Join us as we celebrate the birth of Jesus in our Christmas Carols Spectacular from the Hills Campus, Sydney Australia.

Hillsong Church is a charismatic Christian megachurch and Christian denomination originating from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The church was founded in 1983, originally called Hills Christian Life Centre, in Baulkham Hills, New South Wales, by Brian Houston and his wife, Bobbie. The church is also known for its worship music, with groups such as Hillsong Worship, Hillsong United and Hillsong Young & Free. Formerly a member of the Australian Christian Churches (the Australian branch of the Assemblies of God), it separated from ACC in 2018. According to the church, over 100,000 people attend services each week at the church or one of its 80 affiliated churches located worldwide (around 40,000 in Australia).

Hillsong is a megachurch that has been described by popular music scholar Tom Wagner as a « confluence of sophisticated marketing techniques and popular music ».  The music of Hillsong United and Hillsong Worship are credited with driving Hillsong’s global popularity.  It was founded in 1983 inside a warehouse as Hills Christian Life Centre by former window cleaner Brian Houston and his wife Bobbie Houston.  Through the 1980s and 1990s the congregation grew from 45 members to nearly 20,000 and emerged as a significant influence in the area of contemporary worship music. This was a result of strategic marketing that targeted younger generations and Hillsong’s success at establishing itself as a global music standard. Originally, services were held at the Baulkham Hills Public School hall.  In 1997 the church moved into its new building at Baulkham Hills’ Norwest Business Park. A new convention centre at the church’s « Hills » location, was opened on 19 October 2002 by John Howard, the then Prime Minister of Australia.  During the 1990s, Kiev Christian life Centre, now Hillsong Kiev, and London Christian Life Centre, now Hillsong London, were planted from the Hillsong Church as independent churches.

In March 2007, Hillsong Kiev planted an offshoot church in Moscow, which started regular services in July 2007.  It was announced in October 2007 that Phil Dooley and Lucinda Dooley would plant a Hillsong Church in South Africa in March 2008. Hillsong Stockholm, Sweden, formerly known as Passion Church, was planted in 2008-2009. In 2009, a third campus, in Campbelltown, New South Wales, and a fourth, in Mount Gravatt, Queensland, were added. In 2015, there were three campuses in Melbourne. In February 2016 a campus was added in Darwin, Northern Territory. 2017 brought a large expansion with Bali, Wollongong and Perth all being launched.

In 2017 Hillsong announced that it would be opening a church in Tel Aviv, Israel.Hillsong United featured Daher Nassar, a Palestinian Christian, in their music video Prince of Peace. The video was recorded live in Israel and shows a stone at the entrance of Nassar’s farm which has the words « We refuse to be enemies » written on it.In 2018 it was announced that Hillsong would be expanding into Canada and Mexico with the launch of Hillsong Ottawa on 23 September 2018 and Hillsong Monterrey later that year.

In September 2018, Hillsong left the Australian Christian Churches (ofwhich Houston had been national superintendent/president from 1997 to 2009) tobecome an autonomous denomination, identifying itself more as a global and charismatic church. According to both Hillsong and ACC, the parting was amicable.

Photo :Justin Higuchi : HillsongUnited perfoming live at The Forum in Inglewood California on Thursday October23rd, 2014 (Certains droits réservés