Sydney - Day 8 - Hillsong

One thing I wanted to do while I was in Sydney was go to Hillsong (Hill's from now on as that's what the locals call it). The original intention was to go the previous Sunday when I arrived, but as I was completely jet lagged, I decided to go the following week.

They have a number of services around the city (and rather helpfully) provide a free courtesy bus. I decided to go to the City Campus as it helped with the train times to Brisbane.

Hill's is a new style of church that's totally unlike what most people think of church. Not only does it run a number of church services around Sydney (and other countries) but they are also actively involved in charitable and community work.

Forget everything you've ever thought about church - this is something completely different. The City building holds around 1000 people, and there are so many people wanting to go they hold four services in the morning. When you arrive, there's a real buzz going on, and the first thing you notice is the real blend of age ranges. There's a lot of people there under the age of 40, and a lot of young families with children.

In the entrance you can grab a coffee, and there's U2 and Coldplay as background music. I got chatting to Jess and Tara who, it turns out, are planning a trip to Russia, and we end up swopping travel stories.

When you walk in to the main area there's stuff playing on video screens, and then the band start up, and there playing real rocking music. Everyone's really getting into it, and there's a real buzz.

The theme for the day was "Vision Sunday 2009", which meant they were running through all of the stuff they are planning to do for the year, and had a live video link up with other churches in the city. They've basically run out of room at the 3000 seat place out in the suburbs (even though they have five services on a Sunday), so are starting a new campus so people don't have to travel so far.

The thing that really impressed me was the very clear emphasis on community work. They're not only supporting people in Africa, but are also actively involved in charity stuff in Australia, and are wanting to do more things this year. It was a real mix of wanting to do religious stuff, but realizing the importance of just helping people out - regardless of whether they're interested in church or not.

I came away really impressed by the integrity of the people I met, and by the things they want to do this year.

I said goodbye to Jess and Tara and headed off to do some washing and jump on the train for Brisbane.