Chatham's Evangel Community Church is one of the interested parties pursuing downtown's Capitol Theatre.
Chris Couper, lead pastor, says coming to the decision to submit a proposal to run the theatre generated considered debate at the church.
"It was exciting and scary all at the same time," says Couper. "It's quite a paradigm shift for the church and also for the community I'm sure, but we're excited to see that theatre thrive and also the downtown core thrive."
St. Clair College had been previously running the theatre, but announced last October it could no longer continue to run the day-to-day operations leaving the municipality to look for a new operator.
Couper says the church would look to hire a promoter to handle the entertainment side of the theatre operation. He stresses a church-run Capitol Theatre wouldn't mean only Christian acts are pursued, but suggests how Disney handles its content is a good example to follow.
"If you look at their standard, they insist on responsible content but they're not hurting at all as far as the entertainment value and the quality of entertainment that they put out there," says Couper. "We're looking again not for Christian content with the outside promoters, but we are looking for responsible content."
Moving to the Capitol Theatre could also serve as a boost to attendance for the church as Couper suggests the move could help attract what he calls the "missing generation" to the pews.
"We feel the theatre setting would attract a younger generation that doesn't know what to do with traditional churches," says Couper.
Couper says moving into the Capitol Theatre would mean leaving their current location on Sandys St.
A meeting regarding the submissions of interest to operate the Capitol Theatre was held on Thursday.