and a conversation, sometimes the conversation and smiles being the most important part to them. And real friendships have been developed because of this. It was unlike anything I had seen before, because it wasn't just a random act of kindness, it was an intentional and genuine act of kindness. It also illustrates the concept of indigenous leadership which has come out of some of the homeless people who are now stepping up and serving active roles within the church.
Later on, we got the opportunity to attend the service inside the theater. Mark Batterson, the lead pastor at NCC, said it best when telling us that we "picked a crazy Sunday to come out". The Sunday we chose was actually the last service being held at Union Station because it would be closing down completely. However, the craziness of this Sunday was immensely beneficial in our understanding of movement. Batterson pointed out in his sermon the idea that church doesn't simply exist within the walls of the building which we meet, it exists within the body that makes up the church. And through this idea, he went further to explain how the church must adapt to these hard changes and realize that God didn't "mess up". "We must stand still and be calm when faced with an Egyptian army and a Red Sea," is how he put it to be exact. He articulated well to the body the fact that he doesn't know God's reasoning, but he does know that God's doing what is best for them and the church will continue to keep its flame burning.
National Community Church is a place that I will remember for its innovation, adaptability, passion, and sheer movement. It didn't simply seek a Sunday morning boost, but rather a home for Monday through Saturday as well. It's a place that also transcends all social barriers, be it class, age, race, or gender; it got back to core values of what family truly means. This is the church.