Saturday, June 09, 2007

Of Decisions Made and Hillsong Paris

Ok, I decided what to do, and rather rashly bought my Eurostar ticket for next Tuesday!! That means I have 3 days (and then most of Tuesday itself) to do everything I need to before leaving Paris. And say goodbye to people who'd have left themselves by the time I return. What a hullaballoo! My list of things I need to do before I leave: a) send off my preavis at the post office, b) pay for the rent for while I'm gone, c) collect my Eurostar ticket from Gare du Nord, d) tidy my appartment, wash clothes and pack, and e) say goodbye to people. Plus, this morning is the Church Council half day away (which is why I'm up so unbelieveably early, and it's linen change) and I'm doing the projector on Sunday. Insane!

And as my title so eloquently alludes, I went to Hillsong Paris last night with Beki, Jenny and her church sort-of-student-group thingy (what it was I'm not quite sure, one thing I do know is that they were all French). All three of us and the French people found the service, well, interesting, and a good cause for conversation. The worship is all let's-all-clap-and-jump-up-and-down style, which might be to some people's taste, but not mine, but I can't really fault that. The word itself. Well... It took the person talking ten minutes to mention God. There was hardly any citation from the Bible which meant that a) any allusions to the Bible weren't backed up with hardcore scripture (he spoke about Daniel a lot, but I think gave one indirect reference to scripture), and new Christians, to whom Hillsong seems to aim at, wouldn't have had any idea what he was talking about and would have had to just take his word for it. Something that I wasn't really prepared to do. The talk didn't really have any point, jumping from Daniel's conviction in Babylon not to drink alcohol etc., to being the light and salt of the world without any sort of linking section. Which was probably linked to the fact the talk didn't have any real centre, so no real decernable path to go. The talk was incredibly egocentric, and almost totally secular. I could have just have easily been in an Alcoholic's Anonymous or marriage counciling meeting. It was all about, "you can put a conviction in your life", "you can be the light of your world". You, you, you. Which at some points became undoctrinal, suggesting, I cring at the thought, that we can initiate a miracle (no mention of God), and saying, "you are the light of the world" (I wasn't listening at this point, but I have it on good word (beki's) that he did actually say that). The scripture he was referring to is clearly "I [Jesus] am the light of the world". The whole talk suggested that if you're a good Christian, God will bless you materially. You'll have a good, happy life with lots of things. Totally unbiblical. So that's that. Don't think I'll be going back for a while.

Anyway, I need to finish getting ready, take my dirty linen down in about 10 minutes, collect the clean stuff, and then go to catch a train at Nation. But I've got a bit of time, so not to worry.

Oh, last night, I had several bizarre dreams. Which is odd, since I hardly ever dream, so to have about 3 in one night is unusual. Maybe it's all these thoughts of a million things to do. They were slightly disturbing, some of them, but good in a way, since if I dream, my life expectancy is hitched up a knot.

7 comments:

  1. Amen to that!!

    I just wonder what people who go there full time think about it - like matt from uni, what's his thought on it??

    Jenny said something about someone who came n said they were having a really tough time with God, and the hillsong person said that if you really know God's love then you can't have a tough time with God or something to that effect... Hmmm... good!!!

    But there are elements which are pretty good for evangelising to young people n stuff, its just hoping n praying that they do actually turn to the bible and get into the real meaty exciting God stuff that's much better than having a materially sound life.
    xx

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  2. Thanks for sharing your opnion about Hillsong Paris. I've been going there for some time now I felt like I was almost the only one who saw those things.
    God bless

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  3. Hillsong in total is very difficult. I think it does a lot of good things it encourages the youth to come to church it heavily supports new christians. The worship is good and uplifting. However, I do not think it is completely fair to go to Hillsong one time and believe that one service is all that it is about. Many of you talk from a persprctive as serious christians and with any church catholic, protestant it is your responibilty to ask questions and follow though the sermon. Not only to ask question of what is bieng said but to alos ask questions of the pastor. I believe some people try out churches like trying different kinds of soup. Its not a criticism its something I have done in the past and just because one person gives you a weird answer don't completely take it to represent the entire church. Paris visitor that went to Hillsong today

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  4. To the original author of this post:

    I am not a member of Hillsong church and the things i say now are merely my opinion - I am not a representative but I know this;

    Hillsong Church is a church that is aligned with the heartbeat of God. It sees thousands upon thousands of people connecting with God. It sees people stepping into their God given destiny and living out the awesome life God has for them.

    Our commandment from God is to make disciples of all nations (Matt 28: 19)so instead of wasting your breath criticising the bride of Christ, why don't you go out and spend some time with the people in your world who don't know Jesus yet.

    We're all in this together, lets not spend time squabbling between each other and reach the people that don't have a relationship with God.

    God Bless

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  5. I'm so sorry that everyone has the same sense about preaching at Hillsong. I wish Bradon will take more time to prepare his sermon. Maybe we should pray for him that God will give him His word and the people will enjoy God's word and Brandon's sermons!
    All the best to you!
    Ilinca

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  6. hi all,
    I've been going to hillsong for a few months now and i can sympathise with/understand all who have posted a comment here. There has been a lot of hype about hillsong (negative and positive) and I totally agree with the person who said we should stop squabbling and pointing fingers and begin too critical. You need to come to hillsong more than once to form an objective and informed opinion. It is true that Brendan's messages are sometimes all over the place and it makes me want to go on stage, bop him one over the head and yell "FOCUS"! :) But he usually does have a good message and it is biblically based. I sit with my bible open throughout his sermons and when he quotes a verse, I look it up. All in all, I think Brendan is a very human guy and pastor, more approachable than most pastors I've come upon. He is young and he is still learning, but you can see that he is striving to share God's message, not his own. So come on guys, give him a break.

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  7. So its easy, ask yourself if you'd ever send anyone you actually cared about to Hillsong Paris. My answer is NO WAY....and I feel like if you say yes you've really been missing out. sorry

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