Hillsong Church City Campus

When did going to church become one big Coldplay concert?
My dear old mum wanted to give Hillsong a shot to see what all the fuss was about, so I went with her to their Waterloo campus, and man, has Christianity found it’s feet in the 21^st century. It’s unrecognisable from the Catholic Church I knew as a kid.
For starters, it’s in a big industrial warehouse, not a sombre, architecturally splendid old gothic church.
It was rammed, completely overflowing with people, and they were all between 20 – 30, unlike the two old pensioners and a cat in a handbag you get at some suburban traditional services.
People were losing their minds with enjoyment, hands in the air, closed eyes, fist bumps, hugs, grins, spontaneous cries of jubilation. As opposed to the shh-don’t-talk sobriety of an old pastor mumbling his way through some scripture while the congregation nods off.
There’s a café on site, they do hot dogs, there’s free bibles, there’s a band on stage, there’s lights, action, singing — so.much.singing — and every part of the complex there’s meeters and greeters and huggers and holders and everyone’s in expensive trainers and scoop neck t-​shirts and beanies, yes beanies! In a church! I know, right?!

Ok… a church founded by a pedophile and run as a dictatorship by his insanely rich son. What can go wrong?
The lights are bright, the music loud, and everybody has the kind of smile normally found only on the chemically enhanced. Everyone’s happy, and determined to convince you they’re going to stay that way. Even when they’ve gone home and nobody’s watching.
There’s no denying Hillsong do their thing very well, and if you want pop-​religion served in a sea of Donald Trump aesthetics, with a side of subtle fresh-​faced sexuality, then this is unquestionably the place to go. But during the meet-​and-​greet it became obvious that the line between supa-​glue happiness and a tragic puddle of tears isn’t as fixed as the hyperactive preacher claimed it is. In fact coffee-​time afterwards started showing the forced unreality of the whole place as positively depressing. Sooner or later most of the bright young faces are going to land, and touchdown won’t be pretty.
Hopefully when that happens Jesus really will help them find self-​acceptance and lives of meaning. Because it was obvious the slick salesman in an Italian suit who primed the congregation for the offertory won’t.

Having been going to Hillsong for years, this campus is no exception in that the music hits you like an awesome cloud of love. You really do feel engulfed in it and almost feel like you are really connecting with the Creator of the Universe. The volunteers are lovely when you meet them and the whole atmosphere works on this high from beginning to end. It’s when you leave the building and life throws you a curve ball that you realise this church is more about No Other Name than Hillsong. Pastors protect each other and their committed workers. Your needs need to be met by you or the limited education the leaders of this church have or you will be ignored until you feel you have to leave. Apart from some lovely older folk who may support you through life’s difficulties, you cannot be a part of this church unless you are committed to the Hillsong cause of more buildings, more, more, more. The consistently, transient population running through the church keeps it going. By all means, experience the amazing praise and worship but realise that Hillsong people are people and do make mistakes. Don’t have troubles in life and you will love this church for life.

Like worshipping with rock-​stadium lighting and mega bass? Great! You’ll love worshipping at Hillsong Church. It’s got the intensity of a U2 concert and with songs that are instantly singable this is the place to raise your voice and your hands and go for some heaven-​touching worship.
The ushers are super friendly and welcoming even if like me you enter from the garage at the side on Danks Street.
Looking around the packed auditorium I noticed people from just about every nation on earth here. It’s definitely not a place anyone would feel out of place with a multi-​cultural, largely young and vibrant crowd attending.
You would be hard pressed to hear a dud, boring message at Hillsong with lots of international visiting speakers giving the locals a constantly new and fresh feast of solid spiritual teaching. Every sermon created to uplift, inspire, motivate and be totally relevant to modern day-​to-​day life in the city. And each message is always big on humour and take-​home-​points — a nice touch.
And this church runs to clock-​like precision — where time is valued and honoured. Not a moment is wasted or empty. Each service is 1.5 hours and it starts bang on time. And ends the same way.
This church is bursting at the seems and so the garage is converted to a café and meet and greet area complete with a BBQ grill serving bacon and egg rolls for a couple of dollars. Another nice touch.
No car? No worries. The thing that most impressed me from my very first visit was the Hillsong buses from Central station. I joined the very long line at Central Station and jumped on one of these busses — and I recall that day it was raining so on arrival there were greeters with umbrellas offering commuters shelter from the storm. Yet another nice touch.
With lots of weekend services to choose from on Saturday night, Sunday morning and Sunday night you won’t have an excuse to miss out on a great time at Hillsong church.