God Wears Tsubi at Hillsong

Has anyone seen my Bible? It has a brown leather 'Herringbone' cover with 'Tsubi' stickers all over it." This is the question posed by a good looking, well dressed 20- something male after Sunday nights service at Hillsong Church, in Sydney's Baulkham Hills.

To those aged over 30 this question might seem a little strange.

Are 'Herringbone' and 'Tsubi' holy saints that are adorning this church-goer's Bible? And the simple answer is no. Not even close.

'Herringbone' and 'Tsubi,' as most of the almost 3000 strong crowd gathered at the Hillsong service will be able to tell you, are fashion labels for the fashion conscious.

Tsubi are the designer jeans with celebrity status (and holy price tags of up to $600 per pair) that are wrapped around the toned legs of Sydney's fashionable elite. And similarly a significant number of people here.

While traditional churches may be fighting to survive with dwindling congregations, evangelicals such as Hillsong have struck a chord with the young.

As the numbers who turn up at Baulkham Hills and at Young Street Waterloo can testify Paradise Pentecostal Church is the fastest growing Christian denomination with two-thirds of its congregation under 35. While more than 3000 youngsters attend Hillsong's services every Sunday.

With an 18 strong rock band on stage and Australian Idol winner, Guy Sebastian sitting five metres away, who wouldn't want to come to church? Looking around at the congregation at Hillsong at Baulkham Hills it is impossible not to be struck by the amount of fresh, young faces you see - a stark contrast to the ageing congregations of traditional churches such as the Catholic Church.

So why are these churches attracting such young, hip, and fashion conscious congregations? "These Pentecostal churches are re-packaging of Christianity in accords with consumer capitalism" said Carole Cusack, senior lecturer in religion at Sydney University, said.

"This enables them to embrace fashion, culture and technology and everything in the broader culture and still argue they are religious or spiritual.

"Previously Christianity has been identified with a down-grading of the pleasures of this world in favour of the after-life, holding it to be entirely far superior. This has changed here. The whole set up is different. No longer is it 'Blessed are the poor' but instead it is based on 'God loves the rich."

Chris Murphy, a Catholic priest at Kensington Parish in Sydney's South, attributes the simplicity of churches such as Hillsong in contributing to their popularity.

"They preach a certainty and simplicity that is possibly untrue to the ambiguities of life" he said.

"The youth in their idealism are looking for and can be hanging on to simple answers."

Ms Cusack similarly, quotes philosopher H L Mencken's, 'For every complex question there is a simple answer. And it's wrong.' She sees society as being so complex that most don't truly understand it nor take the time to really try to work it out. She sees the quick fix-solutions offered by the likes of Hillsong as an almost inevitable consequence of our culture.

"People can't be bothered to immerse themselves in the pursuit of knowledge and finding answers and they prefer even idiotic answers" Ms Cusack said.

However young members of the Hillsong congregation, reject Ms Cusack's views.

"We are essentially a bible based religion with all of the same teachings as traditional churches but we are more understanding of what's going on in a young person's world," said 24-year-old Kirsten Grundy.

"This is where I fit. Where I feel comfortable. It's just church done to suit a different type of person.

"I had tried all types of religions. I had been to the Baja temple, the Uniting Church, and the rest but found them all too quiet and constraining. I was louder and more boisterous, when I came here I enjoyed it and kept coming. I felt that this is where I was supposed to be." Ms Grundy came to Hillsong two years ago, ironically, after reading negative press about the controversial church.

"I had gone away on holidays with a boyfriend and had a terrible fight. He couldn't understand my decision to abstain from sex until marriage.

"The next morning I woke up to find an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, a negative article about Hillsong. Through all that negativity I could see that this was a young church that believed in young people and I wanted to go."

Ms Grundy gave up her job managing an exclusive home wares shop in Double Bay six months ago. She now works full time for Hillsong Church as "Creative Design Co-ordinator" looking after the elaborate stage settings at the church's two locations.

"It has been a massive life change, one that my friends outside the church cannot fully understand and it has caused some problems."

One cause for concern amongst her friends, Ms Grundy said was the relatively small amount of pay she received from a church so obviously wealthy.

"Ten per cent of every member's pay goes to the church- it's a biblical principle," she said.

"While I don't make a great deal of money the church would never let me go hungry. I have never worked for love of money anyway.

"We use the churches money in creating a beautiful church for the second coming. It's definitely about building a 'great' church based on God's principles. God is the creator of the world, surely he can have a great church! We shouldn't be limiting God's capability.' Ms Grundy was working extra hard when she talked to Southside News as Hillsong was preparing to host the fourth World Assemblies of God Congress called 'Take the Nation, Shake the World' at its huge Baulkham Hills venue.

The conference ran in May and saw the gathering of church leaders and members from all over the world.

Hillsong numbers have increased so much in fact on a regular weekend that a second service is now held on Sunday night at Baulkham Hills.

"People love coming to church so much that most come twice or more on a weekend. We are just crammed every service, and I would say out of those that come here, about 70 per cent are under 30," said Ms Grundy.

This is a statistic that alarms Dr Vicki Crinis, Lecturer and Australian Historian at Wollongong University.

"This concerns me deeply because this is a time in young people's lives when they should be questioning the conservative ideals that these churches represent. It should be a time of questioning not a time of sameness," she said.

"In the 70s there was the Vietnam War and we saw young people protesting against conscription and rallying for feminism. Young people could engage in activism.

"Today there is a lot of insecurity in the world. Young people feel powerless. This belief in God and the unity they find in these churches empowers them, gives them a kind of activism. It gives them a sense of security and belonging while on the other hand excluding others," Dr Crinis added.

"There is a very anti-gay sentiment amongst these churches and the idea that, like a drug addict they can be saved.

"They feel a kind of strength in numbers in these churches that attracts 'more of the same'. Churches like Hillsong are not really a way of escaping, but a way to have their ideas upheld and supported."

And who better to support your ideas, said Dr Crinis, than those you look up to. The 'cool' rockers on the stage at Hillsong, The Australian Idol in the row next to you, and the trendy people to the side of you.

"It is important to know, however," Ms Cusack said that Hillsong, "is not the first and definitely not the last of its kind. What people don't realise is that there is a high turn over of people.

"Statistically people spend between 18 months and three years at churches such as these," she said.

She said, people come to these churches in their youth and then move away as they get older.

When asked if Ms Grundy's own mother attended Hillsong too, she said.

"No, definitely not, she said she can't stand the loud music!"