HOMELY Celtic traditions and meditative chants could bring new life to a Brierfield church.

The Vicar at St Luke's is revamping Sunday evening services in an attempt to increase the numbers in his congregation, and is borrowing ancient and modern ideas to attract new customers.

The Rev Ed Saville came up with a new image for Sunday evenings which will begin in the new year.

He said: "We are one of the very few churches that still run services on Sunday evenings and we are going to see how we go on by trying something different.

"We're keeping our choral evensong for the first Sunday of the month and will have different styles of services at other times. It should be interesting."

Two ideas already on the starting grid are Celtic and Taize services.

Said Mr Saville: "The Celtic-style has been around a long number of years and is very much related to every day life totally of this world, and that is reflected in the worship.

"You could say Taize is totally opposite.

"Taize is a little village in France where a friar, Brother Roger, set up an ecumenical community which attracted a lot of young people.

"The worship is very meditative and unworldly. The music has repetitive chants that are easy to sing and relaxing."

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