SOUL SURVIVOR: SERVICE OFFERS MULTI-SENSORY WORSHIP EXPERIENCE FOR ALL AGES

In the past year, worship at St. Andrew Lutheran Church moved from a bland contemporary style to a service filled with creativity, liveliness and variety.

The change is Soul Survivor.

It's a worship service that strips away all but the basic elements of meaningful messages, hands-on interaction and lively music. An unlit sanctuary where pop music plays greets worshipers as they arrive.

A band, with bass guitar, drums and keyboards, played the beginnings of "Let It Rise" as the call to worship that started a recent Sunday service.

The switch to a new, contemporary format has seen a 16 percent jump in attendance in just five months at St. Andrew.

The main elements of the new service are all there but in a fresh, contemporary way that can communicate to people, said the Rev. Paul Short. The 9:15 a.m. service was added at the first of the year as a way to reach youth, young adults and anyone who hasn't been to church before.

"Jesus is the center and the word is the foundation for all that goes on," he said.

Some of the elements have been rearranged is all, said Nathan Kuhlman, the pastor who leads the service.

The order of worship in any of the church's services isn't the same from week to week though, the pastors say. St. Andrew discontinued its Wednesday night contemporary worship before adding the Sunday morning service.

"We eased in slowly," said Kuhlman. Eliminating the Wednesday service allowed the staff and volunteers to better organize and plan for worship.

Dressed in jeans and a button-front shirt, Kuhlman plays keyboards and leads the worship. He wears a microphone clipped to his shirt and leaves his worship folder on a music stand as he preaches. He moves freely around the front of the church, keeping the attention of those in the pews.

Kuhlman, pastor of youth and young adults, also writes some of the music and lyrics played by the band Jericho. Other church members participate in drama or Scripture readings.

The service is an interactive one, asking people sitting in the pews to pay attention, answer questions and sometimes take quizzes or play games.

"We try to do as much hands-on stuff as we can to create that experience," Short said.

But Kuhlman adds that the darkness in the sanctuary helps add to the feeling of anonymity.

Sometimes interaction means asking for suggestions for a Top 10 list about being blamed for things you didn't do, holding music quiz bowl games where wrong answers bring a toss of sloppy, gooey foods or conducting a Peeps-eating contest on Easter Sunday.

St. Andrew Lutheran found that such silly events help add fun and variety to worship services, particularly for youth and young adults. If you attend Soul Survivor, you can't just sit back and watch, Kuhlman said.

"It's discovery worship," he said. "You can discover God anew within your life and see that he's active in our lives."

Soul Survivor is just one of the changes at St. Andrew since January. Even the traditional services have been blended with more multi-sensory elements. There are sermon outlines so worshipers can take notes, video clips and upbeat choruses.

Short does wear his robes during the 7:45 and 10:45 a.m. services for people used to the traditional service. None of the services are cookie-cutter models based on what another church is doing.

"We looked at the needs and skills, gifts and talents of our staff and interests and needs or our community," Short said. The church asked what it could provide that no one else was doing.

"We want to reach the people that are not being reached with the message of Jesus Christ and his love. We bring a unique style that you won't find anyplace else," Short said.

It's not that St. Andrew is looking to copy another contemporary style but to find God's calling in ministry, he said.

The church will be featured in the July-August issue of Correspondent, a magazine published by Aid Association for Lutherans insurance group.