Sabbatical visits:National Community Church, Washington DC

What was your first impression as you entered?

National Community Church gathers for worship in two locations. The location I visited was in the theater complex in the basement of Union Station.

A colorful banner at the entrance assured me that I was at the right place, and we were warmly welcomed at the door – by greeters of several different races. That I found this surprisingly delightful made me sad about how largely segregated most congregations remain to this day.

As we wandered through the lobby we encountered various display tables with friendly, helpful people, and creative, interesting materials. It was fun.

How long was the service?

About an hour and 10 minutes.

How was the service structured?

“Sermon sandwich” An initial set of music followed by the sermon followed by a longer concluding set of music.

What did you like best?

1) That it was packed with enthusiastic people – at the early service!
2) That it was demographically mixed and racially integrated.
3) That they had learned how to solve the typical lighting problems that haunt other churches that meet in theaters.
4) That they were wonderfully creative in ways that enhanced rather than distracted.
5) That they had learned how to lead congregational singing. They had the typical praise band – but instead of an ensemble of vocalists, there was a sole vocalist acting as song leader. He was wonderfully low key, personable, warm, and welcoming. There was no sense of his performing on stage; rather he was leading us in singing. He used his fine, clear voice to help us stay on note and rhythm, and never fell into the temptation to show off. I really, really liked this young man’s leadership.
6) Their choice of music was excellent: they chose exciting, singable pieces, mostly familiar, and with good lyrics. Moreover, they knew how to use the music for formation. Rather than merely stirring up the emotions or expressing ourselves, we were rehearsing theological and spiritual ideas that mirrored the theological and spiritual ideas in the sermon and Scripture.

I was initially disappointed that I would not get to hear their pastor preach, as their pastor was away. However, their guest speaker, a South American missionary, delivered an outstanding sermon: challenging, thoughtful, insightful and inspiring. I was very glad to have heard it.

What did you dislike?

The MC tended to use a lot of church cliches.

What were its greatest strengths that you’d like to import?

Their enthusiasm, their sense of mission, and their administrative skills.

If you were looking for a church, would this be it?

If only they had a sense of liturgy, yes.

What did you learn from this visit?

There are inexpensive creative solutions in unexpected places. Examples: A pair of plastic baby gates can turn any hallway into a safe nursery area. An Army surplus parachute spread out on an old, tacky, overly-used carpet instantly creates a huge, clean area for toddlers and infants to play on. People will happily trade their contact information in exchange for a free CD of worship music.

Is there anything else you want to say?

I’d happily recommend National Community to anyone who wasn’t committed to historic, sacramental liturgy. And they do what they do so well that it was easy for me to imagine historic, sacramental liturgy in that space. This was the church that made me feel not only that worship in a movie theater was possible, but that it could be wonderful, without feeling that it was a big compromise.

This is my opinion; I could be wrong.

The Lord be with you.