National Community Church

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National Community Church (NCC) is a multi-site church located in the Washington, D.C. area, pastored by Mark Batterson. Located online at theaterchurch.com, the vision of the church is to meet in movie theaters at metro stops all across the Washington area. By the fall of 2005, over 6,500 people had signed up for theaterchurch.com's podcast, where they can download an audio file of the weekly sermon.

[edit] History

National Community Church held its first Sunday service on January 7, 1996. During the first nine months of 1996, average attendance at Sunday services was between 20-25 people. At the time, all meetings were at the Geddings School (now Results Gym) in southeast Washington, D.C.

On November 17, 1996, NCC held its first service in the AMC Theatres at Union Station, located four blocks from the United States Capitol. Nearly 100,000 people pass through the station each day. One of NCC's core values is doing church "in the middle of the marketplace".

In October of 1998, NCC launched its first community group. In the fall of 2006, the number of small groups is closer to 70. The ultimate goal is for a small group to be located within ten minutes of everyone living inside the beltway.

On August 12, 2001, National Community Church was featured on the front page of the Washington Post. After the article appeared, average attendance more than doubled.

NCC launched its second location in the Regal Theaters at Ballston Common Mall in Arlington, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C., on September 21, 2003.

In 2002, NCC purchased property located one block from Union Station across from the new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, one of the largest office buildings in Washington, D.C. In March of 2006, after months of tedious renovation, NCC opened Ebenezers, a coffeehouse and multi-purpose building. Church offices are located on the top floor while the lowest level houses a meeting room used as a third venue for church services on Saturday nights, as well as discipleship meetings and additional seating for coffeehouse patrons.

NCC was featured in the New York Times on August 29, 2005 in an article entitled, "Missed Church? No Worries. Download it to your iPod."