Selling God
Rock music, electric guitars and even moshpits are luring more young people to church – but away from traditional worship. Steve Kilgallon investigates the rise of religion as entertainment, and the changing face of Christianity in New Zealand.
There’s pandemonium at Vector Arena. Hundreds have been turned away and inside every seat is taken. An unshaven singer, in regulation black, grabs the microphone and asks the audience to dance. Hundreds of kids race to the front, and begin to mosh. Then he begins to sing about Jesus.
This is the new way of selling religion. And that capacity crowd, gathered to see American revivalist preacher Greg Laurie tell them how they can be reborn, is remarkably fresh-faced.
Even Laurie’s surprised. His offsider, Conrad Poe, has already observed there are more kids than usual in this eager crowd; when Laurie takes to the stage for his hour-long oration, he says happily: “Many of you are young, as I look out at you, and I hope you make a decision.”
Laurie heavily mines popular culture, beginning with a riff on the weather and Crowded House, mentions his Twitter feed, throws in some jokes, then quotes Woody Allen, Keith Urban, George Clooney, Simon Cowell and Russell Brand. When we talk, he tells me how he went to see U2 recently, partly to learn from the best in the entertainment business.