HOLY HIPSTERS!
MoS samples new ‘rock ’n’ roll’ religion...with trendy worshippers and (holy) spirits at bar
THE band is playing at deafening volume, with guitar and drums reverberating over a packed dance floor. At the bar, drinks are flowing and the crowd of young people swarming in front of the stage is bathed in colourful disco lights.
But although this might look like a gig or club night, it is actually the country’s newest and most unusual church service.
Among the crowd are hipsters wearing ‘Welcome to Church’ T-shirts and dancers with their hands in the air yelling ‘Amen!’ and ‘Praise be!’ Between songs, the loudspeakers ring out with prayers. This is Scotland’s first encounter with the extraordinary international phenomenon that is Hillsong.
Known as the Celebrity Church, it routinely attract tens of thousands of worshippers – including Canadian singer Justin Bieber and US star Selena Gomez – at meetings in the United States. In London, almost 20,000 cram into the Dominion Theatre to listen to prayers and music each week.
Last week the movement hosted its first proper service in Scotland – with The Scottish Mail on Sunday invited to witness a very modern evening of worship.
Unlike a traditional service. the event – billed as ‘Touching Heaven’ – was held in The Caves in Edinburgh, usually reserved for functions and dance music club nights.
Ironically, perhaps, the venue is less than quarter of a mile from the former dwelling on the city’s Royal Mile of John Knox, whose stern teachings helped shape Presbyterianism.
In sharp contrast to Knox’s strict doctrines, last Thursday’s Hillsong service boasted a fully stocked bar, which meant worshippers could fuel their devotion with wine, beer and – presumably holy – spirits.
Although recent figures suggest a decline in Christianity – with 42 per cent of churchgoers now aged over 65 and three-quarters of young people claiming to have no faith – Hillsong clearly knows how to draw a crowd.
They were people queuing round the block for entry to the service, including churchgoers from the Newcastle and London branches.
The movement’s youth appeal – it has 1.7million followers on Facebook – means that the majority of the crowd were in their twenties and thirties, including families with young children.
Rather than the time-honoured format of traditional hymns, prayers and sermon, the service followed the pattern that has been established by Hillsong churches around the world.
Founded in Sydney, Australia, in 1983, the movement today boasts ‘campuses’ in London, New York, Paris, Moscow and Buenos Aires.
Music is central to its worship, with the church having its own record label and chart-topping band Hillsong United.
It has released four studio albums and clocked up millions of sales, including singles such as Bones, Even When It Hurts and Street Called Mercy.
The songs might be unfamiliar to anyone raised on Kirk standards such as Abide With Me and All Things Bright And Beautiful. However, during the two-and-a-half hour service in Edinburgh, a full band – including bass and electric guitar, keyboard and drums – belted out a half-hour set of Hillsong’s ‘greatest hits’, as the crowd pushed to the front of the stage and sang along.
There was also a sermon by Pastor Dan Watson – part of the church’s London team – between musical sets.
University friends Molly, 18, and Grace, 19, from Newcastle, drove three hours to attend the service. Heads bowed, hands raised and joined by another friend, they huddled together and swayed in time with the music.
Hillsong’s Scottish branch is fronted – as is the band – by singer and pastor Nick Mercer, who claimed the movement was bringing faith into the 21st Century.
Mr Mercer said: ‘We believe that church is to be enjoyed, not endured, and I think that resonates with the younger generation. It’s not rocket science – the message of the Bible stays the same, but the method has changed.’
Glaswegian couple Mark and his wife Alyssia said it was important to attend the service with their young children to raise them in a community of faith.
Mark added: ‘Being a dad and raising my daughter in the church really brings me joy.’
For friends Raluve and Famoa, the sense of community and the music is what led them to this church.
Raluve said: ‘I listen to a lot of worship music and the Hillsong songs are beautiful.’
Hillsong is clearly trying to transform modern Christianity. But quite what John Knox would make of it all is anyone’s guess…
‘Believe church is to be enjoyed, not endured’