Documentary Review – "Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed"
It is nearly impossible to be even a nominal Christian without ever having encountered the music of Hillsong. Hillsong Church has dramatically increased in popularity over the years. A new three-part docuseries on Discovery+ by Dan Johnstone explores the Hillsong megachurch and its associated brand, from its lowly 1983 beginnings to its current scandal-laden status in 2022. Unfortunately, despite the intriguing trailer whetting the appetite of viewers, for most of the series, the audience is left waiting for new information about the church to be unveiled.
The first episode starts with the documentation of the roots of the Hillsong Church, which was originally established as Hills Christian Life Center in the New South Wales area of Australia by Brian and Bobbie Houston in 1983. The church was formerly part of Australian Christian Churches until 2018. Brian Houston is the son of preacher Frank Houston, who is featured significantly in the third episode. After introducing the church, the episode takes a, frankly, soporific look at how Hillsong has modernized church, transforming the traditional service into an experience that resembles a dark, trendy nightclub. The first episode also includes discussion about the lavish lifestyles of some ministers (more on this later).
In discussing the operations of Hillsong Church, there is focus on the music style, which eschews the traditional organ-accompanied hymns that can be heard on Sundays at any run-of-the-mill church. During this point in the episode, there are comments about Hillsong’s music being very reminiscent of Coldplay’s songs in order to be attractive to young people, with chord progressions that are explicitly designed to elicit emotional responses. The interviewees reluctantly admit that the success of Hillsong’s music lies in the fact that it is truly excellent. Although the docuseries is clearly designed to be negative, it would be daft to dismiss the fact that some of the most mellifluous songs of the last half-century have emanated from Hillsong, such as the Grammy Award-winning sonic masterpiece “What a Beautiful Name.”
The purportedly charismatic and charming Carl Lentz is also introduced in the first episode, who eventually becomes the pastor of Hillsong NYC. His thirst for fame and affiliation with Hollywood stars, most notably Justin Bieber, made him a celebrity and pop culture figure in his own right. As his fame grew, he began to demonstrate narcissistic tendencies. There is then discussion of the culture of celebrity worship within Hillsong, where a tiered system was introduced to give celebrity congregants a VIP section, as they are accustomed to at nightclubs and various other venues. While it is a little strange to have a VIP section in a church that is explicitly labeled as such for Hollywood celebrities, the episode made it seem as though the concept of reserved seating is a totally alien concept to the Christian church, which even those who only attend church services for special occasions can confirm is incorrect. Albeit not crudely referred to as a VIP section, in most churches, the first and second (and sometimes even the third) rows of the pews are typically reserved for ministers and other special guests. The notion that, outside of Hillsong, a guest can waltz up to the front of the church and sit next to the pastor is absurd. People sit where ushers seat them, and ushers do not seat people randomly.
The second episode of the docuseries focuses on the hypocrisy of Carl Lentz, particularly as it relates to the concept of purity. Tracing back his ministerial origin to Wave Church in Virginia Beach, VA, where he was the pastor of the young adults’ ministry, the episode explores how central sexual purity was to the messages that he preached. However, while pastoring Hillsong NYC, despite being married, Lentz began a sexual relationship with a woman he randomly met at a park. The scandal that ensued resulted in his termination from Hillsong. Other sexual misconduct cases, such as Jason Mays’ assault of Anna Crenshaw, were explored.
The final episode of the docuseries addresses the supposedly exploitative nature of Hillsong College. Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) were required to be signed by students before attending the college. Testimonies of students detailed how a gross amount of free labor was extracted from them during their time as students, and other shady business practices of Hillsong were highlighted. The most scandalous part of the documentary came with the discussion of Frank Houston’s decades-long engagement in pedophilia with boys throughout his time as a minister, crimes which Brian Houston was alleged to have known about and carefully covered up. As of March 2022, Brian Houston has stepped down from his position as the senior pastor of Hillsong Church and is facing criminal charges for the concealment of his father’s abuse of children, in addition to allegations of immoral conduct with women.
There are several points that can be made about the docuseries, Hillsong, and Christendom more broadly. First, it is important to note that while there are legitimate criticisms that can be made about preachers living lavish lifestyles off the money donated by, often poor, congregants, the series sometimes overstates the case. For instance, there is discussion of an Instagram account, preachersnsneakers, that highlights the high-end sneakers (and other luxury clothing items) that preachers wear while preaching the gospel. Some of these “expensive” items highlighted are under $1,000. While this may be a convincing line of attack for those who expect their preachers to exclusively shop at the Salvation Army and wear tattered second-hand rags as evidence of their holiness, others who are reasonable will find this absurd. Protestant ministers are not required to take a vow of poverty in order to be clergy. Admittedly, there is a serious problem in Protestantism where prosperity has been fraudulently centered as the most important part of the gospel, and there definitely should be pushback against this bastardization of the message of Christ. That notwithstanding, an overcorrection can occur where people start policing the expenditures of clergy down to level of hundreds of dollars, which is inane. Preachers who demand that congregants contribute money so they can buy a fourth plane ought to be criticized, but the idea that a preacher should never own anything by Christian Dior or the house of Gucci makes little sense.
Second, while pointing out the shady business practices of Hillsong Church is acceptable, the docuseries seemed to promote a bizarre message that it is somehow unchristian for a church leader to have ambitions of success and global expansion. If Jesus were on earth in the 21st century, there is no doubt that he would want to expand his ministry to as much of the globe as possible (Matthew 28:18-20). The idea that this 21st century expansion would not require money is contrary to reason. There is nothing wrong with churches having money and being successful. There is, however, a problem when the church is treated exclusively as a for-profit organization while doing very little charitable work.
Third, it is deeply troubling when Christian leaders are found engaging in a dizzying variety of sexual transgressions. People in positions of religious authority tend to have immeasurable sway over the people who look up to them. As a result, it is lamentably easy for religious leaders to abuse their power. However, the existence of immoral Christian leaders should not be a reason for one’s faith to be shaken, unless one’s faith is built on the quicksand of man’s righteousness. There is no grounded believer in Christ whose faith in the veracity of Christianity is dependent on the perfection of Christian ministers. Those who are grounded in faith, as opposed to mere churchgoers who are childishly captivated by the charisma of ministers, understand that it is best to look at Jesus Christ who is “the author and finisher” of one’s faith (Hebrews 12:2).
Finally, given all of the atrocities committed by people affiliated with Hillsong and the questionable theology of the church, it is no surprise that there are some people who have made the argument that it is time for Christian churches to boycott Hillsong’s music. While the docuseries should make any wise person avoid membership in Hillsong Church, and certainly think twice about looking to its pastors for sound Christian doctrine, the idea that the music created by Hillsong should never be played in churches is nothing short of immature zealotry masquerading as principled and uncompromising faith. As argued in a previous essay, Art, Punishment, and Perfect People, it is silly to maintain that only the art of perfect people should be accepted and cherished. People who commit heinous crimes ought to be punished, but having their work erased from society is not a punishment for the individual guilty of an offense. It merely impoverishes culture while those doing the erasing get thrills from engaging in a cheap performance of morality. The same analysis applies to Hillsong music. Hillsong has produced music that will last for generations. Condemning objectively evil acts can be accomplished without the self-righteous pretense that society is bettered by the erasure of everything tangentially connected to people who have done evil things. If this standard were universally applied, it would result in the erasure of the lion’s share of the New Testament, given that the author, Paul the Apostle, was once an evil man named Saul of Tarsus.
Overall, for those who are completely unfamiliar with Hillsong, the docuseries will be an interesting look at a scandal-laden megachurch. However, for those who are familiar with the church, there will be very little new information gleaned from watching. When the right arguments are made, they are sometimes overstated. Also, some of the testimonies, such as those of the overworked students, come across like the kvetching of disgruntled people, as opposed to the words of those who suffered significant abuses. The strongest parts of the docuseries focus on the sexual misconduct cases that are a systematic problem across the Hillsong churches. If one goes into watching this with low expectations, it should not be a disappointment. If one is already familiar with Hillsong and looking for a deep dive into the megachurch, the series will not meet expectations.