I recently came across the 2023 Netflix documentary The Secrets of Hillsong, an exposé film about the church leadership scandal underneath the rise and fall of the Hillsong Church – the non-denominational, global initiative and the conglomeration behind the worship band Hillsong United. The documentary portrayed Hillsong as being one of the fastest-growing Christian churches in the world circa 2020 (citing an attendance of 440,000 per weekend) but later the quickest-shrinking. Having heard this, I stopped to wonder, how did that happen? The answer is apparent: music.
The problem with Hillsong Church, which led to its demise, is a relatively simple one. Their method of evangelization relies solely upon the Beauty which they present before the congregation. It then lacks the Truth, or the Goodness, to provide for that which its Beauty promises. Lyrics like “Who am I that the highest king / Would welcome me / I was lost but He brought me in” are juxtaposed with exclusionary practices and accusations of racism. Lyrics like “I see a near revival / Stirring as we pray and seek / We’re on our knees / We’re on our knees” is juxtaposed with the irreverent worship and casual disposition which Hillsong partakes in every Sunday. Truly, there is a disconnect somewhere between what Hillsong proclaims to be true and what they practice as if it were.
Now, to those who would accuse me of misapplying the word “beauty” to Hillsong’s music, I strongly object. Beauty is a transcendental virtue, meaning it can be properly assigned to all things. Hillsong’s music follows conventional music theory, a practice which points toward God through the display of the divine order with which He imbued creation. Additionally, Hillsong’s lyrics typically take the form of the most beautiful act humanity is capable of: complete surrender to the Lord. It is, however, this “transcendental” property of Beauty which damages Hillsong’s strategy of evangelization through music.
The “transcendental” quality belongs to only three virtues: Truth, Goodness, and Beauty (though some would argue for a fourth, Unity). Because of their aforementioned ability to be rightly possessed by all of creation, the transcendentals, in a way, possess themselves such that a man who seeks one finds the other two. All three of these virtues are connected and bring legitimacy to the others. In this way, as they apply to evangelization, they are reflected by the Aristotelian modes of persuasion: logos, ethos, and pathos. Logos reflects Truth as an appeal to the mind, ethos reflects Goodness as an appeal to the will, and pathos reflects Beauty as an appeal to the soul.
Beauty then, like pathos, is the most effective form of argumentation. It, however, possesses the greatest ability to deceive. Insofar as the object of an argument is to win over the audience (not necessarily your opponent), pathos hold the unique advantage against an uninterested crowd, an organism which tends to feel more than it thinks. The rhetorical advantage which pathos brings in private debate, however, is the effectiveness it renders towards ethos, and ethos towards logos. Pathos, then, unsupported by ethos or logos, is nothing more than a brilliant hook.
In this way, Beauty cannot be used as a method for evangelization without the aforementioned Truth or Goodness. Every human is constantly seeking Beauty; and while there is an objective Beauty, anything, still, can be said to possess it. Thus, we find ourselves called to vile things: the Beauty of creation and not of the Creator.
That being said, in the same manner, Truth cannot be used for evangelization in a way which lacks Beauty or Goodness (as often done in today’s age by jaded, online apologists and rad-trad teens). Nor can Goodness be of any use when devoid of Truth or Beauty (as seen in the example of a pro-abortion charity). In fact, these things find themselves being neither completely true nor completely good – just as a melodic tune which does not proclaim the Lord lacks complete beauty.
We, then, can learn at least two lessons from the demise of Hillsong Church. The first, that, in evangelization, Beauty is a powerful tool. We can use Beauty as a calling to something greater, the fastest grab to call a soul to God. The second, however, is not to use Beauty in isolation. Instead, Beauty must be validated by the Truth of the Word and the Goodness of the Heart. Only then can we hope to display the “overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God” to those around us.
And if you do not, you may end up heading the fastest growing, and subsequently, the fastest shrinking church on Earth.
