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Miriam Webster online defines liturgy as: "a fixed set of ceremonies, words, etc., that are used during public worship in a religion."
To be anti liturgical would be to make as little use of fixed ceremonies as practicable. All groups have some amount of ceremony, but such things as rote recitation of "The Lord's Prayer" or specific things that are required to be said in the Eucharist for example would be denied. The most extreme example of anti-liturgical would be "Silent" or waiting worship in which a group meets, perhaps in a form of meditation and waits for the Spirit to move one or more members to share with the group.
What about normal Lutherans, are they anti-liturgical?
Lutherans are very liturgical, probably second only Anglicans/Episcopalians among Protestants. Of course, not every congregation follows the prescribed liturgy closely, but it is a liturgical denomination.
What is meant by anti-liturgical ? It is something that Evangelicals are supposed to be. Thanks
Contemporary non-liturgical churches are often Evangelical and non-denominational. Most mainline denominations (Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist, Congregational) have some sort of liturgy—although individual congregations may follow it more closely than others. This usually involves (at a minimum) an established order for a service and can include prescribed prayers, certain scripture readings on certain days, recitation of the Creed, and observance of the “liturgical calendar” (including seasons like Advent, Lent, etc.). Being “anti-liturgical” implies an objection to, and rejection of, any or all of these things.
Being non-denominational removes the formal requirement to follow a particular liturgy. Services often become the so-called “hymn sandwich” praise service (i.e., music, sermon, a prayer and more music). Nowadays some of the more Evangelical congregations of established denominations (that technically have an established liturgy) embrace a looser, non-liturgical worship format. I don’t know if they have to get some formal dispensation for their denominational leadership to abandon the prescribed order of service.
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