New BBC Documentary On Hillsong Church Paints A Grim Picture

[Michie]

(REVIEW) A new documentary by the BBC on Hillsong Church reveals new insight into the global evangelical church network’s celebrity culture, sex scandals, and questionable financial dealings.

The 94-minute film, titled “Hillsong Church: God Goes Viral,” features footage captured during two years London-based producer Nick Aldridge spent with Hillsong leaders. It first aired July 21 as part of BBC Four’s Storyville documentary series and includes clips from about a dozen of Hillsong’s 37 churches worldwide, notably in the U.S., U.K., and Australia.

The film opens with a bang, as Hillsong’s dance production at a 2016 conference features routines akin to Cirque du Soleil and fireworks on stage. This presentation of Hillsong as more glitz than substance continues throughout the film.

In one eye-opening sequence, Hillsong London youth minister Daniel Blythe takes his core team of college-age leaders to a tattoo parlor. They all get matching “70×7” indelible marks, calling it a tribute to the gospel message of forgiveness. Upon the tattoo artist completing her work, one of the guys jokingly remarks: “It is finished!”

Recruited away this past spring by another U.K. megachurch, Blythe provides particularly candid remarks in the film.

“I’m in the full Hillsong starter pack,” he says in an interview alongside his wife Charlie. “I’ve got the fedora. I’ve got the leather. I’ve got the boots and the skinny (jeans).” Charlie pipes up: “And a beautiful wife on his arm!”

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New BBC Documentary on Hillsong Church Paints A Grim Picture

 

[BrAndreyu]

Hillsong is nothing new. It's just the latest in "Churches" being established as a means to make money while actually doing very little work. It's a big scheme in my town as churches open and close, rebrand and reorganize in strip mall fronts and unused former realtor office buildings around town. They have a "pastor" whose primary purpose is greeting people and pressuring them to write checks or handover cash. They do no actual preaching, that's pumped in from a "central campus" somewhere in California, Texas, or Illinois.

 

[mnorian]

Hillsong has went downhill since Darlene Zschech left in 2010:

"After serving at Hillsong Church for 25 years alongside Pastors Brian and Bobbie Houston, renowned worship leader Darlene Zschech will be leaving the megachurch to assume a senior pastor role at a nearby Pentecostal church.

She will be leading Church Unlimited, near Syndey, with her husband, Mark, beginning in January 2011.

"We are incredibly honored and VERY excited to be heading into this great opportunity to serve the people of the Central Coast and everyone at Church Unlimited. We are entering into what we believe will be a wonderful and fruitful season ahead," Mark Zschech said in a statement earlier this week."

Hillsong's Darlene Zschech Leaves After 25 Years of Service