Envision a Christian church service during which participants may leave the pews to visit several prayer stations around the sanctuary, light candles and linger to say personal prayers, or meditate while seated on floor cushions.

During this service a flickering glow creates an ethereal ambience in a darkened sanctuary. Instead of hymns from an organ, the music features rhythms of percussive instruments of the Middle East. Icons of divinity, such as the cross and the face of Jesus, are interspersed with tranquil scenes of nature on a video backdrop behind the altar.

A Colorado-based group called Mish­khah, which means "anointing" in Hebrew, demonstrated this alternate style of worship at a workshop and service held at the Cathedral of St. Andrew during its annual convention Oct. 25 and 26.

Free of the formalities associated with mainline denominations, this service has received enthusiastic responses at congregations across the nation, said founder Kate Eaton.

The Rev. Walter Brownridge, dean of St. Andrew’s, hopes to begin offering this type of service next year in an effort to attract people who describe themselves as "not necessarily religious."

"I call them spiritual seekers," Brownridge said, referring to people who don’t attend church regularly because they do not feel nourished by formally structured worship services offered by denominations, including his own Episcopal Church.

Brownridge invited the Mish­khah group to Hawaii in response to a request by Episcopal Diocese of Hawaii Bishop Robert Fitzpatrick for church leaders to explore new styles of worship.

"I thought this (the convention) would be an opportunity to bring them here because it gives our people and the wider community another option of doing worship that touches the heart and soul as well as the mind," said Brownridge, who attended services at two meetings on the mainland. "This mode invites people into the contemplative aspect of the Gospel. It’s not just a meditation session or to hear a sermon. It is centered around the liturgy, including readings, prayers and a short homily by the pastor."

Eaton, a singer and pianist, founded Mish­khah in 2010 "to reveal the mystery of Christ by stirring the senses and opening the heart," according to her website, www.mishkhah. com. In 2007 she began to help organize an alternative service for Saint John’s Cathedral in Denver where she lives with her husband, Peter Eaton, dean of Saint John’s. Since then she has worked with more than a dozen churches in Colo­rado, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Texas and Iowa.

Reaction to the format has been "phenomenal," Eaton said, because "people are longing for an experiential aspect to the service. … People are eager to move, remove their shoes, light a candle and step deeply into a contemplative (mood)."

At prayer "grottos" scattered about the church, small symbolic objects are placed to invite meditation, such as colored sea glass, grains, rose petals or strips of cloth dipped in holy myrrh. Participants may keep the objects as mementos. Cushions are placed for kneeling in prayer.

"We use fabrics, tapestries, prayer rugs, incense, oils, mustard seeds" and the like to create a spiritual ambience, Eaton said. "It’s very powerful."

The environment is further enhanced with sounds associated with a contemplative setting.

"We bring in music from all over the world," said Eaton, who creates new arrangements that fuse ancient and contemporary. She has sought out musicians who play instruments from the Middle East, Eastern Europe and South America, and from Celtic and Native American traditions.

Liturgical themes of the holy seasons are incorporated into services, which are given more weight than the accompanying aesthetics and are designed to be carried out with clergy and a music director’s input.

Brownridge said the style of worship invites participants to step into a sense of mystery, or an intangible sort of element commonly known as "a chicken-skin moment" by locals. "You don’t quite know why, but you do understand you’ve experienced something holy," he said.

"Spiritual seekers know there’s more to life than what they can see, smell, hear and touch, but they can’t define it. It’s a mystery. … The worship is the bridge between the mystery and the chicken-skin moment," he said.