Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed

Being a person that grew up on churches myself I found this series to be really accurate and helpful for those who are blind enough not to understand the problem with mega churches like Hillsong.

It explained almost every single problem with this company. And that right there gained my respect.

This documentary was about the mega church Hillsong. The entire documentary seem to focus around the fact that the church exploits its members for money and personal gain while the heads of the church behave in a completely unchristian manner. This is not new information! I assumed everyone on earth knew that these type of organizations were all about the money... I don't mean to sound anti-religious, but I am strongly opposed to these massive, cult-like organizations.

I found most of the testimonials in this documentary to be a bit whiny. Perhaps I was being too judgmental of them for being so naive , especially after having so many examples of where these large religious organizations abuse their authority over the parishioners. All things being equal, this want a bad series but don't expect any sort of conclusion. It's essentially 3 hours of ppl talking about being duped by con men in the name of god...

This documentary did a good job on the exploration of cases of sexual misconduct, sexual abuse and the subsequent appalling behaviour by the church. However there were hours of minor complaints and whining for reasons often never properly explained. I would have liked to see in-depth reporting on the mechanics of how the whole thing operates, the churches prosperity preaching techniques and how they extract $$$ from their parishioners among other things.

It's also a story about most mega churches and churches who strive to be mega themselves. I've been a part of two different ones in the past 15 years and it's the same story as far as the money and notoriety, the covering up of misdoings, etc.

I thought the story was well told, including different perspectives from real people at different locations. It shows how the culture from the "top" is inoculated in all of the other branches regardless of geography.

I also have to add that the music from Hillsong has really touched so many people around the world, myself included. I still listen to them from time to time and I'm grateful for it. That part of the doc didn't really affect me so much, though I can see how it would bother people. I don't have a problem with churches finding avenues to increase income when they're actually doing good work to help the less fortunate people in the world. Unfortunately, many times, this just isn't the case.

When a church is more concerned with how their "campus" looks than how their city looks, that's where the problem is. When the church people begin to worship their pastor and leadership, this is also a problem. That's what has happened with Hillsong and so many other large churches. It's nauseating and infuriating.

The first episode was powerful, especially the focus on how worship music is designed to provoke an emotional response that congregations interpret as divine (especially as a former worship leader). Afterwards, it felt so drawn out and had a few cringey interviews with petty arguments. Very frustrating to watch the majority of people escape this cult yet still cling to Christianity...