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From LarkNews.com:

AKRON, Ohio � When a new Antiochian Orthodox church opened up and drew families from several evangelical churches, it created a minor buzz around town.
At the Evangelical Free church, it also created another service.
"I've been caught off guard by other shifts in church trends," says EV Free pastor Brian Fitzgerald, 44. "Not this time."
In a defensive maneuver, his church soon added an Orthodox-style service to cater to people who want more ritual and a feeling of connection to historical tradition.
"It's the same sermon, same worship songs in many cases, just done in a more liturgical style," Fitzgerald says. "I don't mind changing the packaging for people. It freshens it up for them and for me."
The new "Liturgical Service," as they call it, has become the most popular service even among young people. After the "standard" evangelical service at 9:30 a.m., workers
decorate the platform with candles, non-specific iconography and other religious-looking items. Fitzgerald wears generic vestments and adopts a more somber manner. He reads from a liturgical book and the congregation responds by reading words on the screens.
"I like the reverence and the mood," says one girl, 16. "It feels more spiritual." "I like the candles," her friend chimes in.
The effort seems to be working to keep church members from straying elsewhere. In St. Paul, Minn., Family Life Center recently created a liturgical service and says some families
have opted to stay rather than try out other churches. Jessica Onstead, 38, was dissatisfied enough last year with the "fluffiness" of evangelical church services that she visited an
Orthodox service and liked parts of it. But she was uncomfortable with the "kissing of strangers, genuflecting and standing for an hour during the sermon."
She ended up back at her non-denominational church which had by then added an Orthodox-style service. She now attends "standard" services one week and Orthodox-style the next, at the same church.
"One is light and airy, and the other is dark and sacred," she says. "I get a balance this way."
One pastor explains that most people don't want to switch traditions, but just want "a taste of ritual and liturgy to supplement their usual tradition. If a few candles and a
change of presentation satisfy that, we're all for it."
Other evangelicals who have flirted with the Orthodox tradition found that they, too, prefer courtship to commitment. The Bartel family of suburban Cleveland, Ohio, tried the local Orthodox church for a month, but "couldn't make the cultural shift long-term," says the father. When they walked back into an evangelical service, "the drums and guitars
sounded pretty good for once."



How sad.....


Alexandr

It is satirical. But, there's enough truth that it's still kinda sad.

Well, no, they are just setting the young people to begin asking - is there more? I read on the CHN forum, where quite often a form of liturgical worship set them to wondering if what they were doing is true. And, if it was, was the bread and wine really Christ.

So we will pray that many of them will come home to the truth of the Sacramental Churches.

It could be that they will see pastor Fitzgerald's interpretation of the liturgy as a candle to the sun.

I know one pastor who treated a member converting to Catholicism as a man abandoning his faith. I wonder how Fitzgerald sees it, or if he's only concerned about the number of members in his church.

Terry

Is this even a real news story? Or is it sort of like he Onion, with mock news?

Слава Ісусу Христу!
It is nice there still are pastors who try to serve the people�s needs rather than digging in their hills and shooting off canons.

It is satire. It's not real. Lark News is like The Onion of Christianity.

http://www.acfnewsource.org/religion/lark_news.html

Ah, that's nice to know. You never know what a pastor may end up doing to fill the pews.

I thought this one particularly funny: http://www.larknews.com/june_2008/print.php?page=1

Terry

Even though it is a satire, I must confess that this is something entirely believable. Having known personally several folks in the "emerging church" movement and having been dragged to a few mega church services, I can tell you that the dominant attitude is "whatever works," among these folks. Going along with this attitude is the view that everything in church worship is dispensible. Nothing has any intrinsically sacred value. Rather, if a pastor (or a church committee) thinks that one form of worship will draw more folks, they will use it.

Joe

Isn't this similar to the pictures posted some time back about the Baptists and other Protestant groups in Georgia and other parts of the Caucasus countries using Orthodox vestments and other external items to bring people in?

BOB

There's more than a handful of these groups these days, all around the country - some, like the baptist 'bishop' like to wear Cardinal's vestments but steer clear of liturgics... others like the "convergence movement" groups use all the smells and bells, except they put the vestments on their wives and daughters and allow them to play the game as well.

I hope the Spirit moves the eyes of the congregation to the Apostolic Churches who's orthodox faith organically developed these prayers and liturgical utterances.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church even devised a "Divine Liturgy" for work amongst Ukrainian Eastern Christians:
http://www.angelfire.com/ca4/saintsophiaseminary/liturgy.html

He would miss his slap on the backs and 'atta boy' if the membership fell.

so that's what they call "show business" !