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Media Technology Creating “Sermonic Events.” The Hillsong Megachurch Network

2015; Wiley; Volume: 65; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/cro.2015.a783419

1939-3881

Miranda Klaver,

Christian Theology and Mission

Media Technology Creating "Sermonic Events." The Hillsong Megachurch Network Miranda Klaver Global megachurch networks like Hillsong having its center at the megachurch in Sydney, Australia, are becoming important research sites to understand how the integration of new media technology in worship services affects and even transforms liturgical practices. The Hillsong megachurch network, like most Evangelical and Pentecostal churches, regards media technology as positive. It provides access to mass audiences and enables Hillsong to extend its network and mission of spreading the gospel and planting churches. On the basis of ethnographic research in Hillsong New York City and Hillsong Amsterdam, I discuss new modes of preaching practices enhanced by the possibilities of media technology. I argue that, because live preaching is accompanied by real‐time video casting of the preacher on screens and showing sermons on video has become an acceptable substitute for live preaching, the Hillsong megachurch network challenges the characteristics of live preaching in terms of coherence between time and place, embodiment, and performance. Alternatively, the sermon is transformed into a "sermonic event" that can be reproduced across limits of time, place and context. Hillsong megachurch network targeting global cities Since the turn of the century the Pentecostal Hillsong megachurch in Sydney has established a rapidly growing global network of new churches in urban centers in Australia, Europe, South Africa, and recently in the United States. The success of the Hillsong sites in Amsterdam (founded in 2009) and New York City (founded in 2010), attracting respectively more than 1,200 and 7,000 mainly young visitors on a regular Sunday, is remarkable against the backdrop of secularization and de‐churching in the Western world. It signals a new trend of global cities becoming hot spots for global networks of connected churches. Media saturated megachurches are at the center of innovative global religious networks that successfully "franchise" churches in global cities in different parts of the world. While attention for global religious networks is usually studied from a perspective of migration and reverse mission, a recent new phenomenon is the establishment of global networks by Western based megachurches. Key features of megachurch networks are their size, Evangelical/Pentecostal background, unwaveringly growth‐oriented vision, shared cosmopolitan lifestyle and the integration of the latest digital media technologies in their religious practices and organizational structures. Megachurch networks like Hillsong share a world‐affirmative orientation stressing relevance over truth and hold a materialistic view of salvation often captured by the term "prosperity" gospel. They offer cosmopolitan spaces of community and identity formation beyond categories of ethnicity and race. Additionally, megachurch networks are supported by extensive online media practices in the form of videos, blogs, live streaming and continuous updates of the church, pastors, and other leaders through social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Periscope, accessible 24/7. The integration of media technology in Hillsong's worship services is part of the larger trend among contemporary Evangelical/Pentecostal churches that validates technology as a God given opportunity which can be used for proclaiming the good news of the gospel and the production of entertaining church services that mirror the surrounding media‐savvy popular culture. This raises the question how the integration of media technology fosters new liturgical practices. When I conducted ethnographic fieldwork at two locations of the Hillsong megachurch network in New York City and Amsterdam, I encountered several modes of preaching practices that depart from common Evangelical practices of the sermon as lecture, often supported by PowerPoint projections. Preachers on stage were also real‐time casted on the screens and often videos of sermons were shown when no live speaker seemed available. These observations led me to investigate and reflect upon new emerging sermonic practices I encountered in Hillsong NYC and Hillsong Amsterdam and the implications of integrating media technology in liturgical settings. Liturgy and technology The Hillsong megachurch network is unique in creating a globally shared church experience beyond the cultural and contextual differences in the church locations in different parts of the world. Hillsong's worship services display a remarkable similarity in worship space, liturgy, sound, leadership style, and organizational structure. They are usually held in theaters and clubs and resemble multi‐media spectacles like rock concerts with the use of...