Thread: Hillsong

Article on Charisma

http://www.charismanews.com/culture/...leaders-or-not


My take on it is that Carl Lentz from Hillsong New York is more accepting of the gay position (not saying he agrees with the lifestyle). Now that the media has become involved Brian had to step in and make a declaration. This could of been prevented if they made a clear cut public statement earlier instead of being wishy washy.

Brian realises he had to say something publically or get greater backlash from within and other churches. I'm glad he made this statement.

Originally Posted by Cardinal TT

Article on Charisma

http://www.charismanews.com/culture/...leaders-or-not


My take on it is that Carl Lentz from Hillsong New York is more accepting of the gay position (not saying he agrees with the lifestyle). Now that the media has become involved Brian had to step in and make a declaration. This could of been prevented if they made a clear cut public statement earlier instead of being wishy washy.

Brian realises he had to say something publically or get greater backlash from within and other churches. I'm glad he made this statement.

""It is my understanding that they have not been involved in an active leadership or ministry role since," he continues. "

It is your understanding? You don't really know? You don't really keep up with this?

Originally Posted by fuego

""It is my understanding that they have not been involved in an active leadership or ministry role since," he continues. "

It is your understanding? You don't really know? You don't really keep up with this?

Hillsong has umpteen satellite churches all over the world, check out their website. It's not unreasonable that the senior pastor in Australia doesn't keep track of everyone in every church who steps in and out of various roles. The question is if his organization is too big for him to keep track of unless he sets up some very specific general rules. Hillsong also has lots of churches that are affiliated under the "Hillsong family" without being called (or run by) Hillsong. The church I'm a member of in Oslo is (or rather has become) an affiliate.

Originally Posted by Cardinal TT

Article on Charisma

http://www.charismanews.com/culture/...leaders-or-not


My take on it is that Carl Lentz from Hillsong New York is more accepting of the gay position (not saying he agrees with the lifestyle). Now that the media has become involved Brian had to step in and make a declaration. This could of been prevented if they made a clear cut public statement earlier instead of being wishy washy.

Brian realises he had to say something publically or get greater backlash from within and other churches. I'm glad he made this statement.

Did anyone notice the rather odd photo in the article ?



The tiny guy with the hat and the tattoos who barely manages to get his nose over the table (or that is what it looks like) is actually Carl Lentz. I wonder if there is some sort of message there from the Charisma editors ??

I don't think it's odd.. it's obvious he's sitting on the other side and the angle of the camera caught him that way.

Might be that the camera angle is odd.

Originally Posted by Femme*

I don't think it's odd.. it's obvious he's sitting on the other side and the angle of the camera caught him that way.

Might be that the camera angle is odd.

The photo is very odd, as if the photographer didn't notice that the man in the background is there. The photographer would only need to make a clockwise motion in relation to Brian Houston and then Carl Lentz would be out of view and the resulting shot of Brian Houston would have been better.

It's funny that the Charisma editors picked such an odd photo of the two to accompany an article about the man to the right having problems due to a satellite church lead by the man to the left. As a hobby photographer I have a difficult time believing that there isn't a message there, if only sublimal.

Originally Posted by Colonel

Hillsong has umpteen satellite churches all over the world, check out their website. It's not unreasonable that the senior pastor in Australia doesn't keep track of everyone in every church who steps in and out of various roles. The question is if his organization is too big for him to keep track of unless he sets up some very specific general rules. Hillsong also has lots of churches that are affiliated under the "Hillsong family" without being called (or run by) Hillsong. The church I'm a member of in Oslo is (or rather has become) an affiliate.

The problem has arisen due to Brian and Carl being very non committal about gays in Hillsong. Brian was asked publically many months ago about gays and he basically 'waffled'.
Because the pressure has now come he had to make a strong stance

I applaud him for his current stance but if he showed conviction previously this would not be a problem

Originally Posted by Cardinal TT

The problem has arisen due to Brian and Carl being very non committal about gays in Hillsong. Brian was asked publically many months ago about gays and he basically 'waffled'.
Because the pressure has now come he had to make a strong stance

I applaud him for his current stance but if he showed conviction previously this would not be a problem

Well the problem is he's trying to ride a line that hard to ride. I just think a lot of preachers don't have the spiritual backbone to definitively state what they believe, either due to backlash, or loss of people ($$), or being thought of a certain way, etc, etc, etc.

Originally Posted by Cardinal TT

The problem has arisen due to Brian and Carl being very non committal about gays in Hillsong. Brian was asked publically many months ago about gays and he basically 'waffled'.
Because the pressure has now come he had to make a strong stance

I applaud him for his current stance but if he showed conviction previously this would not be a problem

Carl threw the usual line about Jesus never addressing gays (Jesus didnt address idol worship either) so he seems to be on the pro-gay side and is quite possibly only held back by Hillsong policy. The large number of gays attending services at Hillsong NY could indicate that they have figured that out. Brian said earlier that his personal views are conservative but was wishy washy about church policy.

As Fuego said many preachers no longer just tell it straight. Some things are very clear and preachers need to make a stand instead of worrying about the consequences