A church that began in the middle of the pandemic is preparing to have an in-person congregation for the first time ever.
Pastor Mark Roslund and his wife Roberta held Rose Church's first worship service online on September 27, 2020. One year later, their team is going mobile.
"We are not the first church to meet in a movie theatre, others have in Winnipeg as well," Roslund says. "We just love the idea of this public space that people go to for just watching movies and we can turn it into this place where God is present and He is moving and encountering people."
After scouting other locations and other churches, Scotiabank Theatre Winnipeg in Polo Park was chosen. Roslund says it is not unusual for a church to use places like theatres and concert halls for services, as they have the infrastructure church services need. The team will be lining the floors at the front of the theatre with foam mats, bringing walls, toys, and anything else they need to transform the space.
"When you see it all, it makes sense. It is a little hard to imagine sometimes but is just literally everything you would expect a church to be but in a movie theatre."
Each Sunday starting on September 12, the theatre will be transformed into a worship space for adults and children alike. For now, Roslund and his team are figuring out how it will all work. The pastor says a lot more goes into setting it up than he initially thought, but is thankful for having people around him who know what to do.
Bringing people together physically was never a goal of Rose Church. They have only been online, which suited their purpose just fine.
"Honestly, we just pushed forward. We felt that when we were launching the church that we were never called to gather people in a building, but we were called to bring hope."
Now that in-person services can commence, the goal remains the same.