Church Number 9: City Church Chicago
When I arrived for the 10:30 AM service, the attendants of the 9 AM service were making their way out. The “lobby” had a coffee bar, a “connect” bar, bar tables, and lots of chairs. It was full of people visiting with each other. To the left was the auditorium. The door was at the top and the stairs and sets angled down to the semi-circle stage. The room was beautiful. It looked like an old industrial building with the old structure’s brick walls exposed. The carpeting was black,, as were the padded stadium seating. And the dark room was lit up in purple.
Then there were seven video screens across the front of the room!
The room was full of black and white young people. I think I was oldest by decadest! And I was surprised that there were many more young men than young women.
Before the service started, music was playing through speakers - felt like at a concert venue before the opening band takes the stage. The music set the tone. I was taken to my seat by an usher - second row, center. Ugh.
Soon a young woman came and sat right next to me, as directed by an usher.
“I was told to sit here,” she explained, obviously uncomfortable because there were plenty of empty seats around us that she could have taken. We chatted a bit. Her name was Rosie and she was visiting from New York. This was her first time in Chicago, and she didn't know anyone here. So she came alone.
But this is another evangelical megachurch surrounded by controversy!
In 2010, married couple Kent and Ali Munsey started the nondenominational City Church Chicago at the same location where they worship today. The building was constructed in 1920, but the church has and continues to modernize it and to build it out.
Then in 2014, the church joined the Hillsong Church Family. The reasoning for this was because “[t]hrough this partnership our church has joined a worldwide community of churches to be further empowered to do the work God has called us to do in Chicago. We believe that as we unify with Hillsong Church, we will see even greater growth and impact in the city of Chicago and worldwide.
Hillsong was Pentecostal, charismatic megachurch based in Australia.
As a side note, a few weeks ago, I attended Harvest Bible Chapel, a noncharismatic church. A charismatic church includes speaking in tongues and faith healing. Hillsong focused on people’s personal experiences with God, often accomplished through music.But then Hillsong became its own denomination in 2018, however that works!
Hillsong was started by Brian and Bobbie Houston. Brian’s father Frank was a Pentacostal pastor for the Assemblies of God church in New Zealand and Australia and started his own church in Waterloo. Brian and Bobbie started the Hills Christian Life Center in 1993. The two churches merged in 2001 and renamed it Hillsong Church.
It primarily attracted young people, and a large part of the attraction was the music. Over the years, it grew internationally to over 150,000 members and 80 churches. Hillsong Music produced 40 albums and sold over 11 million copies, with songs used in churches around the world. It even won a Grammy in 2018 with the song “What a Beautiful Name.” But it was also marketed as “cool” and “hip,” with energetic, upbeat preachers.
Then Carl Lentz was studying in Australia and met the Houstons. He (as a preacher) and one of the Houstons sons, Joel (in charge of music), decided to open a Hillsong Church in New York City. Lentz was extremely popular and successful. He was young, covered in tattoos, wore super casual trendy clothes, and spoke the language of young people.
He was quite popular among celebrities, athletes, and musicians. He famously baptized Justin Bieber. Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Kourtney Kardashian, Selema Gomez, Vanessa Hudgins all reportedly attended his services.
But this leads to one of the first controversies. Lentz continually called HIllsong progressive (which would be necessary to attract so many from Hollywood!). And he did everything he could to hide the fact that Hillsong was actually very conservative, with conservative values.
When confronted by questions on the church's positions on a number of political issues, Lentz was expert at dancing around the answers. Thoughts on LGBTQ+? On abortion? On gay marriage? Sure. Lentz said, “We have a stance on love.”
Black Lives Matter? “We are on the cutting edge.”
When the choir director, who is gay, appeared on Survivor and revealed he was gay, Hillsong distanced themselves from him and insisted they had no gays in leadership positions because they don’t believe in the gay lifestyle.
In fact, apparently 86% of the congregation voted for Trump in 2016.
Anyway, it’s a lot. Hulu actually produced a documentary on Hillsong titled The Secrets of Hillsong, which I highly recommend for a more detailed history of the church.
Then Hillsong was wrapped in serious scandal. I don’t know. I’m reminded of the pride of Icarus, flying too close to the sun.
First, in November 2020, Lentz was kicked out of the church. According to the church, he had been fired for “leadership issues and breaches of trust, plus a recent revelation of moral failures.” But according to an Instagram post made by Lentz, he confessed that he had cheated on his wife with a months-long affair. And this may have been his second one.
However, this was nothing compared to what was learned about the foundation that the church was built on. Hillsong Church was founded through the merging of his father Frank’s church at the same time that Frank was accused of sexually abusing a young boy for five years. Brian dismissed his father from any and all duties, but he did not report the abuse.
It was later revealed that Frank had actually abused many boys over the years. Before he died in 2004, he did admit to the abuse. And for years afterward, Brian was in continual legal trouble for having concealed his father’s abuses. It was a stain on the entire church.
But it doesn’t end there (the rot is deep?).
In 2020, a married pastor was charged with raping a parishioner. And in March 2022, it was revealed that founder Brian had two inappropriate relationships with other women (which he blamed on his use of medication and alcohol abuse). Further investigation revealed money laundering and tax evasion. Excessive spending on luxury items.
It didn’t take long for affiliate churches around the world and its own board to break all ties to Hillsong. And City Church of Chicago was one of the churches to jump ship.
But City Church of Chicago seems to have been left unscathed and is still very popular, offering three services every Sunday, each of which seats 1500. And despite this horrific history, I actually really enjoyed my time here!
The service kicked off with the band, which had ten members. They were fantastic! People sang along, held their hands up, swayed, and clapped. Sometimes the band would hold out the mic to the audience for them to sing the chorus, which everyone knew.
Here are a couple of the songs:
Then a woman got up and read a passage about an anointing from James 5: 14-15.
“Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”
After that, eight or so leaders of the church stood on the floor around the stage. Then they invited everyone to come up and get anointed with oil on their head and to get a blessing. The ceremonial anointing in the Old Testament was a physical act involving the smearing, rubbing, or pouring of sacred oil on someone’s head as an outward symbol that God had chosen and set apart the person.
I did not participate, mostly because I was sticking to my no communion vow. I even know that I can go to the priest and receive a blessing without taking communion, but I don’t even do that. I’m not sure why I am so stubbornly refusing to participate.
But for the first time, I regretted not participating. I felt as if I am going to do this that I ought to go all in and really experience it all. Oh well.
A couple more songs:
We were then told that anyone who wanted to meet Jesus should raise their hands. They told those with hands raised to meet after the service in the lobby at the COnnect bar. Then after a prayer, it was time for the sermon.
The sermon was given by Alli Munsey (she and husband founded the church - they have three sons). She was well dressed, wearing a black leather button down shirt, tight black pants, black boots, perfect makeup, a big diamond ring, manicured nails, and long, white blond hair. On stage with her was a table with a glass top where she put her notes and a water bottle. And she spoke through a wireless handheld mic.
She was a great speaker! (no surprise!). She was comfortable, natural, personable, and connected with the audience.
She started with the story of Daniel. He was exiled from his homeland to go to Babylonia to serve the king. He was being punished because of Israel's rebellion. But Babylonia was a cesspool. And they changed Daniel’s name to Belteshazzar.
However, Daniel set his heart to serve the Lord and to not defile himself. He made sure that he respected authority, and as a result, he gained favor with the king. He didn’t bow to the king, but he acted with wisdom and tact.
He set the bar high; he set the standard in his life so that we have an example and won’t bow to the trials we face.
(Everyone in the congregation vocalized - “wow,” “yeah,” “uh huh,” etc.)
Munsey continued. We need to build up faith in small things to be able to face the big things. If we can’t be obedient in the small things, we can’t be obedient in the big things. What sets you up to be faithful in big things is to be faithful in the small things. You cannot just wait for the big things to practice being faithful.
In fact, all of us will have trials, and our character is developed when no one is watching. But these trials will provide us with testimony. And that testimony will help others.
As everyone goes crazy around you, as all around you is exploding, she reminded us, you should be the calm in the storm. And you can be calm when you know what your conviction is. You are equipped to do so! You can do it all - marriage, children, etc.
Daniel doesn’t complain when he is eating only vegetables and drinking water while others ridicule him. He is unwilling to compromise his values. People will always draw haters when they demonstrate humility and when they are elevated. Daniel doesn’t berate others. Instead he is respectful.
(Someone started playing the keyboard lightly in the background at this point.)
And then she went through the lessons she hoped we could see.
When we practice obedience through the small things, then we will be entrusted with more.
Respect goes a long way. We should show others how they can live higher. We are not asked to be perfect in work, but we need to be excellent in spirit and grace. When all is falling apart, that is when we will be able to hold fast. We need people to stand with us who have the same convictions that we do that will support us.
Daniel shows us how to love others. For example, the king had a dream and asked others to interpret the dream for him. He was told that the dream was that he was about to fall to power. Upon hearing this, Daniel said to the king, “I pray the dream is about your enemies and not you.” Daniel could have told the king that he would lose power, but instead, Daniel acted in love. After all, God loves even those in Babylon. We all need to remember that. Even for the people in those chaotic times, God loves them. In fact, sometimes God will put difficult people in our lives to show us how to love better.
The service ended with music. The music is so good, and everyone is so moved. It gave me chills, and I even teared up at times.
I really enjoyed the sermon and appreciated the message. I think it proves my point that we are all looking for the same thing - we just use different language to explain what that is. We are all looking for meaning and for a way to navigate the trials and tribulations and the suffering that is life. This is something I firmly believe and have told to others outside of religion. So I really appreciated the reminder to act in love and also to pay attention to how we behave in the small areas because those habits will ensure our ability to behave appropriately during the “big things.”
When I taught middle school for a few years, I used to talk about this when the students would turn in homework that was a mess, on torn, stained wrinkled paper. Or when they did not study for a quiz because it was worth only ten points. When I pointed out these failures to students, they would assure me that if they were taking a 100 point test, they would study. If they had to turn in a three-page essay, then they would have made sure the paper was clean and neat. I would continually tell them that this was not true. That they were developing a habit of being careless in their work that will be very difficult to break when the stakes are bigger.
I also appreciated the idea about having a conviction, having a standard, a value, a line in the sand. Then when faced with a trial, it is easy to handle because you know your conviction.
This reminds me of a couple of things that have happened in the last few years. For one, I was asked how in the world to decide who to vote for in the presidential election. I replied that it was easy. For me, I know what principles I stand for, and then I vote for whomever is more closely aligned with my values. The person who asked me about this was surprised about my strategy. He said he would have to think about that.
The other instance was during COVID. I have always been a small government proponent and have always been suspicious of government overreach. So as soon as it was announced that everything was going to be shut down in the country for two weeks “to slow the spread,” I knew that a line had been crossed in my principles, and I was against it.
I realize that others may have way more tolerance to government overreach than I do, so their lines may be in different places. I can certainly understand that. Some may say my line is pretty extreme (haha). But what worried me during those times was that so many people could not articulate their principle regarding when the government overstepped its bounds. That means they do not know when to stand against it. If you have no line then as that line creeps forward, you have no idea when to walk away or to demand it stop.
If I were a single, young, religious woman new to Chicago, I would go to this church in a heartbeat. It seemed like a really good place to meet young men with the same values.
It is difficult for me to imagine a young person who is not already part of a particular religion, having grown up in one, wanting to join one of the traditional churches.
Maybe this is why so many of the old churches might be working overtime to be relevant to young people. They do this by adopting the language of social justice warriors, by virtue signaling, by jumping into the politics of Leftist progressives. Perhaps that is why their websites and their churches are drenched in rainbow flags and banners.
This church did not say anything about what could be considered political issues during this service. It simply gave their religious message, a message of love. Love for all! There was no need to single out any particular people who deserve love or good treatment. We all do, as children of God.
But dang, these megachurches and their scandals! What is that about?
I know it isn’t just particular to the megachurches. Or to this time. I can remember similar scandals throughout my life, whether by televangelists, rabbis, baptists, or, of course, the Catholic Church. I mean, this Hillsong scandal seems hardly anything compared to the Catholic church child sex abuse scandal! But it is now a cliche: power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
So I suppose every leader is at risk of this corruption and belief in their own infallibility.
Next week, something different: Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist
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