Hillsong.. ?

[Julianne]

What is Hillsong and how does it differ from the Catholic Church?
Do they have actual Churche's because I’ve never seen any around?
I’ve been told they do a lot of preaching and singing? Is there something wrong with that and why?
Thank you and God Bless :)

[Stephen Spiteri]

Hillsong is a "church" in the sense that is a community of Christians worshipping Christ together, but not a church in the sense that Catholics would be familiar with, that is they have no altar, no sacristy, iconography, Our Lord depicted on a crucifix, etc. Their "church" (i.e. place of worship) is simply a large function centre. Their main "church" is situated in Sydney, Baulkham Hills.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with preaching and singing because you'll find those in the Catholic Church too, but it will not be like the preaching and singing you'll find at Hillsong.

How does Hillsong differ to the Catholic Church? Well, I've scanned their website and tried to find a faith statement but to no avail, but we can describe Hillsong as a Pentecostal church. They are Protestant. Some of their key beliefs, from what I understand myself, are as follows:

- Sola Scriptura ("Scripture Alone"); the Bible is the sole and infallible authority for teaching of faith and morals;
- belief in the death and resurrection of Christ;
- Baptism in the Holy Spirit in order to live a fruitful Christian life; and
- Use of the spiritual gifts which includes speaking in tongues

Apart from that they're fairly firm on issues such as homosexuality, abortion, stem cell research, etc.

They do often receive criticism for preaching a "prosperity gospel" (or they have at least been accused of it; I'm unsure if they've altered their approach on the matter) which basically means that they believe that God wants Christians to be materially/financially comfortable.

[DavidObeid]

Tongue in cheek, but is pretty much says it all...

http://patrickmadrid.blogspot.com/2010/06/contempervent-sunday-come-as-you-are.html

[OneFaith]

As Tim Staples said, the reason why there are 33,000 Protestant denominations is because they all interpret the bible their own way.

[cmnunis]

Not just that, but I can tell you that a lot of the songs sung by Hillsong are not encouraged to be sung at Catholic Masses because of the differences in doctrine that are explicitly found in the songs.

[Stephen Spiteri]

As Tim Staples said, the reason why there are 33,000 Protestant denominations is because they all interpret the bible their own way.
... And this is the problem with Sola Scriptura: you have millions of "Bible Christians" who believe that the Bible is all they need and that the Holy Spirit will help them make meaning of what they're reading and that interpretation will be the correct one. But what happens when you have two "Bible Christians" who have a different interpretation/reading of the same very verse? And even then there's the issue of different Bible translations: NIV, KJV, Wycliffe, Darby, NKJV, Amplified, ESV, etc. We know very well that the misplacement of even something simple as a comma can change the entire meaning of a single verse!

By the way, if you have a whimsical sense of humour like me, then get two Protestants together and get them to teach each other the true meaning and significance of Matthew 16:18-19 or John 6:53-56. ;)

But I digress...

Sola Scriptura is a topic I've blogged in the past and I've pointed out a few other issues with it, so for that you can go here if you like: http://thespiritmagnus.blogspot.com/2009/08/2-timothy-315-17-sola-scriptura-are-you.html

[MelanieM]

Great blog Stephen :)

[OneFaith]

Yeh, awsome blog!

[frjohnlm]

What does Hillsong Church believe? ..here is their Statement of Faith (http://www2.hillsong.com/college/default.asp?pid=96)

[DavidObeid]

They profess just enough to profess just about anything.

[leannemaree]

I had a friend, who made a passing comment, about asking her PP to have a hillsong Mass!!!!! I couldn't answer, because I was horrified.
And then I thought where do I start to explain....
some of there Music is fantastic, but not liturgical.
So many laity of the Church, have no idea of Liturgy and how inappropriate hillsong etc is to it.
i won't go on, because this is a pet subject of mine.
Have a great day everyone,
leanne

[DavidObeid]

The PP should have responded by saying that he would do a month of penance for failing to teach properly what the liturgy was and then spend the rest of his life rectifying the situation.

[frjohnlm]

The PP should have responded by saying that he would do a month of penance for failing to teach properly what the liturgy was and then spend the rest of his life rectifying the situation. relax Dave i believe the PP isn´t in question here..or was he..?

[leannemaree]

No he wasn't because he refused the idea. Praise God for integrity.

leanne

[DavidObeid]

Excuse the hyperbole. I meant in terms of having someone in his parish who understood so little about the liturgy - he should be doing more to give them a proper understanding so that quesitons like this are not even asked in the first place.