U2 lyrics ring through Bethel Park service

The night starts with "Pride (In the Name of Love)," it ends with "Beautiful Day," and in between, Christ United Methodist Church in Bethel Park will introduce its missionaries from home and abroad.

The Sunday night service is called U2Charist, an international craze among some Christians that uses songs from the rock band U2 as the theme for service-focused worship. The Rev. John Shaver, who oversees the church's emerging ministries, said this is the first U2Charist service in the Pittsburgh area.

The service will feature church volunteers who work with a faith community it supports in Homestead, from a group going to New York this summer and from a group planning to work at a Methodist hospital in Zimbabwe. All proceeds from an offering will go to support the Homestead program, 8th Avenue Faith, and the Nyadire Mission in Zimbabwe, Shaver said.

"We're trying to reach out to seekers in the community to help people see we can do church in some different ways," Shaver said.

The program was created by an Episcopal theologian in 2004 for a service in Baltimore. Services have spread across the United States and to countries including Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Christ United Methodist Church's services will be at 6 p.m. Shaver expects more than 200 people to attend.