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When Washington’s only movie theater closed in March, members Journey Church stepped out in faith, hoping the building could be theirs to use as a worship center and public event space. 

On Wednesday, July 31, church members and the Washington-Beaufort Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting for Journey Church which now leases the entire building which includes space for the public to use for events and business meetings. 

Journey Church, a non-denominational church, started meeting at Golden Ticket Cinema 7 (1109 West 15th Street) in November 2019, sharing space with the movie theater, Lead Pastor, Thomas Hamilton shared. Two months later they had to adapt to coronavirus mandates on social gatherings. The 130-person congregation weathered the pandemic which is a feat on its own, because data from the Barna Group shows church attendance in recent years has declined in the United States among Millenials, Gen X, Boomers and Elders. The Barna Group is a Christian research organization that provides insights on faith, culture, leadership and vocation. 

“First, in the 1990’s, weekly church attendance hovered around 43 percent of the sample. This general trend continued with some stability into the early 2000’s, and then there was a discernible shift upward. During the period from 2005 to 2010, weekly church attendance edged upward, with the highwater mark occurring in 2009 when nearly half Americans (48%) indicated weekly attendance. Recently, however, Barna’s data show a declining trend. Especially after 2012, weekly attendance declined significantly and has been hovering around three out of 10 adults attending since then. In actual numbers, 36 percent fewer Americans attended church weekly in 2020 than in 1993. This change could be correlated to a number of reasons, including the growing number of Gen Z and Millennials making up the U.S. population, disputes about who gets to be a part of or lead in the Church, past and current church scandals and perceptions of the Church’s role in politics, to name a few,” Barna Group reported in a 2020 State of the Church study. 

Journey Church is an exception to Barna’s study on recent church attendance. According to Hamilton, attendance has stayed consistent at around 100 to 130 members. 

Congregants met on Sunday mornings in a “smaller theater” in November, but at the start of COVID, they had plans to move to the “next size up,” Hamilton explained. They currently occupy a theater with 300 seats. 

“When we came back from COVID, there were some people that didn’t come back and then we have had some newer people come since then, and we have new people come in all the time,” Hamilton said. 

He added that data on church plants shows 50% die out in about five years. “The fact that we have continued to be here has been really cool to see how God’s worked in that and then you throw COVID on top of that and we made it through COVID,” Hamilton said. 

Fast forward to March of 2024, Journey Church was “saddened” to hear the Golden Ticket Cinema would close. They had befriended theater managers and worried about job opportunities for theater employees. 

With assistance from theater managers, Journey Church connected with the property manager and was able to configure a lease agreement. The next step for the church was to decide how to make their facility more accessible to the public. This is why Journey Church has made space in one theater for public use. 

“Part of our vision has never been to have a space that is just our own. That is within the confines of our lease – a way that we can allow this space to be used more than just for us and to have it available for businesses, community groups, and other churches to use,” Hamilton said. 

“I think our community – because this space has been a movie theater since it opened, they think about this space only as coming to see movies. I’m hoping we can open up their eyes a little bit to like ‘hey, we can have our business meeting here,’” Hamilton said. The space can also be rented out for social gatherings or movie nights. Of the seven total theaters, two have sound systems and projectors that are able to show movies. 

Journey Church is currently uninterested in redesigning the theater so that it looks like a church. If the facility looks like a theater rather than a church, it may attract people who either have never been to church or who have had negative church experiences. The feel of sitting in a dark theater can be less intimidating for some as opposed to sitting in a pew surrounded by stained glass depicting religious motifs from the Bible. 

“When we tell people to come worship with us, we say ‘hey, we meet at the cinema’ or ‘we meet at the theater…’ Being able to walk into a space that they would come to see a movie in – it’s helped to break down some of those barriers even before people step in the door,” Hamilton said. 

Journey Church meets on Sunday at 10 a.m., and has life groups throughout the week at various locations. 

For more information about Journey Church and how to rent their public space, visit: https://www.jointhejourney.church