Is It Time to Stop Singing Hillsong Music?

Why I will still sing "Shout to the Lord" and "This I Believe"

Katelyn Beaty is a fellow substacker, Brazos book editor, and a genuinely awesome lady, and she has proposed It’s time to stop singing Hillsong music.

Photo by John Price on Unsplash

At one level, I think Katelyn is correct, Hillsong is something of a trainwreck right now. There are clear failures of leadership and governance, Brian Houston’s failure to disclose his father’s sexual abuse of a child to the police, the corporatization of Hillsong, as well as buying into the whole prosperity gospel. To be honest, as much as I like songs such as “Shout to the Lord,” other songs in their collection sound like, “Jesus you’re terrific, for you I’d swim the Pacific, yeah baby, yeah baby, yeah, yeah, yeah.” Who would want to support anything to do with that?

Be that as it may, I’m not joining a boycott of Hillsong music for several reasons.

But before I set out my reasons, a few disclaimers.

I’ve never been to a Hillsong church service. I’ve never attended the Hillsong Conference. I’ve never purchased a Hillsong CD. I’ve never purchased a book by Brian or Bobby Houston.

At the most, I’ve sung some of their songs at church. I’ve had a few academic dealings with their college. I once examined a master’s thesis by one of their students. Also, I’ve met several people at various levels of leadership and ministry from their circle.

It’s not my monkey and not my circus. I’m an innocent bystander. I’m happy to listen to the critics, they deserve their soapbox, and Hillsong deserves to be held to account.

I’m sceptical about Hillsong but I’m also sceptical about some of their critics.

First, there is something of a massive pile-on against Hillsong at the moment with multiple documentaries claiming to give insider revelations and ex-members spilling their guts about what happened behind closed doors. But consider the sheer number “Rise and Fall of Hillsong ” productions. From America, there is the documentary The Secrets of Hillsong and the follow-up podcast Hillsong: A Megachurch Shattered (although I think both features should be renamed “Carl Lentz’s Revenge”). In Australia, the publicly funded broadcaster SBS has released The Kingdom, which charts the rise and fall of Hillsong. In addition, a leading Aussie newspaper, the Herald Sun, launched its investigative podcast about Hillsong called Faith on Trial.

What do we make of this massive anti-Hillsong entertainment package?

On the one hand, Hillsong is obviously giving its critics a lot to work with - spoiler alert, it’s pretty grim for Hillsong. There’s a lot of dirt to be found, lots of disgruntled people ready to speak, and a lot of sins to be named which have not yet been claimed (prosperity pun intended).

But on the other hand, if Hillsong is guilty of celebrity culture and monetizing its product, then the anti-Hillsong Industrial Complex is trying to do the same thing, monetize the fall of Hillsong.

Second, Hillsong has had a big target on their back for a long time, long before the current revelations. There is obviously some very real and very damning evidence against Hillsong which deserves to be heard. Yet Hillsong has received a lot of unfair criticisms over the years, including weird-ass conspiracies that they are secretly taking over the Australian government. No, I’m not joking, I’ve written on this. Recently, a member of the Australian Parliament used parliamentary privilege to present leaked financial details about Hillsong. Not only were several of his assertions about Hillsong false - he can’t read bank statements - he also exposed the financial details of dozens of people who have nothing to do with Hillsong apart from once doing business with them in some capacity (including friends of mine).

Third, what I’ve learned from several megachurches is that there is a big, big difference between the church’s board, its celebrity pastor(s), the middle management, and the laity. I’m not convinced the sins of one echelon can be imputed to the whole body or to the whole global network. I don’t want to harm the reputation and ministry of good people, like the gifted artists and musicians at Hillsong, because of a few bad leaders.

Fourth, I’ve seen Hillsong people do good things. Many people criticized Hillsong’s music for having more emotive energy than theological capital. My good friend John Dickson challenged Hillsong to set the Apostles’ Creed to music, which they did, and the result was pretty good. I’d love them to do the Second Helvetic Confession, but that’s more likely going to be a rock opera.

Look, I write neither to absolve Hillsong, nor to attack them beyond what has already been said.

Certain persons at Hillsong may have to go to jail - so be it. Some people at Hillsong might need to be shown the door - so be it. But others need a shoulder to cry on, others could use some encouragement, and maybe a transformed church in which they can continue to serve the Lord.

The lesson Hillsong needs to learn is that if you build an empire, then you will inevitably get men and women acting like emperors. I hope they learn from that!

Above all, what I think Hillsong needs is institutional reorganization, repentance and sanctification, and refocusing of their mission and ministry towards kingdom goals. They need to go back to the love they had at first (Rev 2:4). I hope the post-Houston era is better for the church and its ministries. I believe a good and vibrant Hillsong Church, when at their best, is a blessing for the Australian churches and good for global Pentecostalism.

If people want to stop singing “Shout to Lord,” fine, I understand and respect it. Me, I still think it’s a darn good song, and I’ll keep singing it to the glory of God.

Otherwise, I recommend Karen Tong’s ABC piece, After the Demise of Hillsong, which gives some good quotes and commentary about Hillsong vis-a-vis the Australian Church context. Also, Stephen McAlpine has his own take too on Cancelling Hillsong Music.