a Shared Life

ADVENTURE # 5: NATIONAL COMMUNITY CHURCH (WASHINGTON D.C.)

Although popular today for churches to open or begin new services in movie theaters, National Community Church (NCC) adopted this approach to ministry out of necessity, before  the widespread acceptance of the idea. Real estate prices in Washington D.C. caused them to open up in a theater in a subway station. However, they continued to be innovative by purchasing their first piece of property, an old rundown building, to create a creative, high quality community coffeehouse, Ebenezers. AOL City Guide recently named Ebenezers the number one coffeehouse in Washington D.C.

As mentioned before in the discussion of Mercy Hill, there is an obvious cool factor about meeting in a movie theater-especially in a subway station. There is no “churchy” feel to the building and many young adults find it less intimidating to enter a movie theater or coffeehouse than a church. For the purpose of this project, timing made it impossible to do an onsite evaluation. So, Heather Zempel’s sermon was evaluated through their podcast. However, previous visits with young adults to both the Union Station and Ebenezers Coffeehouse venues received extremely positive feedback.

Sermon Evaluation

Content and Delivery
Heather handled a few commonly used Scriptures and examined them in a fresh and lively way. Familiar Scriptures about Jesus were tied together and connected to the idea of community, encouraging friendships as a vehicle to share the Gospel effectively. Heather’s word usage was clear. Transitional elements moved the sermon from point to point fluidly. Her energetic demeanor and gestures, coupled with a clear voice, made the message audible and easy to understand.

Application and Effectiveness
The applications of the message were unambiguous, practical and relevant to multiple audiences. Listeners were challenged to connect with others in order to share Christ with them. The title provided an effective image for befriending people in the way Jesus did and contributed to making the message memorable.

Authenticity
Even in a video podcast, Heather’s passion and enthusiasm were contagious. Personal examples and self-deprecating humor gave the message a feeling of authenticity. Heather used personal stories appropriately. These stories brought life to the message while keeping the focus on Jesus—not Heather.

Multimedia and General Effectiveness
Surprisingly little multimedia was used during the sermon.  However, the imagery of the location, Ebenezers Coffeehouse, provides an appealing backdrop for the message. Multiple sites use this video for their proclamation. The main point was tailored to life at NCC and their upcoming small group semester. Challenging members to join a group to which they can bring a friend for evangelistic purposes clearly connected the message with the current life of the church.

Interview Summary

The demographic profile of NCC makes it unique, especially among Assemblies of God churches. NCC’s location shapes its demographic composition since many people relocate to Washington D.C. for or immediately after college. Seventy three percent of its congregants are unmarried young adults under thirty-five. Approximately twenty to twenty five percent of NCC attendees are college students. While excelling at reaching those coming into Washington D.C., NCC is increasing efforts at reaching those who grew up there.

Although they have become a model in the Assemblies of God for reaching young adults, as with other churches that successfully reach young adults, NCC does not specifically target young adults. It is a byproduct of the philosophies and practices of NCC. In the early days NCC’s staff consisted of people in their twenties and thirties who were predominantly single and attracted those similar to them. Since they value and utilize technology in order to engage culture, they continue to connect with young adults as NCC connects the message of Christ with culture.
Young adults stay connected to NCC because of its sense of community, perhaps because so many are coming to the area, leaving old friends behind and looking for new relationships and a place to belong. If successful in connecting young adults to Alpha or another small group, NCC finds these young adults have a much greater likelihood of remaining connected to the church. Since Washington D.C. is a transient city and much of their population originally comes from outside the area, their forty percent turnover rate comes as no surprise. Many who move away remark that they have difficulty finding a church community when they leave. The transient nature of their demographic creates an urgency that compels NCC to give ownership to potential small group and ministry leaders. This further connects young adults while extending the ministry of NCC.

Speakers
On the speaking schedule for thirty-eight weeks this year, Mark Batterson clearly preaches a majority of the time at NCC. Joel Schmidgall and Heather Zempel each preach five or six times a year. Every semester the campus pastors for each multisite location preach once. Guest speakers, including authors and well-known speakers, fill out the rest of the schedule.

Sermon Topics
At the end of every year, the staff of NCC takes time off together to plan. At this retreat, missions, discipleship, small groups and preaching strategies are all planned. While circumstances throughout the year change the plan, starting with a plan ensures a balanced spiritual diet and aligns the proclamation to other things going on in the church. Even after the retreat, collaboration continues. Brainstorming at the “big idea” meeting on Tuesdays includes the current and upcoming series. This time allows for creativity and input from the staff. Recently, the next series was put on hold in order to do the “Elephant in the Church” based on staff feedback.

This weekly meeting includes collaboration from the teaching team, media pastor and worship pastor. As the church has grown, the meeting size increased so that now a larger creative team is included occasionally to brainstorm on a series, but not weekly. Two favorite series that are included every year are “God at the Box Office” and “God at the Billboards”. Although some might suspect these are cheap attempts at relevancy, the series are deeply theological as they engage popular culture. Using music and movies lets NCC speak to the raw emotions people feel. And, since most adults in their twenties get their theology from those two media forms, the series which engage them are therefore the hardest hitting.
With so many pastors watching NCC as a model for ministry, Heather admonishes people trying to reach young adults to be themselves—knowing who they are and who they are not. A speaker can be who they are and still be relevant. Heather also reminds pastors to listen to young adults in order to avoid using their sermons to answer questions no one is asking and give them the chance to put their faith into action by leading.

When asked what makes their sermons well received, Heather lists three virtues. First, be yourself. People can tell when you are not being authentic and are less likely to receive the message. Second, use humor. NCC’s staff is comprised of naturally funny people. When giving tough talks, using humor, the speakers successfully lower the defenses of listeners. People also respond to self-deprecating humor. People can relate to inane mishaps and failures when hearing stories where the speakers experienced less than stellar moments. NCC speakers consciously use the third person when speaking, reminding listeners that they are not above the congregation—everyone is on the same journey to becoming like Christ. Another element of the sermons is painting a picture of what is possible if the hearers put the sermon into practice—building an Andy Stanley “So What?” moment.

Extension of Ministry through Technology
Heather reports that Mark Batterson says, “If it’s worth preaching it’s worth podcasting.” NCC demonstrates this value by podcasting the audio and video of its messages. The podcasts provide an opportunity for potential attendees to evaluate the church before coming. Also, since their church attendees travel a lot making it hard to be there each week, podcasting keeps those traveling connected to the church. An unexpected result of video podcasting, NCC recently learned of a church in Africa meeting in a home and watching the NCC video podcast. In addition to podcasting, NCC’s staff maintains multiple blogs. They blog for leadership issues, announcements and song lists. Staff members use Facebook to communicate with others and maintain an official NCC Facebook group.

NCC’s use of the web extends their proclamation well beyond their local congregation. The leadership of NCC feels called to give away their resources, becoming an opensource church. Sermons, video, promotional postcards and other materials are available for free and are provided in a modifiable format. NCC leadership hopes others do not simply copy their materials; rather they desire to be a church that resources others for ministry, hoping the materials spark creativity. Many people in local congregations will benefit from these resources even if they are never aware of their source. The lead pastor of NCC, Mark Batterson, even remarks that others have done a better job with the materials than NCC.

Influences
Heather grew up under several influences that helped shape her preaching. Among them she lists her one-time pastors Fred Wolf and Larry Stockstill of Bethany World Prayer Center. As an NCC member she lists Mark Batterson as well. Growing up doing community theater, Heather always felt comfortable with platform communication. Currently, she finds herself reading a lot of books to grow as a communicator, including Craig Groeschel, Mark Driscoll and Andy Stanley. As for influences on Mark Batterson, the lead communicator, Heather reports that Mark lists his own father-in-law and pastor, Bob Schmidgall and Dick Foth.

God Stories
The results of NCC’s efforts at communicating the Gospel are far reaching. The report of a “win” begins every staff meeting, reminding staff members that their efforts are not wasted.¹  Almost every week someone brings an email that talks about how the sermons changed someone’s life. Along with making commitments to follow Christ for the first time, people have changed jobs, read the Bible for the first time, jumped into a small group and started serving after being moved to action in a sermon.

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1. Andy Stanley, Reggie Joiner, and Lane Jones, 7 Practices of Effective Ministry (Sisters, Ore: Multnomah Publishers, 2004). [↩]