Worship reaches out to young
adults
LORI CAIN /
Statesman Journal
Daniel
Meyers, (from left) Janna Chaney and Emily Robison-Cox
sing during a Sunday service of The Underground at the
Micah Building.
| Video screens, rock music are part of The
Underground
DAN DE CARBONEL
Statesman Journal
October 4, 2004
Hard wooden pews and stained
glass have been replaced by plush carpets, throw pillows and
MTV-like graphics.
Instead of a robed cleric, the spotlight shines
on the blond, goateed frontman who begins the service Sunday
evening with “Are we ready to rock?!”
This isn’t your grandfather’s church, but for
Kirk Hurd that’s exactly the point.
The frontman, Hurd also is the director for
youths and young adults at First United Methodist Church.
He has created The Underground as a way to
provide a spiritual resource for young adults at a time in
their lives when many turn away from organized
religion.
Hurd, 37, isn’t new to “post-modern worship,”
which uses Christian rock, video monitors and a nontraditional
church setting to make Scripture more accessible to young
worshippers.
Before moving to Salem two years ago, he operated
a successful program in Lancaster, Calif.
“The bar is so high for people who want
to come into the church but struggle with the language and the
songs,” he said of The Underground’s secular feel. “We’re
trying to lower that bar and make (church) more
accessible.”
To that end, Hurd intersperses six songs with
thoughts on priorities and the congregation’s relationship
with God during the 90-minute service.
First United Methodist Church pastor Sue Owen
said the church has a lot invested in The Underground,
literally and figuratively.
Although several Christian churches use
contemporary music and secular trappings to make their faith
easier to digest, it was not an easy call for First United
Methodist Church.
Approximately $15,000 was invested in
transforming a room in the bottom floor of the Micah Center on
State Street into a funky, dark, shag-carpeted lounge with a
sound system and video monitors alternating between flashy
computer gra-phics and quotes from Scripture.
She said there might be a day when
elements of The Underground find their way into traditional
services or when churches offer different styles of services
to their congregations.
“This is the cutting edge of where Christianity
is at,” Owen said. “(The Underground) looks different, but the
message is the same and the challenge of the Church is to get
the message to the people.”
Owen said that The Underground has grown to about
100 members since its beginning in January.
Students at Willamette make up most of
the congregation.
“This is better (than a traditional service)
because it is geared toward our lives,” said Willamette
freshman Rebecca Trautman of Gresham. “And it’s a good way to
meet other people.”
The Underground is designed to be open to people
of all denominations, several of whom attend other services
earlier in the day.
“I’m from a liberal Catholic Church in a small
community that had folding chairs and a priest who worked on a
circuit,” said Melissa Ostermick of Talkeeta, Alaska, a
Willamette freshman.
“I’m still hoping to go to a Catholic service,
but I see this as like an extra worship service.”
Hurd refers to The Underground as an “experience”
rather than a service. He has designed The Underground to
operate 24 hours per day, through a Web site that features a
forum and by providing additional resources to young adults
seeking connections in the community, in a way similar to a
computer and the Internet.
“We’d like to make the experience deeper,” he
said. “We’re trying to bridge the chasm between the holy and
the secular. We want people to be able to have a spiritual
moment throughout the week at any time.
“Too many times, people see the holy
stuff and the other stuff as separate,” he said. “We’re trying
to bring it all together.”
LORI CAIN /
Statesman Journal
Emily
Robison-Cox (right) embraces Janna Chaney during the
meet-and-greet portion of the Sunday evening service of
The Underground at the Micah Building
|
ddecarbo@StatesmanJournal.com
or (503) 399-6714
|
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The Underground
“The Underground,” is held every
Sunday at 6:04 p.m. at the Micah Building at 680 State Street
in Salem. For information, go to www.theunderground
experience.org or call
(503) 364-6709.
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