As TheSecretsofHillsong airs its final episodes, VF's Alex French and Dan Adler provide an update the current state of affairs at Hillsong and expand on some of the series’ key themes.
What’s the current state of Hillsong in terms of membership in the US and abroad? Does it still have any famous followers?Hillsong New York is down to about 500 attendees a week following years of spectacular services that were known to resemble rock concerts. Celebrities have distanced themselves either through public statements or moving on to other churches.Haileyunfollowed Lentz on Instagram. “AND BTW HILLSONG IS NOT MY CHURCH,” Justin wrote on the platform.
How crucial was celebrity—both in the form of notable congregants and pastors who achieve a level of notoriety themselves—to Hillsong’s success? Was it always part of the church’s playbook?There are a ton of megachurches. Hillsong’s success relied on its distinctiveness, its ability to capture media attention, and the sense that it occupied the peak of its ecosystem. All of that was powered by the church’s affiliations with wealth and fame.
The series focuses in part on the idea of spiritual abuse. Can you explain what that means and how it informed your reporting. Do former Hillsong congregants feel as though the term applies to their experience in the church?My sense of spiritual abuse is that a church’s function is to provide its members with comfort, guidance, community, a sense of being closer to God.
You spoke to dozens of Hillsong congregants in reporting on the story over the years. How did they describe the church’s initial appeal? And do those who left have any common complaints?The prevailing sense was that if the church achieved the mission it proposed, it would provide just about anything you could ask for: community, personality, fulfillment, romance, status, friendship. It was a powerful proposition.
Former congregants have expressed regret, anger, and sometimes embarrassment. They feel like they were swindled. There’s a great deal of interest in the comings and goings of the top Hillsong New York pastors—the people who were on top of this and slipped away as it fell apart.
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