Church swaps pew for cinema seat

An Easter service with a difference has been taking place at a cinema in Kent in an attempt to encourage people to join in an act of worship.

A pop musician and an escapologist were just two of the elements to be included when St Luke's Church took over the local cinema in Maidstone.

The church has also been offering free tickets for The Passion of the Christ and The Chronicles of Narnia.

Spokesman Russ Hughes said he hoped people would rethink their faith.

You can't measure somebody's faith just because they walk into a building every Sunday Russ Hughes, St Luke's Church

"It's not for those who would normally find themselves in church - we don't want to fill the cinema with churchgoers.

"We want to fill it with people who have a real interest in Jesus but then think 'church, no thanks'," the director of worship said.

The cinema service was at one of the screens of the Odeon Maidstone and promised to be 45 minutes of "amazing family fun".

Mr Hughes said: "Getting people into church has never been a good measure.

'Not hamburgers'

"Claiming that somebody believes in Christ because they go to church is claiming that somebody's a hamburger because they go to McDonald's.

"You can't measure somebody's faith just because they walk into a building every Sunday."

St Luke's Church gave away £20,000 worth of cinema tickets for The Passion of the Christ in 2004.

The offer was then repeated in December 2005 when it gave away £10,000 worth of tickets for single parents and their children to see The Chronicles of Narnia.