STOCKHOLM - Simon Klemenjak does some street dance moves and throws his hands in the air to cheer on the crowd before he starts singing to the techno beat at the altar in the Church of All Saints in Stockholm.
Instead of praying silently and singing gentle hymns, the congregation raves to techno sounds in ultraviolet lighting at Friday's "techno Mass" - more like a disco at a youth center than a service at a Lutheran Church.
"It was an awesome feeling," an ecstatic Klemenjak, 21, said after his performance of "Never Leave Me," which was composed by youth at the church in the Swedish capital's hip Sodermalm district.
It is the latest attempt at attracting young congregations in a country where church attendance has been dwindling for decades.
Olle Idestrom organized the Mass for the second time, and says the feedback has mainly been positive.
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"There is already a hip-hop Mass, there is a rock Mass and a jazz Mass," the 28-year-old priest said. "But it is mainly club music that we listen to and that we like dancing to, so it felt like a natural choice."
Unlike at traditional Sunday services in Sweden where some pews regularly remain empty, Idestrom had to turn away worshippers at the first techno Mass in April. There was extra seating Friday night at the church, which has a normal capacity of 400.
The service started with organ and choir music but soon broke into powerful techno beats to loud approving claps and cheers. People danced at their seats while disco lights swirled over the ornamented wooden ceilings.
"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."
Lawyer Caterine Hogman, 46, says she was impressed and thinks the church is doing 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.
