Church Life at Hillsong London

It was during the year 2005 that I finally started attending Hillsong London church. Hillsong is a large, contemporary church that meets him a large theatre in central London. This church was like a breath of fresh air to me: the worship was professional and invigorating, the A.V. presentations were slick and professional, preaching was non-condemnatory, but above all people were friendly, positive minded, sociable and fun to hang out with. I had always thought that a lot of Christians were rather quirky and insecure, but this crowd seemed to really have it all together. Sure, these people had their issues just like anyone else, but there was a strength of character about them that I had only witness amongst those in full-time ministry or those who didn’t believe in Jesus.

It was in 2006 that Joseph Prince came to visit and taught on grace for a week. Joseph managed to pack a lot of teaching about grace into that week which sort of summed it all up in a way that people could understand. Ever since that time, the preaching and the overall ethos of Hillsong London changed for the better. Joseph Prince still comes to preach at Hillsong London occasionally. He has spoken at the Hillsong Europe conference for the past few years. He has also spoken on the Sunday service after the conference, for the past few years as well. You can read all about this in the wiki page on New Creation Church. I feel rather privalaged to have seen and heard Joseph Prince preach in person, as he does not seem to travel to other churches all that much.

At first, I still had a “carry-over” of Institution Church baggage in the form of duties that I thought I had to perform, misdirected aspirations and motives and such like – this rather hampered my first few years or so at this church. It was only when I began listening to The God Journey and The Free Believers Network: "Into the Wild" podcasts, that I began to find freedom from the rigours of religious performance enforced upon me from my previous years in the Institutional Church. I’ll discuss more about these podcasts later on.

I still go to this church today, but not every week. It is very much different now; London, as anyone will know, is something of a “hub” in Europe. Hillsong is a great place to meet fun and lively Christians from all over the world, especially Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Plus, hanging out in London is such a cool experience – so much to see and do. So for me, I no longer attend church because I feel I have to – I go to church because I want to.

Having cooled-off from the insecurity-motivated Christian oddities and attitudes – I feel under no obligation to turn up each week, serve on team, go to conferences or even to pay my tithe. I go to this church now to hang out with Christian friends. I used to spend time with Christians at church because they were part of the group that I had been allocated to. But now, I have followed my heart in forming natural, spontaneous relationships – you could call them “organic relationships”.

There is an emphasis on organic relationships now when it comes to how we do church. I think Frank Viola’s book, Reimagining Church, has helped people understand the difference between contrived and organic relationships amongst believers when it comes to “church”. I love what Hillsong does in that it creates a wonderful environment where believers can meet and hang out together without the usual dull, boring religious trappings of the church. But when I listen to The God Journey and The Free Believers Network podcasts, it makes me wonder if indeed natural relationships can occur in the intuitional church. It is true that it is possible to form typical false friendships at Hillsong, just as in any other church. But I see the many people who really do form good, genuine friendships as well. It does not really come down to the environment or venue when it comes to Christian friendships – I think it really does come down to the individuals, their personalities and the expectations placed upon them by themselves and other people.

There really are no rules as to how you should live your Christian life anymore, some attend a church building, and others don’t. But I am so glad that I am free from the compulsions to go to church and perform from the pressure of fear. I am beginning to embrace my own vision of church now, rather than having a corporate vision foisted upon me by a ministerial team.

I tend to prefer the preaching of Gary Clark, the Senior Pastor. I value Gary’s experience as a pastor and his seasoned and realistic perspective on life. Gary has a dry sense of humour to boot, which I would compare his humour and demeanour in some ways to Jack Dee.  Hillsong attracts many visiting speakers from around the world. I suppose I should feel privileged about that, but I often find the visiting speakers to use what I call challenges (and here), platitudes and pep-talks.

I still find that Hillsong, although grace-oriented, still succumbs too many of the typical trappings of the Institutional Church: they encourage tithing and they often put the onus on the believer in a way that could be construed as religious performance. I think whenever you have a formal, organised church gathering, there are always going to be such things. Some would argue that we no longer need organised church; others would say we cannot be Christians without it. You just have to go with what is right for you at the time.