Speaking in a kindly Southern drawl, University of Indianapolis medical student Todd George, 25, explained why most traditional churches turn him off.

"You're supposed to know the answer to every question about God," he said. "And if you don't, you're somehow inferior."

When he left his hometown of Spartanburg, S.C., to attend Brevard College in North Carolina, George discovered what he called a "community church." "It was so much more laid back," he said. "A lot of the religious jargon that you would normally hear -- 'Salvation comes to those who repent' -- wasn't used. What they said didn't have to be decoded."

When George moved to Indianapolis last summer, he bought a house in the Eastside neighborhood of Irvington. Within a couple of months, he found a flier for a new church on his doorstep. Its name, Mosaic, caught his eye, and George decided to go to the church's inaugural meeting in the Irvington Lodge.

"It was in this old Masonic temple," he remembered. "I had to get on this old, rickety elevator to get up to the service. I thought, 'This is going to be interesting.'"

What George encountered stood in stark contrast to the antiquated building that housed it. The pastor wore jeans and a T-shirt. He spoke in a casual, conversational tone. People ate during the service. Best of all, questions weren't frowned upon, but welcomed.

"It really spoke to me and my situation as a student," George said.

George has been attending Mosaic ever since, often hanging out with fellow members throughout the week.

"Sometimes we'll have conversations where the more conservative people, you can see in their faces when they are getting stretched," he said. "But that's the cool thing about Mosaic and the whole movement -- it gives people the permission to agree to disagree."

The "movement" George refers to is what many Christian leaders are calling the emerging church movement -- a response to the rigid traditions and rote rule-following of many mainstream Protestant and Catholic churches.

"Emerging" churches tend to be relaxed, relationship-based and flexible. They engage rather than preach, prize friendship over hierarchy and have worship styles that are organic and interactive rather than routine and institutional.

Indy.com recently spoke to four young leaders from local churches that share emerging qualities. We also spoke to the founder of the Indianapolis cohort for Emergent Village, an international network of people interested in the emergent movement.

Kasey Newbold

Mosaic Church, 5515 E. Washington St., (317) 509-5653, www.indymosaic.org.

When the Mosaic Church opened its doors in September 2007, teaching pastor Kasey Newbold, 29, kicked things off with a six-week lesson called "My Sacred Disbelief."

"We wanted to let people know it's OK to doubt," Newbold said. "That was something from my upbringing. I always felt like I was being told, 'You have to believe this.' We wanted people to know that doubt isn't always a bad thing, and that, in essence, doubting is searching for truth."

Why do you call yourself a teaching pastor rather than a preacher?

The word "preacher" has some connotations we didn't want to buy into. In a lot of my experiences, preaching means three points and a poem -- and if those three points can rhyme or all start with the same letter, even better. That's not my teaching style. Very rarely will I tackle a passage and say, "This is how to understand this." I will usually teach two or three ways a part of Scripture has been interpreted. I might share the one I lean toward, but I think it would be arrogant to tell people that it is this way.

Would more traditional preachers be uncomfortable with that?

When I suggest a couple of different interpretations for scripture, I'm not saying that anyone can make it say whatever they want. I am saying that this is how the original heirs would have understood it, and this is how we in America understand it. The latter way may be good and true, but it's not how it was originally understood.

What are the benefits, if any, of not meeting in a church building?

We can focus on getting people to be outwardly focused. We want to engage our community. Instead of expecting them to come here, we want to go to them, so we don't do a lot here. Reaching out to people who have never made a commitment to Christ is going to happen in the context of a relationship, and not with somebody showing up and being wowed by what I say.

Daron Earlewine and Ryan Brinson

The Crux, 9030 E. 96th St.,(317) 576-1467, www.cruxministries.org.

When Daron Earlewine, 30, and Ryan Brinson, 29, walk into a room, the last thing you expect the duo to do is start talking about God. Expectations, however, are what the pair is least interested in meeting.

Earlewine is the lead pastor and Brinson is creative director at Crux Ministries, where they perform in Paradigm, a modern rock band that plays at every Sunday service. Earlewine knows their edgy approach to the Gospel might turn some traditional Christians off. "I know there have been people who think we are a little out there, or that we must preach a watered-down version of the Gospel," he said. "But when people get here," Brinson chimed in, "they are surprised."

What is the Crux's core message?

Earlewine: It's not that we come to church. We are the church. Church is people; it's not a thing we come to. We want to make people grapple with the question of whether or not they have a relationship with Jesus that changes the way they live, love, forgive and serve -- or do they just show up and hear me or Ryan talk for an hour? If that's what you do, you're not really a Christian. You are just a spectator at a weekly event.

What is your attitude toward those with lifestyle choices at odds with the Bible?

Earlewine: I don't spend a lot of time preaching against stuff. The church has made that mistake for far too long. All you hear about is what they are standing against. Anti-this, anti-that -- what are you for? We are for love, we are for faith -- but we are also for the word of God and we teach directly from that. But does that mean we are going to preach at or condemn people? No.

Brinson: With church, the idea used to be that you had to conform first. Our stance is, "Come on in." Somewhere along the way I hope God would inspire you to live the life he is calling you to live. With me, I think it is presumptuous to say what that might be for you. I am going to tell you what the Bible says and how I interpret it, but I understand I am interpreting. It bothers me when people say it's not subject to interpretation. It's the written word. It's language. It's subject to interpretation.

Aaron Story

Indy Metro Church, 425 Massachusetts Ave., (317) 632-0956, www.indymetro.org

Tucked away among the boutiques and bars on Massachusetts Avenue, the office for the new Indy Metro Church -- which also houses an art gallery -- fits right in on one of the trendiest strips in the city. Started by Dan Pride, a Florida transplant and founder of Heart of the City Ministries -- a Christian fellowship devoted to planting churches in urban areas -- Indy Metro Church meets every Sunday in the American Cabaret Theatre.

Executive Pastor Aaron Story, 32, often can be found working in the Mass Ave. art gallery, which he says the church hopes grows into a meeting place for people looking for art, conversation and community.

"It's a place where people can come and not be judged," Story said. "We won't be getting out a bullhorn trying to convert people. Conversion happens through relationships."

Why start a new church Downtown?

There is a general spiritual longing in the urban cores. Twenty or 30 years ago, people left for the suburbs. Now folks are moving back into the city, and there needs to be churches established for people to come and explore, and do so in a relevant way. That's our heart: How can we communicate in a relevant way; a way that it is not antiquated?

You put a lot of emphasis on relevance. Why?

Say you grew up in a smaller town where there was a church on every corner, like I did. I couldn't relate to those churches. I had this perception that, if that's what it takes to be a Christian or a Christ-follower, I couldn't be one. I didn't fit that mold. And as I've grown, I've met a lot of people and realize I'm not alone in that.

What is Indy Metro providing that the traditional church doesn't?

People long for relationships. When you can't find deep authentic relationships in the old institutional church, that's a problem. Our generation rejected that. And yet, this is the most spiritual generation of all of history. Look at TV, books, music -- when you pick up a Dave Matthews CD, he's not an evangelical, but a good chunk of his songs are openly spiritual. You leave his concert thinking, "I just had a spiritual experience." There is a need, a longing to find a spiritual connection. As a kid, I thought there was only one way to worship; that I had to find God in this box. Now I realize there is something so much bigger I can be a part of.

Shane Fuller

The Dwelling Place, 7440 Michigan Road, www.dwellingplaceindy.com (317) 280-0156.

When Shane Fuller, 33, helped launch the Dwelling Place two years ago, he wanted to create an answer to the drive-thru phenomenon he saw in so many other churches.

"We're trying to escape the habit of people driving in and then just slipping out afterward," Fuller said.

A nondenominational worship space, the Dwelling Place doesn't discriminate when it comes to religious rituals and teaching tools. Attendees are just as likely to find themselves watching a segment from a horror film as they are to be taking communion. The goal, Fuller said, isn't to meet the criteria for what a church "should" be, but to meet people's spiritual needs.

"What we do during our gatherings is designed to help people be more fully formed spiritually," he said.

Why do you use movies to complement Scripture?

Movies are stories, and that's what the Bible is about. For example, we were doing a series on different psalms, so I showed a clip from "Signs" because it deals with this guy wrestling with his faith. He goes through all these different phases, at one point saying, "God, I hate you," but in the end his faith is restored, and it said exactly what the psalm was about.

How do folks react?

I think some newer people come and think, "OK, this is kind of weird." But a lot of churches have this dualism, where at church people pray and read the Bible, but it doesn't have anything to do with their lives outside the church. My goal is to be holistic rather than dualistic. And for some churchgoers, their church world and nonchurch world is so divided that when you do combine them, they get confused.

What are the demographics on any given Sunday at the Dwelling Place?

We're all over the map. Probably the most of what we have are younger couples. I also lead a small group where young couples get together, eat food, hang out, play cards. This group is even talking about moving into the same neighborhood and embracing that neighborhood. Not that we will go door to door to sell Jesus to anyone -- we just think we're better together.

You don't follow the old notion of evangelism.

It's such an abnormal thing to go to someone's door and have this presentation -- you get to the point where you are selling Jesus. I know old-school churches say, "Are you scared to talk about Jesus?" I don't think I am at all. But I don't think the way is to go door to door. You have to know someone, be in someone's life and almost work for the opportunity to speak to them about Jesus.

Sarah Notton

Emergent Village Indianapolis Cohort Founder, www.emergentvillage.com.

Sarah Notton isn't much for church. When she does go, she often attends Lockerbie Central Methodist Church Downtown. It was there that Notton met several homeless individuals who had been sleeping at the Wheeler Mission. It wasn't long before three of those individuals were living in Notton's home, with her and her husband.

Notton admits it's unusual. But she explains it like this: "I want to follow Jesus," she said. "And if you are going to follow Jesus, why do it half-ass?"

After deciding that most traditional churches are "a waste of time," Notton discovered www.theooze.com, a Web site designed to "encourage the Church to engage our emerging culture by developing relationships and resources." There, Notton learned of Emergent Village, an online network of regional groups engaged in the emergent conversation. Notton started an Emergent Village Cohort in Indianapolis, which gets together for dinner, coffee or beers every couple of weeks to discuss -- what else? -- Jesus.

Did your feelings on church come in an epiphany?

It was a slow process. I was reading books and asking questions that you really couldn't ask in church, like "If God is nice, does he really send people to hell?" From my tradition, that's not a question you can ask. But I think questions have to be a huge part of your faith, and if you don't have a space where you can bring these things out into the open, you're just an automaton studying for a heavenly SAT, and I don't think that's what it is all about.

What has been your experience with the Emergent Cohort?

I have come into contact with a lot of people around Indy who are in the same place: disillusioned with church, don't know where to go, want to have a place to ask questions where they won't be judged. A lot of them have given up on church and want a place where they can deconstruct, with the hope of eventually moving on and not being like "I hate church and everything about it."

What would be your ideal church?

For me, it would probably be me having people over to my house on a Thursday evening for a big pot of soup, some crusty bread and some wine, and we would ask each other questions like, "How is your week going? What do you need help with? What are you struggling with, what decisions are you facing?" To me, it's not about traditions or rituals or a sacred Sunday morning thing. That's what the cohort is about: a place where people can ask those questions.

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Melodies of emergence

Indiana Wesleyan researcher and professional church consultant Bob Whitesel spent five years visiting young congregations all over the United States and England. His research culminated in the book "Inside the Organic Church" (Whitesel prefers the term "organic" to "emerging"), which details traits shared by churches that successfully connect with young people. Whitesel calls these traits "melodies." Here, Whitesel explains the characteristics of each melody.

Melody 1: Engagement. "This is with regards to both social engagement and spiritual engagement. These churches really want to reach out to people's physical needs before talking about their spiritual needs. This is exactly what Jesus did in the New Testament. He would heal people first, because their need for salvation was secondary to being healed. The boomer church has moved away from meeting these needs."

Melody 2: Authenticity "Organic churches believe in being authentic both in worship and in spiritual encounter. Boomer churches tend to be artificial. When I was growing up we had the Beatles, the Stones and the Who. Then, we had the Monkees. They were prefabricated, artificial. And that's how much of the worship feels in these boomer churches to young people. They feel it's overproduced, overstaged and overmanipulated. They want something more authentic, more from the heart and more led by the Holy Spirit."

Melody 3: Orthodoxy "These young churches have good theology. I expected I would find a lot of them to have weird theology that was anti-Christian and even heretical, but by and large they follow their own denominational theology."

Melody 4: Missional church growth "A missionary learns a culture's language, and sets up a service to serve a culture. A missionary doesn't come in with a haughty or proud attitude; they come in with a passion to change and reach out to the community. A missionary knows it's a long-term process before you can talk to someone about their spiritual life. A missionary takes the Bible and translates it into the language of the culture. And the youth culture of today likes narrative and wants to debate and ask questions. Older churches will die if they don't adapt to these changes."