That headline sounds like a fantastic business model, doesn’t it?
McDonalds has near achieved world domination using these concepts. It strikes me as a problem, though, when followers of Jesus use those same values.
OK, this isn’t new. But I’ve been reading a novel over the past couple of weeks by Francine Rivers, called And the Shofar Blew. It’s a fantastic novelisation of the slow change that a pastor goes through from on-fire young man to CEO of an empire. So much of it is very true, both in my own experience and the experiences of good friends.
Then I read this today from the Sydney Morning Herald:
SYDNEY, London, Kiev, Paris, Cape Town, Stockholm, Moscow … and now Brisbane.
The languid Queensland capital has become the latest stop in Brian and Bobbie Houston’s odyssey to franchise their pentecostal Hillsong Church around the world.
Mr Houston has resigned as president of the Australian Christian Churches, a position he held for 12 years, to focus on the “multisite” expansion of Hillsong. And that, coupled with the controversial move interstate, has prompted speculation that Hillsong is ramping up its domestic network of churches, ready to pounce on churches struggling amid the global financial crisis.
Garden City Christian Church on Brisbane’s southside will be renamed Hillsong Brisbane Campus and the Houstons installed as senior pastors there on May 24, after 79 per cent of Garden City members voted in favour of the takeover.
An information document circulated before the vote said the Houstons had chosen to move into Brisbane because “it is a fast growing area with great potential for the Gospel”.
….
Garden City’s senior pastor for eight years, Bruce Hills, was forced out before the arrival of the Houstons. Garden City Christian Church announced Mr Hills’s resignation in December, amid criticism that the church was not growing enough. Yet in an address to a Christian conference at Easter, Mr Hills revealed he had a nervous breakdown last September. “Emotionally I just imploded,” he said.
When he returned from eight weeks’ leave, Garden City Christian Church elders told him: “We’d rather have more of a CEO leader than you. We’d like you to resign.”
Describing it as “the deepest, darkest experience I’ve ever been through”, Mr Hills said he was “really angry about what these people had done”.
You can read the full article here.
Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’ve become far too cynical. But doesn’t this ring some alarm bells in anybody? What is wrong with our churches when this is normal and seen as a healthy move into the future?
It’s not just you. This reeks of turning houses of prayer into dens of thieves. It’s almost like media consolidation: if this keeps going, a few megachurch “organizations” will own most of the churches, leaving the “little guys” struggling. “Christianity Incorporated” at its most grandiose.
How can ANY Christian be okay with church franchising? This is far from what God intended!
[...] has written a post called Of franchises and branding and growth which she links to an interesting article in the Sydney Herald about Hillsongs global [...]
Hmm… sadly, I have seen this sort of this in the churches I grew up in for several decades…. run the hard working, cares about the people, humble pastor out and bring in the new, improved, shiny pastor with modern ideas for growth and expansion and blah, blah, blah.
It may be getting more and more common, but it is far from new. Sigh.
And yes, alarm bells should be ringing.
Sadder than the franchising is that you would believe what you read in the paper!
It’s the SMH Heather! The SMH. Has it ever occurred to you that the franchising angle is exactly that … an angle?
I rekcon you should try an angle. Try going into things believing the best of your brothers and sisters in Christ.
Honestly. Try it. You’ll feel so much better about life and your blog will be so much more uplifting and encouraging!
Great thoughts Heather … it does indeed ring true .. not only just franchising but churches copying others style, I’ve been to Hillsong in many different places around WA
Shelly, I agree – I can never accept that things like this are really what God intended his Church to be.
Katherine, I know it has – that’s the saddest part.
Jackson, hello again. Long time no voice of dissent! Nice to see you back. Something you’re forgetting here is that the Sydney Morning Herald DOES have the actual facts straight. Yes, some of it is conjecture. But you have to agree that:
a) Hillsong is a brand that’s being promoted and expanded
b) They DID release the previous pastor when he returned from time off, and they DID say that it was because they wanted a “CEO” type instead.
c) Hillsong is now taking the reins of that particular church
d) Brian Houston himself in his blog said that his words were not taken out of context at all by the SMH’s story.
You don’t need an angle to see that something’s not right there.
Mark, you’re right – churches don’t need the Hillsong brand in order to be “little Hillsongs”. It’s happening everywhere. I could name twenty churches local to me that copy the magic formula.
i have mixed feelings about this… i’m not going to lambast anyone for being a multi-site fan – honestly, i’ve seen a few that actually work – but what makes them work is that the pastors are humble, honest, and passionate for preaching and living the truth and expecting their staff to do likewise. i think there are things we can learn from business theory and practice that can help us advance the gospel, but the minute it becomes about “success” and numbers is the minute it’s not about God’s glory and being His bride anymore.
Mr. Houston is probably right about Brisbane – it is a fast-growing area, and there is great potential for the gospel. So is Calcutta…South Africa…the United States…
I’m sad for Mr. Hills. And I hope he has some good, strong mentors to coach him thru the disillusionment and heartache he must feel. God, give him the grace he needs to get thru this, to heal, and to continue pursuing his calling in a world that desperately needs people to live out their faith with integrity.
Hi, Happy. Nice to see you again
I used to think like that too – but I’m really not sure any more that Jesus would have worked like that. He never used business practices – in fact he did the polar opposite.
I don’t think it’s about “whatever works”, something that works is not necessarily “good”. McDonalds works too – but that doesn’t mean it’s either healthy or good.
I do join you in your prayer for Bruce Hills though. Although I didn’t always agree with his methods, it’s a very hard thing to go through and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
“Franchise” is a new buzzword, it seems.
Here in South Africa we’ve had the Indian Premier League cricket matches being played all over the country for the last two months, and last night they had the final, but they are no longer called teams, but franchises.
So in the ecclesiastical world, they used to be called denominations, but now they are being called franchises.
Interesting how the capitalist mentality takes over everything.
Perhaps it’s time for Christians cast out the bondwoman and her son (Gal 4:30), but perhaps we prefer to be in bondage to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits of the universe, especially the power of money.
Just a question: Would we have accused the Apostle Paul franchising churches?
Steve, I think it does – capitalism is how the world runs. It seems like a good idea at the time, but I think we forget that what Jesus said about the Kingdom of God is so, so different.
Jackson, I don’t think that even deserves a reply. Franchising does not equal evangelism. Or the other way round. And you know it.
[...] over at A Decontsucted Christian has a good post entitled Of franching and branding and growth about Hillsong’s global growth which reads more like a hostile corporate takeover than Spirit [...]
Hmm.
I want to say on the one hand that I have conflict about both sides of the issue. On the one hand, the missionary and anthropologist in me cringes at the idea of multi-site churches because the simple explanation is that we use them because we’re lazy. We don’t want to be sensitive to the particular culture and particular locality and have to actually think CREATIVELY when we plant a church, we’d rather just use a model that’s “proven” itself somewhere else. Unfortunately, what that usually means is that we try to turn our location into that other location – in this case turning Brisbane or Calcutta into Sydney. And unfortunately again, they are their own unique cultures and deserve to have their own focus.
On the other hand, there IS something to be said for “reliability” in today’s largely transient society. When people know what to expect when they walk into a church, they can do so while travelling and – potentially – can invite those they encounter on their travels. I know there are definitely issues with this, and I think I still fall towards the “please be creative and stop giving yourselves a brand name” camp, but I do think that the multisite church can be of use in the right circumstances and motivations.
But I dunno, further research seems in order here …
Hi Heather,
I would like to post a quote of comment I read on another blog. I dont know whether it is something everyone has seen before, but have a read anyway. It kinda links in with what you were saying about how Jesus would have it done –
“Lover or Prostitute?
The Question that Changed My Life
A number of years ago, I had the privilege of teaching at a school of ministry. My students were hungry for God, and I was constantly searching for ways to challenge them to fall more in love with Jesus and to become voices for revival in the Church. I came across a quote attributed most often to Rev. Sam Pascoe. It is a short version of the history of Christianity, and it goes like this:
Christianity started in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise.
Some of the students were only 18 or 19 years old—and I wanted them to understand and appreciate the importance of the last line, so I clarified it by adding, “An enterprise. That’s a business.” After a few moments Martha, the youngest student in the class, raised her hand. I could not imagine what her question might be. I thought it was self-explanatory.
Nevertheless, I acknowledged Martha’s raised hand, “Yes, Martha.” She asked such a simple question, “A business? But isn’t it supposed to be a body?” I could not envision where this line of questioning was going, and the only response I could think of was, “Yes.” She continued, “But when a body becomes a business, isn’t that a prostitute?”
The room went dead silent. For several seconds no one moved or spoke. We were stunned, afraid to make a sound because the presence of God had flooded into the room, and we knew we were on Holy ground. All I could think in those sacred moments was, “Wow, I wish I’d thought of that.” I didn’t dare express that thought aloud. God had taken over the class.”
When I read you post Heather, this was the first thing that came to my mind. I am not passing judgment on whether this expansion of Hillsong is good or bad…just I guess that the motives behind it need to be examined, i guess..