The "theater church" at Penn Cinema has run into zoning problems in Manheim Township, with township officials questioning whether a church is allowed to rent space in the theater.

Penn Cinema owner Penn Ketchum has appealed a "notice of violation" issued by the township zoning office after its employees saw a Sunday News story in September about the opening of The Crossings Church.

The Manheim Township zoning board will hear Ketchum's appeal on Wednesday, Nov. 7.

"I understand this is an unusual situation for the township," Ketchum said last week. "I'm sure we'll successfully work together with the township to be able to accommodate this unusual situation."

An attorney specializing in religious liberties cases said the township's action may constitute a violation both of the First Amendment and of a federal law that prohibits governments from using zoning to prevent faith groups from exercising their religious rights.

"Zoning officers and zoning boards are used to zoning law, and they're used to the broad discretion that they have under state law and under zoning ordinances," said Randall Wenger, chief counsel for the Harrisburg-based Independence Law Center.

"What's different about these cases is the First Amendment issues that trump zoning issues."

The senior planting pastor of The Crossings, Chuck Frank, who said his church continues to meet at Penn Cinema while awaiting the zoning ruling, said he's confident the situation will be resolved in a positive way.

"I can't wait to see the great things God does with this," Frank said.

Theater or church?
The Crossings Church held its launch service Sunday, Oct. 7, after trial runs throughout the summer.

Theater churches are a growing trend nationwide, although they are still a novelty in Lancaster County.

The Crossings rents a theater in Penn Cinema for several hours Sunday morning to hold its worship services. Using a theater allows The Crossings to reach people who might never walk into a traditional church, Frank and lead pastor John "Jay" Rairigh said.

After a Sunday News story on the church was published Sept. 9, Ketchum said, he was contacted by a township zoning official who told him the zoning law doesn't allow churches in an industrial zone. Penn Cinema is on Airport Road, across from the Lancaster Airport.

Township manager Jim Martin said the "sticking point" is the lease by a church in the theater. Movie theaters are commercial uses permitted in the I-3 zone, but churches are not.

"If it's going to be used as a church, that's in violation of the zoning on that property," Martin said.

He said other churches have rented space until they were able to find permanent quarters. But The Crossings doesn't intend to build a church.

"How long will they be renting the space? If the intent is to stay there for 20 years, 30 years or forever, then I think the definition is, is it a commercial use or is it a church use?" Martin asked.

Ketchum argued that renting a theater to The Crossings is "no different from when I rent the theater to townships or school districts or local businesses, which I also do on a regular basis."

"At no time does the character of the building change," he said. "While they're finishing up their service, we're literally opening our doors to the moviegoing public.

"... At no time do we cease to be a movie theater. We continue to be well within our parking ratios, as well as building capacity. The service still leaves literally 90 percent of the building unoccupied."

And renting to The Crossings doesn't change the taxes he's paying on his property.

"To me there's a big difference between a church and a church service," he said.

Ketchum said the fact that theater churches are so new might have prompted a zoning challenge in any community.

"They might not be immediately ready to grasp what to call this new animal," he said of municipal governments.

First Amendment questions
There's another wrinkle in the zoning challenge — a constitutional one.

A 2000 federal law, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, says government can't use land use or zoning rules to keep religious institutions out.

Wenger, whose Independence Law Center is affiliated with the Pennsylvania Family Institute, said he recently resolved a similar case involving a theater church, New Life Church, in Montgomery County.

In that case, he said, the township backed down after he outlined how RLUIPA and the First Amendment override zoning rules.

The township had argued a theater church wasn't permitted in a retail district. Wenger said the township is rewriting its zoning ordinance.

With theater churches, Wenger said, "everything is the same as what you would do in a movie theater, other than the spiritual component."

"... You're allowing a similar kind of use here, but you're not allowing it to be this use if it has a religious component."

Trying to block a theater church based on zoning, he said, could constitute a violation of the constitutional guarantees of equal protection, free exercise of religion, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, as well as of RLUIPA. Wenger is not representing Ketchum or The Crossings.

Wenger pointed out that churches are increasingly finding it difficult to get space in which to hold services.

He said he hopes Manheim Township "will recognize that application of their zoning ordinance in this way violates the First Amendment."

Martin, the township manager, is familiar with RLUIPA.

"If that's the case, then we want to know," he said.

Frank, The Crossings pastor, said his church is praying for township officials.

He said he has asked nationally known church planting guru Bill Easum if he has ever run into a similar effort to block a church from meeting in a theater, and Easum said he'd never heard of such a thing.

In 2006, there were an estimated 250 theater churches nationwide.

Until the zoning issue is resolved, Frank said, The Crossings continues to worship at 9:30 a.m. Sundays at Penn Cinema. At the Oct. 7 launch service, 193 people attended, he said.

"We believe God has called us to this area to make a great difference for him," Frank said, "and we look forward to being an integral part of the community.

"... I have such total peace about this situation. We know God brings great things out of adversity."

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Helen Colwell Adams is a Sunday News staff writer. E-mail her at hcolwell@lnpnews.com, or phone 291-4962.