Comic duo David Baddiel and Frank Skinner have inspired a vicar to try their laid-back style to attract new worshippers.

Vicar Derek Walmsley is to come down from his pulpit at St Mark's Church, Utley, for a session of ad-lib worship. He is sidelining hymns and a sermon to launch a new-style Friday evening service.

Out will go the pews and in will come a caf style layout.

Loud rock music -- the 45-year-old vicar is a fan of U2 and Jethro Tull -- won't be taboo, nor will video films.

But there will still be room for silence and contemplation and the sound of Gregorian chant ... or even Moby.

His new-look worship, he says, is designed to appeal to the "Internet generation."

And the first session will be based on the Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned TV show format, where the two comics lounge on a big sofa and challenge the audience to catch them out with awkward questions.

The first session will be this evening, when Mr Walmsley will be joined by his church administrator Karl Jones.

"We are not just appealing to young people but to people with a young mind set," said Mr Walmsley.

"You can be 80 and into new technology. We are trying to develop a more laid back atmosphere."

People will be greeted with a cup of coffee and an invitation to sit at tables and chairs laid out like a cafe and encouraged to chat.

"We'll sit at the front and perhaps spark it off by chatting to each other and inviting the others to join in or challenge us," said Mr Walmsley. "No subject will be banned. Obviously, our content will be different -- we're not duplicating Baddiel and Skinner -- but we hope there will be humour and light heartedness.

"We'll be learning as we go along but I hope it will become a permanent fixture. People have been very supportive.

"I realise some may think it's a gimmick, but I take heart from the fact that several hundred years ago many people thought the introduction of the church organ was wrong and some even considered it offensive."

The new service would not replace the more traditional existing service which would continue to be held on Sundays, he stressed. "But the church in every era must adapt to the setting in which it finds itself, without changing the underlying message about God and His love," he added.

The session, which will be open to anyone interested, starts at 7pm.