hillsong i

As I was getting ready to go to church this morning, a flood of anxious thoughts went through my brain … “What will it be like? Who will I meet? Will I be intimidated or welcomed?” For someone who’s been attending church regularly for many years, it’s amazing how apprehensive and unsure I felt. Imagine what you’d be feeling if you’d never ever been to any church before!

Hillsong is about ten minutes’ drive away. That’s reasonably close, and it’s pretty well known, so I thought this could be my first port of call. Also, I confess I have badmouthed the church quite a bit in the past. So, in fairness to them, I figure I should actually go to some of their services so I know what I’m talking about … Who knows? I might even change my mind …

At this early stage, I’m going to try and just give a description of my first impressions and what happened, rather than get too judgemental; it’s a little soon for that!

I took a wrong turn on my way, so I arrived about five minutes late (it started at 10:45am). The first thing that struck me was the number of parking attendants wearing glowing orange vests, telling people where to drive in the massive, sprawling car park. After I parked, and not knowing exactly where the service was being held, I followed the crowd of people heading for the biggest building on the complex. There was just about as much diversity as you could get … all ages from little babies in their parents’ arms to elderly folk shuffling along with their walking frames. As soon as you walk into the foyer, the first thing you see is the “resource centre” (read “shop”) … an entire wall covered with books, CDs, and DVDs for sale. They have heaps of “hosts” (volunteers in black shirts) directing you this way and that, so you end up going through the right door, and hopefully getting a seat.

The services were referred to variously as “church”, “meetings”, and “services”. The main auditorium is enormous. I’m not very good at estimating numbers, but I’m sure there would have been at least in the order of 1000–2000 people there, and constantly coming and going. I’d been hoping to see some Auslan interpreting — apparently they have a deaf ministry goin’ on — but there was no signing to be seen. There were strings of fairy lights hanging from the ceiling (left over from Christmas?) and data projection screens had been lowered around the room at strategic points, so everyone could see what was happening on the platform. Three huge screens wrapped around the back of the stage, and there were amplifiers, speakers and coloured spotlights everywhere. They had eight leading singers, a choir of about twenty guys and girls, and other instrumentalists (guitars, drums, percussion, keyboard, and the like). There were camera operators running everywhere, and the guys at the sound desk kept everything running, fading, sliding, and transitioning very professionally.

As I said, I missed the very start of the service, so I’m not sure how they kicked things off, but I came in while they were in the middle of singing a hymn. They did a nice little arrangement of “Amazing Grace” with a couple of added verses. Apparently it’s a version from the recent film Amazing Grace. It meant that I could at least participate a little; I’d been worried I wouldn’t know any of the songs they were going to sing. One of the leaders spoke a little about grace … I was encouraged; a lot of what he was saying made sense to me. He followed this with a prayer for anyone who was sick, and prepared to collect the tithes and offerings. Using these verses:

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

— Proverbs 4:23

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

— Matthew 6:21

he told everyone that the easiest way to protect our hearts from being trapped by love of money is to honour God by giving our tithes and offerings.

We watched someone’s testimony on video. Then the hosts passed around the offering buckets. While all that was happening, they played a series of announcements on the big screens, and the musicians had a bit of a jazzy jam session.

We had communion, which was nice. Apparently they make a point of doing that on the first Sunday of every New Year. Again, the hosts were very helpful, handing everything out and collecting it all up again … like a well-oiled machine.

The preaching was done by a guest speaker named Danny Guglielmucci. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but he said he wanted to “speak from the heart” about people’s dreams and visions for the future … since we’re at the start of a new year, I guess. Then he said he was going to “speak prophetically”. He told a short story about a Hillsong church in Sicily who had a dream to break down barriers across generations of churchgoers.

His main Bible passage was this one:

Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (that is, the Son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.
“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.
The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”
“Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

— Mark 10:46–52

He made three points:

• Bartimaeus had to cry out to Jesus. Similarly, Guglielmucci hears a cry in the church for a fresh vision.


• Bartimaeus threw off his cloak. He said the people of the time could identify Bartimaeus by his clothing. Likewise, congregations should throw off “restrictions, ritual, and religious regalia”, so people don’t perceive a “blind church”.


• Bartimaeus then connected with Jesus.

He then turned to this passage:

Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to him, “Make a treaty with us, and we will be subject to you.”
But Nahash the Ammonite replied, “I will make a treaty with you only on the condition that I gouge out the right eye of every one of you and so bring disgrace on all Israel.”
The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days so we can send messengers throughout Israel; if no one comes to rescue us, we will surrender to you.”

— I Samuel 11:1–3

Confessing he was “no theologian,” he said this passage showed the Israelites were complacent, and too willing to give up their vision (literally and figuratively). “I prophesy multiplication in the impact this church has on the community!” he, um … prophesied.

Then, Guglielmucci said he would make four points about vision:

• Power. A vision starts with one person, and great things can come of it (Genesis 12). God doesn’t want you to rely on your own abilities. He showed this video of what people can achieve with a vision.


• Price. Having a vision comes with a price. He spoke about some criticisms he’s had, from within the church and without. He talked about sixteen churches who completely renovated the Adelaide Children’s Hospital in a weekend, and I found a news article about that here. Then he used this video as an example of someone paying the price for their vision.


• Pattern. Hmm … as I go through my notes, I realise that in the end he didn’t get to talk about this one.


• Prize. When people partner together, multiplication happens. He talked about fifteen British schools who had received £35 million to be handed over to Christian organisations. Apparently, some people are going to travel with our PM to see how it all works. I couldn’t find any news articles on-line about this one. If you come across anything, let me know, and I’ll post the link.

He concluded his message by praying for vision for 2008, for everyone in the auditorium.

The service ended with one of those prayers … not an “altar call”, but you know, one of those ones where everyone has to close their eyes, and the leader says, “yes, yes, thank you, yes, I see that hand, yes, up the back, thank you, yes” … one of those ones. Everyone who put their hand up got a free Bible. Then it was all over, and we went home.

It went for about 1½ hours all up. As a first time visitor, I could’ve taken up the invitation for free tea and coffee in the “meeting lounge”, but decided not to. So much for my fears about “will people try and harass me after the service?” … I didn’t talk to anybody! In fact, if you liked your anonymity, I reckon you could quite easily slip in and out on a regular basis for years without anyone even knowing whether you were new or part of the furniture.

Next week, I’ll try and get to the evening service as well … they say it’s more low-key and relaxed: “You can wear your jeans and t-shirts” … oops, I was already wearing a pair of jeans. At least I know how to find the place now, so I’ll be on time!

Again, let me ask for your input and comments on this posting — they’re much appreciated. I tried to make my summary of the message as complete but concise as possible; I think it’s important to include, hopefully giving you an idea of the kind of theology they’ve got going on.

Cheers,

Andy