CHURCH HOPING TO GROW VIA MOVIE-THEATER SERVICE.

Byline: Scott L. Miley Indianapolis Star and News

Now praying at your local movie theater: The House of Prayer, a church congregation making its premiere in Westfield.

The church is so new that it doesn't have its own building.

Instead, the congregation is meeting at Regal Cinemas, a movie house.

"I laughed at first, but then I realized this is an absolute godsend," said the Rev. John Conrad, assigned to Westfield by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

"There's a lot of advantages to it. It's a safe space for those who haven't been part of a church before. You don't have to set up chairs. You've got no problem with parking. All that's a major godsend," said Conrad, 33, a former associate pastor in Portland, Ore.

The congregation marked its debut on a recent Sunday with three baptisms and more than 100 taking Communion. Worshipers tended to overlook the surroundings, although Rick Stephens observed, "This is the first time I've sat this long in a movie theater and not had popcorn."

It's not unusual for a new congregation to meet in available offices, factories or restaurants. The House of Prayer looked at those sites in Westfield before finding the cinema.Until it finds a home of its own, the House of Prayer will rely on the theater and members' homes.

Conrad was assigned to develop a cell group church, the first in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America synod that covers Indiana and Kentucky.

Cell group churches use small meetings, usually in homes, as the chief form of ministry. They worship collectively on Sundays but the emphasis is on ministry, prayer and outreach.

Westfield was selected from demographic studies.

Conrad said home groups will form after three or four Sundays. The sign-up may be as simple as passing a clipboard through the theater-seats-turned-pews.

"I'll say, 'You want to be part of a home group? Sign up. We come as a bunch of strangers; it's time to get to know each other.' It worked like a charm in other settings."