Because They Can: Hillsong and Social Transformation

Historically, pentecostals have been forthrightly resistant to what they have seen as the “liberal” representation of the Gospel message as fundamentally a narrative of social justice. However, the progressive wing of pentecostalism has in the last two decades moved significantly towards a much more socially-engaged perspective, and this transition is certainly evident in the life and ministry of Hillsong. This chapter focuses on reading how the church describes, interprets and motivates its social engagement work, particularly through its website and its music, finding that the latter in particular speaks more widely to Hillsong’s ecclesiology, culture, and self-identification, but also offers an important emerging pentecostal model of spiritual empowerment for service to the world and the transformation of society.