On 11-11-11, a church in Stockholm, Sweden adopted a unique way of turning church into 90s disco club to attract youngsters closer to religion.
Instead of listening to the sermon and praying silently, the congregation inside the All Saints Church, in Stockholm were throwing their hands in the air, busting dance moves and singing to the lyrics of music, during the second ever techno Mass organized by the Swedish church.
The administration of the church installed special lights, the techno sounds which changed the worship place into dance club.”It was an awesome feeling,” an ecstatic Klemenjak, 21, said after his performance of the song “Never Leave Me”.
“It was superfun, it was really kicking, I didn’t think it would be this good before I came,” said Ella Schwarz, 15. “The church isn’t really my kind of thing, but after this it seems like it is great,” she said. Lawyer Caterine Hogman, 46, says she was impressed with the arrangement and thinks it is good the church does something positive for young people.
Over the past 10 years, membership in Sweden’s Lutheran church has fallen 13 percent and attendance at regular Sunday services plunged 50 percent to 4.6 million visits last year, worrying the clergy.
The church in Sweden has become increasingly progressive. In 1958, it allowed its first female priests, and two years ago ordained its first openly gay bishop, Eva Brunne, and gave priests the right to wed same-sex couples.
Reverend Olle Idestrom, 28, the All Saints Church Priest said, the “People say this is exactly what the Church of Sweden needs”, “We need to develop the services so that we have a service also for people, mainly from the younger generation, who like this kind of music.”
But not everyone is happy about the development. “There are more than enough entertainment halls in the city to cover all tastes. Let the church remain a place for quiet contact with spirituality,” said Dan Kareliusson, a representative of the nationalist Sweden Democrats party.
Source – huffingtonpost
