A not-so-critical look at Toronto’s millennial church
Documentary follows evangelical pastor during opening in North York
RYAN PORTER
In “#BLESSED,” Ali Weinstein’s documentary about Toronto’s three C3 evangelical churches, a religious studies PhD candidate shares his response to the organization and its dedicated congregation of millennials. “On one side, I was interested in this,” Galen Watts says. “Another part of me was deeply turned off by the whole thing.”
This sweet-and-sour fascination with the popular, youthskewing church is only partially explored in the documentary, which premieres at the Hot Docs Film Festival before airing on CBC this summer. The film follows Sam Picken, funkily known as Pastor Sam, as he opens Toronto’s third C3 location in North York. It also follows young members from his flock in Toronto, which the film describes as “one of the most successful C3 locations in the world.” Among them is Aimee Nakabale, who swapped drugs and drinking, along with friends, family and her girlfriend, for the church until developing doubts. David Layton is moving to Australia to train as a pastor, leaving his relationship status with fellow parishioner Mona Sim in question. And Conan Yu struggles with his faith but finds comfort in the community.
Those individuals’ stories are compelling, though criticism — such as Aimee’s concern about the church’s emphasis on production values over ministry — is in such short supply that a five-minute edit could make “#BLESSED” a C3 recruitment film.
Slickly produced C3 presentations detailing the church’s global expansion plans recall the Church of Scientology’s aggressive fundraising tactics. But in contrast with the rigorous journalism of Leah Remini’s documentary series “Scientology and the Aftermath,” Weinstein encourages viewers to draw their own conclusions as to the church’s ethics.
This approach is partially shaped by a lack of critical voices in the film: Watts serves as the sole neutral pundit while criticisms from Nakabale, who is no longer a member of the church, are only briefly acknowledged.
Addressing one of the common concerns about the church from its woke demographic, Pastor Sam shares his view that marriage is between a man and a woman, though the church is presented in the film as agnostic on homosexuality and premarital sex. In fact, both are against the church’s 12 core beliefs as listed on the church’s global website. Church scandals, such as coercive behaviour and financial misappropriation, go unmentioned.
The film’s release is welltimed to speak to Christianity’s pop-culture moment: the similarly hipster church Hillsong is famously attended by Justin Bieber and his wife, Hailey Baldwin; Chris Pratt took on the “Daniel Fast,” inspired by the dietary restraints of the Old Testament prophets; and Kanye West leads his Sunday Service Choir in exuberant revivals on his Wyoming ranch.
The cachet of having a celebrity repping your church is briefly touched upon, but C3 fails to offer a wider lens on this contemporary moment in Christian youth movements. Watts claims that C3 has mastered the art of communicating to millennials, but “#BLESSED” doesn’t unpack how they have courted that demographic.
Still, the film is an enjoyable, well-paced introduction to C3, once known as Christian City Church, which, for all the Warby Parker frames and parishioners in skinny jeans, doesn’t come off as cool so much as esthetically conscious and eager to entertain with rock-influenced worship music.
And while the film’s heart is in the right place, its narrow, agreeable focus too often presents as blind faith.