Understanding Pentecostalism

The long nineteenth century had been the scene of multiple innovations in Anglo-American Christianity, with several ‘Great Awakenings’ giving rise to now-familiar movements such as Methodism, the Holiness movement, Christian Science, and the Salvation Army. This period of ‘revivals’, more often than not taking place during mass gatherings, was characterised by emotional and embodied forms of religious experience and conversion (Gooren, 2010: 95). In the early twentieth century another revival took place at Asuza Street in Los Angeles. A pastor by the name of William Seymour, by all accounts a humble man born to former slaves in the American South, led a small congregation that became world-famous (Coleman and Hackett, 2015: 7).

The news travelled the world and soon reached Australia. Inspired by a pamphlet ordered from England, Sara Jane (Jeannie) Lancaster established the first Australian Pentecostal gathering “Good News Hall” in North Melbourne (Chant, 2011: 214; ‘Back to Pentecost,’ The Sun (Sydney), March 1, 1912, p. 6). Thereafter, even as it was becoming more formalised in national and international associations, Australian Pentecostalism quickly fragmented. Although a relatively small movement in the Australian setting, Pentecostalism grew exponentially in the 1960s and 1970s due to a variety of complex factors (Clifton, 2012: 41; Hutchinson, Rocha, and Openshaw, 2020: 4; Newton, 2018). The worldwide ministries of the charismatic American evangelist Billy Graham were among the influences that helped kickstart these revivals of the second half of the twentieth century (Maiden, 2020: 77).

Unquestionably, Hillsong is the best-known contemporary iteration of megachurch Pentecostalism in Australia. Established in Sydney’s Baulkham Hills by the Houston family as Hills Christian Life Centre (CLC), this church has grown to become a worldwide phenomenon. Its band and music label have since the 1990s been a force in Christian Contemporary Music (CCM), topping charts, winning awards, and producing celebrities (Riches, 2010). At its peak (around 2018) the church had locations in thirty countries around the world and reported an average weekly attendance of some 130,000 people worldwide (Klaver, 2021: 16). In South East Queensland, at the time of writing (early 2025), there are five active Hillsong locations in the Gold Coast, Brisbane, and the Sunshine Coast. Although Hillsong’s popularity was challenged by a range of controversies in the early 2020s, its influence on Australian Pentecostalism in particular is well-established (Evans, 2017; Rocha, 2024).

Hillsong did not by any means invent the ‘typical Sunday service’ described below, but certainly provides a template that has been used by many churches across Australia and abroad as a model and inspiration.

Styles of Christianity

Researching the use of multimedia technologies in ‘contemporary style’ churches in South East Queensland, I have attended nearly thirty church services in person, along with a host of online services.

Although the story below describes some common themes across these services, it is important to note that every church, and every service, is different. Local demographics, the theological and historical background of any given church, their missional focus, and their values all matter in how a church expresses itself in a Sunday service.  

That being said, there is an overall ‘feel’ to this type of church. Anthropologist Birgit Meyer (2010) calls this a ‘sensational form’. This concept aims to understand religion not as something that is only rooted in belief or in religious texts, but encompasses that and much more: media, acts, objects, bodies, and feelings or sensations.

Under investigation here is one such ‘sensational form’, which has been called ‘Cool Christianity’ by anthropologist Cristina Rocha (2024). It is a form of Christianity that embraces modern aesthetics, music, and marketing. ‘“Cool” churches appropriate elements of secular youth and popular cultures,’ she explains, ‘be it dress style, body decoration, trendy graphic design, social media aesthetics, pop music, celebrity culture, and the methods of the entertainment industry’ (Rocha, 2024: 8). Having evolved over the past decades, ‘Cool Christianity’ is now a fully formed style of Christianity that is dominant in Australian Pentecostalism in South East Queensland.

A Sunday in the suburbs

Every suburb has its churches, although a pronounced concentration of them can be found in Brisbane’s ‘Bible Belt’ (Hey, 2010: 205) in the suburbs surrounding Mount Gravatt, a 20-minute drive from the city centre. Citipointe has their church and college there, Hillsong’s main Brisbane campus is located at the foot of Mount Gravatt, while other Pentecostal churches such as Favor, Life, Public, iSee, Kingdom City, and several others are also clustered in this area. Many of these churches are (or have been) members of Australian Christian Churches (ACC), formerly known as the Assemblies of God in Australia, classifying them (at least historically) as Pentecostal. This association, which counts over a thousand churches as members, was formerly presided over by Hillsong founder Brian Houston before Hillsong disaffiliated. Thereafter, it was chaired by Brisbane pastor Wayne Alcorn of Hope Centre in Bowen Hills until his retirement in 2025. Some churches have stand-alone church buildings, others have a college or school on their campus grounds that doubles as church and assembly hall, and one of them gathers on the second floor of an office building across from the Westfield Garden City shopping centre.

The purpose-built churches tend to have a non-distinct style, described as ‘warehouse churches’ by megachurch scholar Afo Adogame (2010). They are nondescript buildings, that tend to resemble a self-storage facility or 24/7 gym rather than a cathedral. The word ‘church’ is notably absent from many of the names and logos of such churches. The names ‘Nexus’, ‘Emerge’, ‘Glow’, and ‘Hope’ are indicative of this trend. Some buildings have a crucifix somewhere on the building or in their logo, but for most it is not prominent or is entirely absent. The Brisbane context invites some tropical plants like philodendrons or strelitzias around the building, and a few palm trees. A faint scent of eucalyptus is in the air; sweltering heat radiates from the bitumen on the walk from car to building.

Many churches sport their own café with outdoor seating, where people can order a barista-made coffee while chatting the morning away and waiting for the service to start. Approaching the building’s entrance, you are typically greeted by enthusiastic volunteers in branded church t-shirts, before entering into a small foyer or lobby. Some churches have tables set up with branded merchandise, such as tote bags with the church’s logo or t-shirts with the slogan of the current sermon series. A seating area with a couch or some comfy designer chairs is set up as the ‘welcome hub’, with a banner inviting first-time visitors to come over for a chat and a free coffee. The overhead signs direct parents to kids’ church, day-care facilities, and bathrooms. Then, finally, there are the doors to the auditorium.

Praise and worship

The doors open only a few minutes before the service starts. People slowly make their way into the auditorium, where they are greeted by music playing through the speakers and, in some churches, a light haze from the haze machine that fills the space. The walls are painted in a dark colour, the floors are carpeted with a grey carpet, and the seats are typically grey as well.

You would think this makes the auditorium dark, but to the contrary: as you find your way to your seat, guided by the ever-friendly volunteer ushers, the audience lights are turned up brightly. People have conversations over the loud popular worship music coming out of the speaker arrays hanging from the ceiling in front of the stage. Regular congregants hug their friends or shake hands with newcomers as they introduce themselves. The seats are all directed towards the stage, which is even more hazy with a dimmed shade of blue or purple. About two minutes before the service starts the video and graphics team, located in the booth behind the middle rows of seats or sometimes in a small room separate from the auditorium, start a countdown video and brighten up the stage lights with an orange or red hue. During the final minute, the worship band’s musicians enter the stage and plug in their guitars, ready to start praise and worship.

At the exact moment the countdown timer ends, the audience lights slightly dim and the band starts to play, prompting everybody to stand up and clap along to the music. The worship leader is often the most animated. A big LED screen, about two metres tall and four metres wide and located against the back of the stage behind the singers, shows moving images of abstract shapes, oceans, or other scenes from nature. At the top of the image, the worship song lyrics are projected, two lines at a time.

The first section of the ‘praise and worship’ sessions are upbeat songs that you can dance and clap along to — this is referred to as praise music. Near the stage, pastors on duty and some younger congregants jump along to the music enthusiastically. Many songs feature short breaks during the chorus, allowing for a couple of seconds of dancing and jumping in between the phrases. After one or two songs in this upbeat style, a pastor dressed in a casual outfit hops on stage for introductions and to welcome everyone to church. All the while, the band softly plays melodic instrumental music in the background. After a short prayer the music picks up again. The audience lights dim further and the illumination on stage becomes more subdued in hues of blue and green, while the songs that are played are more ballad-like (Ingalls and Yong 2015; Rakow 2020; Klaver 2021). This is what is referred to as the ‘worship’ section of the musical component of the church service. During the worship section, people tend to close their eyes and stretch out their arms. Seeking a personal encounter with God, some people kneel in their place, or go up to the ministry team at the front of the stage to receive personal prayers while the rest of the congregations sings.

The praise and worship section of the service can go from anywhere between twenty minutes to an hour in this style of church, even though generally no more than four songs are played. Towards the end of the last song another pastor enters the stage and says a few words in prayer before delivering a short sermon about giving or generosity. A bible verse is projected on the screens to the sides of the stage as buckets or baskets are passed around for people to deposit cheques or money — although these are rarely used. Rather, people pick up their phones to scan the QR code sticker on the seat in front of them, which leads them to a payment portal on the church’s website. Here, people can transfer their tithes, sometimes with the option to direct contributions to a particular charity or ministry of the church. If the QR code does not work, most churches will have an EFTPOS machine in the lobby or near the exit of the auditorium. After the buckets have gone round, the pastor updates the congregation on what is happening in the church, with a few videos advertising church events playing on the big screen.

The audience lights dim, and the auditorium completely darkens. Accompanied by music and stylised graphics, the videos look professionally produced and are reminiscent of television commercials (Klaver 2021, 40). After this ‘ad break’, the pastor introduces the speaker of the day. This is either a guest speaker, or one of the church’s own pastors. Many churches are led by a husband-and-wife pastor couple, who are referred to as ‘senior pastors’. It often happens that one pastor from the couple delivers the short message about giving and introduces her husband or his wife after the video announcements. The pastor then delivers ‘the message’ or ‘the word’, typically an encouraging speech which is deliberately not called a ‘sermon’.

The message tends to start with a bit of humour or a personal anecdote, reminiscent of a stand-up comedy show. After a couple of laughs and moments of connection with the audience, the talk turns more serious and features Bible readings accompanied by visuals and presentation slides, as well as excerpts from the Bible projected onto the screens. The message often closely connects to the theme or ‘vision’ that the church has set for itself for the year, or a themed short series of topics, which is referred to as a ‘season’. Towards the end of the message, the band returns on stage and the keyboard player lays down a low synthesiser chord and adds some soft piano notes on top. At this point, the message moves into a crescendo. The pastor will start speaking faster and more passionately, and the congregation may respond with enthusiastic shouts and sometimes applause (Coleman and Hackett, 2015).

The band then moves into a reprise of one of the ballad-like worship songs that were played before the message. Then, after repeating the chorus or bridge an indeterminate number of times, they start playing softly in the background again (Evans, 2017: 75).

It is at this point that the pastor starts their final prayer, which ends in the altar call. After everyone has closed their eyes, people who have ‘lost their faith’ but want to rekindle their relationship with Jesus, and people who have ‘chosen’ a life in God’s presence for the first time, are invited to raise their hand. The pastor then prays for them, and volunteers take note so they can approach new converts after the service. After this prayer, the pastor thanks everyone for coming and encourages everyone to stick around for the post-gathering activities, or new attendees to grab a free coffee or come for a chat in the ‘welcome hub’. The band then reprises one of their upbeat songs as people continue their worship for a few more minutes or make their way outside.

Understanding Cool Christianity

Despite their clear Pentecostal lineage and affiliation, some of the churches that I visited have chosen to shy away from the label and prefer to describe themselves as ‘contemporary style’ churches. The style of ‘Cool Christianity’ here described, has been described by one sociologist as a form of ‘Hillsongisation’ (Martí, 2017), a phenomenon which can be observed in many forms of Christianity in recent decades. Though not attributable to Hillsong, but reminiscent of it, this style of Christianity offers a friendly and accessible Sunday service, especially to non-Christians who are unfamiliar with church. The style seems to resonate especially with youth, who can espouse their Christian values while simultaneously engaging in some form of popular culture. It also provides young suburban families with a sense of community and purpose.

The effective use of visual and social media and branding is striking in this style of Christianity, with several sociologist arguing that it is attractive to people precisely because it resonates with the familiar structures of capitalism that dominate our everyday lives (Maddox 2012; Yip 2015). By embracing these platforms and creating a brand for themselves, these churches adopt strategies from commercial brands like Nike and Adidas that sell a ‘lifestyle’ alongside their products. Moreover, churches today need to find ways to compete for attention with social media platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. Using branding strategies, their own social media accounts, and by implementing high-tech production technologies in Sunday services, they are able to provide a meaningful alternative to the distractions of secular social media and entertainment.

There is undoubtedly some truth to this, to the extent that the argument is even repeated by some people in churches themselves. But a core value of ‘Cool Christianity’ that is reproduced in the style of many of the churches I visited is the idea of ‘excellence’ (Rocha, 2024).

I want to honour God. I want to serve you by saying: I put in the effort. Because I really value who you are, and you’re valuable and God values you, too, and so let me do that   for you.

Simply put, excellence refers to the idea that God is worthy of your best efforts. One interviewee described it well:

If I have a guest over in my house, I’m going to vacuum, I’m going to clean. I’m going to move the furniture so it’s straight. I’m going to change the tablecloth; I’m going to put some fresh flowers about. I’m going to make it presentable for people to come in so that it’s clean and healthy to be there, but also so that this person actually feels valued and respected by all of the effort I’ve put in. I guess that’s the heart of what we do, in a broad stroke. […] I want to honour God. I want to serve you by saying: I put in the effort. Because I really value who you are, and you’re valuable and God values you, too, and so let me do that for you. (Anonymous, 2023: Interview.)

In other words: if you would clean your own home when you get visitors and straighten the chairs, how much more of an effort would you put in to prepare God’s house for His visitors? This concept of excellence seeps through every aspect of ‘doing church’ in contemporary-style Christianity. Best efforts are made to run the social media, to fit out the auditorium with the latest tech, to rehearse and play great-sounding music, to clean the toilets, and to welcome a newcomer with a free coffee and a gift bag.

The style of church practiced in many Pentecostal churches in South East Queensland is not immune to critique. In the wake of several controversies around well-known megachurches who share this style, such as Hillsong, the embrace of social media, entertainment technologies, and branding has been criticised. However, even ‘brands’ do more than just sell products, they also ‘create a sense of affiliation and community’ (Rakow, 2015: 218), just like churches have always done.

As commercial brands need to constantly adapt to consumer preferences, tastes, and demands, so churches will have to continue to adapt. What is ‘contemporary’ today may well be old-school and passé  in a decade’s time. We will see what is ‘cool’ in the years to come, as the Ship of Theseus continues to renew and evolve.

Sources and further reading