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The congregation sings hymns before a Bible study class at Calvary Chapel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The church is like many that now draw huge numbers of worshipers.

MCT photoSs

Millie La Vassaur watches over the nursery as adults attend a Bible study class at Calvary Chapel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The church is like many that now draw huge numbers of worshipers.

MCT photo

MINNEAPOLIS — As guitar-driven rock accelerated and five mammoth video screens flashed with high-speed urban imagery, hundreds of young people swayed in a dark and crowded hall, ready to start the party.
But this was no nightclub. This was church — a new youth service called the Gathering at Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minn.
“We don’t want to just be Bible listeners,” youth pastor Chad Erlenborn told a crowd abuzz with spiritual excitement. “We want to be Bible doers.”
To attract more young people, or to keep them in their pews, big churches are reinventing some of the ways they worship.
They are creating interactive weekly services nothing like traditional liturgies.
As the Gathering broke up and young people in hoodies and jeans hugged, high-fived and chatted on twinkling cell phones, Scott Stensrud, 15, raved about the new style.
“I’ve gone to Wooddale forever, but I like this much better than the other services here,” said the Minnetonka High School student. “The contemporary service, that is more like, for our parents. But a band with a bass guitar and drums? That is just the best.”
A similar scene plays out on Sunday nights at the Sanctuary, an alternative service at CrossRoads Church in Cottage Grove, Minn. “We want to communicate in a new way so people curious about Christianity can come and say, ‘Oh, this is what Christians do,”’ said the Rev. Brad Kindall.
Here’s what they saw on a recent Sunday: The worship space was bisected by an opaque curtain, a symbol of the divisions between people “that Jesus strips away,” Kindall said. During the service it came down in a dramatic way.
Meanwhile, at the Upper Room at Christ Presbyterian in Edina, Minn., which Pastor Kurt Vickman calls “an experiential, holistic worship community,” worshipers “live what we proclaim,” he said.
For example, at a service focused on forgiveness, they received $5 Starbucks or Caribou Coffee cards, inscribed them with a name and “made a commitment to try to be reconciled with that person over coffee,” Vickman said.
Church not as usual
The new crop of alternative services is evidence that churches are trying to address young adults’ “profound sense of frustration with church as usual,” said Jim Beilby, associate professor of theology at Bethel University in Arden Hills, Minn. The informal, intimate services also borrow from the emergent-church movement, which has given rise to small, eclectic congregations, often led by megachurch expatriates, that emphasize close community and social justice over “structure and steeples,” he said.
For Beilby, that’s all to the good. “Christians are called to rearticulate their expressions as the culture changes,” he said. Without such adaptation, many large churches would almost certainly lose younger members who feel isolated, censored or bored, he said.
Wooddale isn’t waiting for that to happen. The Gathering represents a third style of worship at the campus-like megachurch, which also offers two traditional and four contemporary services every weekend.
Growth and change have been hallmarks at Wooddale, which has thrived under the 30-year leadership of the Rev. Leith Anderson.
But Wooddale has not taken continued growth for granted. While the Gathering’s creators tout it as a way to help young people connect with God, it’s clear that if it succeeds, it also will help Wooddale grow.
The Gathering honors the relationships that define the “millennial” generation, Anderson said. “At traditional services, people sit where they’ve always sat,” he said. “At contemporary services, they sit where they’re most comfortable. At the Gathering, they sit with their friends.”
Beilby said he has reservations about separating the generations during worship. “We lose something when we lose intergenerational worship,” he said. “I hope we won’t conclude that this is the only real way to do church.”
Anderson and Collison acknowledge that further changes probably lie ahead. But for now, they’re delighted by the Gathering’s popularity, “and especially at the way young adults have invited unchurched friends,” Anderson said.
“Young people are far less reticent than their elders to talk about their faith and to invite others to share it,” he said.
‘I feel closer to god here’
If recent crowds are an indication, the Gathering is succeeding as a vehicle for worship and growth.
In the quartet of 14-year-olds, Michovich, the only one whose family doesn’t belong to Wooddale, said she started attending at Welch’s invitation. “My family doesn’t really go to church,” she said. “I’ve been to a few Catholic services, but I feel closer to God here.”
But how can she hear herself think?
“You can’t really hear your friends or anything,” she said. “You can only hear your own thoughts, and send them toward God.”
Nationwide, only 8 percent of Protestant worshipers go to churches with 2,000 or more members, according to Bird and Thumma. But megachurches have been disproportionately influential as they build sprawling campuses in suburbs and exurbs, spin off satellite churches and occasionally provide bully pulpits for charismatic leaders who seek broader influence on the culture and politics.
Minnesota loves megachurches: The Twin Cities area has one of the highest concentrations of megachurches in the nation, Mayer said. Why? There’s a cultural love of things large, he said. In addition, the Twin Cities area has high church attendance, many prominent church leaders, a strong economy that encourages giving and readily available land.
Pros and cons: A big, affluent church can offer worshipers myriad opportunities for friendships, worship and activities, proponents say. Critics say they focus on a business model and entertainment at the expense of spirituality and engagement. Last year, World Council of Churches President Samuel Kobia blasted megachurches, saying they “have no depth, theologically speaking.”
What’s a megachurch?

A megachurch is most commonly defined as a church with 2,000 or more members. While the term is generally associated with evangelical churches, there are also some very large mainline Protestant and Catholic churches. Nationwide, megachurches continue to thrive and grow. About 100 new ones are built each year, according to a study by Warren Bird and Scott Thumma of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research.