Running head: HILLSONG CHURCH CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY

HillSong Church Christian Community

Jaydon Dobrow

Arizona State University

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Abstract

This ethnography is regarding the non denominational Christian Church named

HillSong, located in Downtown Phoenix. Throughout the research I explain the common

misconceptions about this community and how this specific church in Downtown Phoenix has

proved all of those said stereotypes to be false. The data collected during the process of this

ethnography was collected through several interviews, observation of the HillSong Church

community, and lastly, secondary source material including academic journals and

newspaper/website articles. The results concluded that the HillSong Church Community in

Downtown Phoenix is not “pushy and/or obnoxious” towards others who do not have the same

religious beliefs as them. Rather, they collectively have proved as a community to be open and

accepting towards differing belief systems and ideologies as well as to people with differing

backgrounds, social statuses and personality types.

Keywords: ​Christianity, HillSong, Morals

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Introduction

It is a typical Sunday morning, the alarm rings, you hit snooze (maybe a couple too many

times), you finally sit up out of bed, it is time for Church. This routine is typical for a large

amount of people almost every Sunday and although it sounds mundane to the average Joe, this

routine is the start to a Christian’s favorite day of the week. There are several common

misconceptions about not only the religion of Christianity, but also the communities within that

religious belief system. When the typical individual conjures up the idea of a Christian, the first

thought that usually comes to mind is “well, they are nice people. But man, they really are pushy

when it comes to getting others to go to Church.” Sadly, this widely accepted misconception has

been deemed a characteristic of the Christian community. However, this preconceived notion

that all Christians are pushy when it comes to religious persuasion to others who may not believe

the same thing as them is false to say the least. Christians are very loving, caring and generous

individuals who simply wish to pass upon happiness to everyone they meet throughout their day

to day lives. Be that as it may, the Christian community, rather than being assertive, are

essentially quite open and accepting of those who believe differently than them. While being

open and accepting of differing belief systems and ideologies, the Christian community opens a

door of opportunity for those looking to understand and find clarity in their lives from the

Christian religion. Therefore, this common conviction that all of the Christian community is

assertive and obnoxious in their “Religious Recruiting Process” is incorrect. All that this

community strives to do is to spread the happiness they have to other individuals and provide the

opportunity for others to believe in what makes Christians so everlastingly happy.

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Methods

To get a greater understanding of the Christian community in Downtown Phoenix, I

ventured to HillSong Church. This nondenominational Christian church is known for its lively,

young and energetic atmosphere alongside their proud church members. I observed three

separate church services throughout my observation period and gained a great deal of insight

regarding HillSong’s culture and customs as a community. From what I gathered, this

community of Christians are large proponents of love, kindness and happiness. Each church

service and sermon was centered around becoming a better person and through becoming a better

person, they believe that they will become closer to God and build a sturdier relationship with

Jesus. Furthering my research process, I set out to find several individuals who have a history in

the Christian religion. When interviewing the Christian side of the spectrum, a similar trend

seemed to appear throughout each interview. When asked to share why they choose to side with

the belief system of Christianity, most of them stated that it was the act of striving to be a better

person that made their relationship closer with Jesus. One of the interviewees, Daisy Hanks,

stated, “Rather than focusing on worshiping the cross, I find my happiness in the love I share

with others everyday, through God.” This statement alone shows the epitome of HillSong

Church and what they preach throughout each and every church service. To conclude my

research methods, I figured that I would find some other examples of Christian communities and

how they impact the larger communities that they are within. Therefore, I took to researching

and found several examples of Christian values driving Christian individuals to do great things

such as creating a non-profit college-Grand Canyon University. This particular college, located

in Phoenix, is funded and ran through Christian values to this day. Additionally, to discover the
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motivations behind why Christians participate in volunteer work and all the while, seem to enjoy

it immensely. A study done by Jonathan A. Johnson sought out the reasoning behind why these

Christian communities feel the need to help out in their community. Johnson went about the

study in a qualitative manner, collecting his data through questionnaires, interviews and

observations. All of these varying research methodologies have provided the knowledge

necessary to complete my research, and prove that Christian communities are not defined by the

stereotypes that besiege them. He found through the study that the reasonings behind these self

motivated Christians, is simply that, they find value in the intrinsic joy that it brings to their lives

and provides them with a sense of internal fulfillment.

Results

Coming into this research, I was a product of cultural biases from which I had no idea I

was suffering form. I was one to typically believe all of the stereotypes about the Christian

religion without sincerely knowing or having tried to take the community seriously. HillSong

Church completely and utterly eliminated those biases from my mind and imprinted new ideas of

what I consider the Christian community in Downtown Phoenix to be. I deeply value and respect

the idea of striving each day to become a better person through love, kindness and happiness

within an individual's life. Whether or not I believe that this brings me closer with God is beside

the point; With that in mind, the morals that the HillSong community provides have a positive

resulting effect on those in contact with the HillSong community in Downtown Phoenix. Another

important observation that I gained throughout the processes of attending each HillSong event

was the outstanding importance of the Bible to the HillSong community. Typically, when one

conjures up the idea of a church service, one of the first images that will come into vision would
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be that of a Holy Cross. However, with this specific Christian community, the Cross was not as

large of a symbol compared to other churches that I have previously attended. However, the

Bible was made an immense part of each sermon and is referred to several times throughout each

service. It seemed as if every community member had a hard, soft, or digital copy of the Bible

with them throughout the entire service. Not only did the majority of those attending have their

Bible with them, they would follow along with the reading of the pastor and indulge in note

taking throughout the sermon. While talking about the individuals within the larger community

of HillSong Church, without exception, these members of HillSong church were the kindest,

most generous individuals I have come across in a long time. In the parking lot, front door and

sidewalk outside, there are banners that read, “Welcome Home.” Each hanging banner is paired

with a kind volunteer who welcomes you and greets each church member with a smile on their

faces. This kind, warm environment makes for an experience that is rare in today's day and age.

This “experience” that I just referred to in the previous sentence is one that involved belonging in

the community. Those who are members within the HillSong Church community feel a sense of

inclusion that they may not feel amongst the other communities for which they are involved in.

The feeling of belonging is scarce in the modern era of human beings in result of the rise of

social media and technology. A large percentage of people tend to be geared towards only doing

things to benefit themselves and not putting in the extra effort to make others feel a sense of

admittance. The church service was fantastic in that it portrayed a beneficial message to all of

those who were listening. Each pastor that I saw was different than the last and one of the

sermons was even shown through a projector screen up at the front of the stage. As I mentioned

previously, each pastor was different with each Sunday throughout the month. This change of
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Pastors each week added a new and intriguing factor to the HillSong community that I had not

encountered up to this point in my life. The differing pastors brought along with it a new angle or

way to look at things. Although the three separate pastors had to a large extent, the same

Christian values, they all provided a new message that was tailored to their strengths as a

speaker. Topics were regarding subjects all the way from the race problem currently presiding in

our country to simply discussing how to be a better person in the realm of your own life and to

those around you. It is both reasonable and fair to say that myself and several others left each

service refreshed with new ideas on how to make a positive change in our communities through

Christian values and morals.

Discussion

As was indicated previously, this research has allowed me the opportunity to attain a

great deal of insight in respects to the HillSong Christian community here in Downtown

Phoenix. Entering into the research project, I was enveloped with unwarranted biases towards the

Christian Community and all the morals and culture that comes along with being a member of

that group. Myself along with many others were tenaciously convicted in our preconceived

notions; those of which being the communities tendency to have a “pushy and/or obnoxious”

behavior towards those not in the Christian community. Going through the trials and tribulations

of the HillSong Christian community eradicated all of the preconceived notions that were

evident throughout my ideologies with reference to Christian communities in general. The values

that they pageant far and near are respectable to every aspect of a human being and can be a

fantastic way to go about living a moral life. The main values that they preach throughout their

church services at HillSong Church in Downtown Phoenix is that of love, generosity, kindness to
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one another and lastly, happiness in the fact that we get to live the life that we do. These few

broad morals wrap up what HillSong values are and I am a firm believer that most other

Christian communities throughout the world have very similar views on the ethics that are

important to them. Now, I know what every skeptical reader is thinking at this point, “Yeah,

Christians preach good values. So what? What’s the bigger take home message about this small

Christian Community in Downtown Phoenix?” Well here it comes, right on cue. The

significance of this Community lays in the fact that they are helping to re-create a loving, kind

atmosphere in a world where that sense of culture has gone just as the time has. Every stereotype

that I held about the HillSong Christian community previous to this research was completely and

utterly wrong. They are not pushy or obnoxious when it comes to getting others to conform to

their belief systems. In fact, they are in a greater sense very open and accepting of you,

regardless of what you believe at that point in time. To them, it matters not your race,

personality, hair color or body fat percentage; what matter to the HillSong Church community is

willingness and propensity to be a good, loving, kind and generous human being. In my opinion,

this alone needs to be instilled across all education platforms across the world, showing that love

and respect for one another should be encouraged, rather than shunned away to the shadows.

With a growing, technology and social media stuffed civilization, we are as Pastor McPherson

from HillSong Church stated “more connected, yet more separated than we have ever been as a

civilization.” This is why Christian values and communities are important to the greater good of

not just Downtown Phoenix, but as far as the bigger picture- the entire country. HillSong Church

as well as other Christian communities across the globe need to recognized for the good that they
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are doing, rather than being distinguished by the stereotypes surrounding their community as a

whole.

Conclusion

In summation, the HillSong Church Christian community in Downtown Phoenix should

be praised for their positive work and messages sent throughout their Churches and out into the

community rather than being encompassed by the stereotypes in relation to their name. It is a

common misconception that the Christian community is “pushy and/or obnoxious” when it

comes to others who do not have the same belief system as they do. However, this research has

shown to prove that presumption wrong. With each church service that I attended at HillSong

Church, I became more and more a proponent of their values and morals that they preach each

and every Sunday. If as a society we are able to collectively rid this stereotype of not only the

HillSong Christian community, but also the larger Christian community as a whole, I believe that

our culture as a people will benefit in return by becoming more loving, kind and generous

individuals to one another.

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Citations

● Leingang, R. (2018, July 02). It's official: Grand Canyon University has its

non-profit status back. Retrieved November 25, 2018, from

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-education/2018/07/02/grand-

canyon-university-regains-its-non-profit-status/747376002/

● Fieguth, D. (2005). Finally, church growth: research reveals unexpected gains for

Christians. ​Christianity Today,​ ​49(​ 2), 24–25. Retrieved from

http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rfh

&AN=ATLA0001456806&site=ehost-live

● Johnson, J. A. (2007). ​Getting and staying involved: What motivates volunteers in

a non-profit organization (​ Order No. 3278016). Available from ABI/INFORM

Collection; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (304720694). Retrieved

from

http://login.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy1.

lib.asu.edu/docview/304720694?accountid=4485