It began with an unusual proposition — holding church at Union Station’s movie theater — but after 13 years of meeting, praising and preaching every Sunday at the multiplex, National Community Church has lost its home.

The train station’s Phoenix Theatres were closed Oct. 12, and with them went the church’s innovative sanctuary, which over the years has sparked dozens of similar movie theater-based churches across the country.

The Rev. Mark Batterson said he had heard rumors that the cineplex might close but was shocked this month when he was given six days’ notice. The church, however, will survive, he said.

Last Sunday was the church’s first without the facility, and people flocked instead to Ebenezer’s Coffeehouse, which is owned and operated by the church. Batterson led three services for packed houses there.

National Community Church has faced similar challenges. When Batterson took the helm in 1996, the church consisted of 19 people renting space in a Southeast Washington school. Within nine months, the group lost its first sanctuary when the government closed the school for code violations.

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