Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Secrets Of Hillsong’ On FX and Hulu, A Docuseries About The Megachurch’s History Of Covering Up Misconduct

The Secrets Of Hillsong, directed by Stacey Lee, is a four-part docuseries that examines the Hillsong megachurch and its history of covering up various kinds of misconduct, centered on the story and interviews with Carl Lentz, the ousted pastor of the church’s New York branch, and his wife Laura.

THE SECRETS OF HILLSONG: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Tiff Perez, a parishioner of the Hillsong Church, stares out a window, then states the exact date that she joined the church.

The Gist: The first episode talks about Hillsong and Lentz and how the Pentecostal ministry, founded in Australia in the late 1980s by Brian and Bobbie Houston, grew into a worldwide phenomenon by offering a service and message that was modern, seemingly inclusive, and felt as much like a concert than it did a church service. Lentz, who helped co-found the New York branch with the Houstons’ son Joel in 2010, was the charismatic pastor who dressed in skinny jeans and deep-Ved t-shirts and was seen being the spiritual counsel to celebrities like Justin Bieber.

But through interviews with parishioners and journalists like Vanity Fair‘s Alex French and Dan Adler, the church’s modern services, that included rock and hip hop music and drew millennial-aged followers by the thousands, hid a good old fashioned Pentecostal ministry, one that spoke in tongues and many of the other fire-and-brimstone services you see in news stories. In the many interviews he gave, he tended to step around issues like gay marriage and abortion in an effort to be inclusive. But then Houston clarified the church’s conservative stance on those issues, alienating many parishioners.

Another issue was the fact that the church ran on the efforts of unpaid volunteers, some of which did so many hours that they couldn’t hold full-time jobs. While some volunteers benefitted from their work, especially given the massive amounts of money the church was pulling in from parishioners’ tithing and other contributions, but others started to feel exploited.

The massively popular Lentz was suddenly fired by Hillsong in 2020, ostensibly because he admitted he had an affair. But while the Houstons focused on Lentz as the symbol for what needed to be fixed with Hillsong, the Houstons themselves were coming under scrutiny.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? There have been docuseries about other megachurches before, but to be honest, The Secrets Of Hillsong feels more like The Vow, about the NXIVM cult.

Our Take: Stylistically, The Secrets Of Hillsong is pretty straightforward: Lots of footage from Hillsong services, media coverage and interviews Lentz gave to everyone from podcasters to Oprah Winfrey, and talking head interviews. But the series does an effective job of setting up just what made Hillsong so popular in the early 2010s, especially as it came to New York, its first American branch, and quickly spread.

We don’t get to see an interview with Lentz, which is the centerpiece of the docuseries, until the end of the first episode. That’s a convention we’ve seen many times, because it builds drama. But we see so much of Lentz in the archival footage that the “Wow, they actually interviewed this guy!” moment is blunted a bit. But we’ll trade that for getting a really solid picture of who Lentz is, or at least who he portrayed himself to be, and why he attracted so many people to Hillsong.

The series is mostly based on French and Adler’s reporting , and there does seem to be an undertone of incredulity to both the reporting and Lee’s direction. Not as much about Lentz; while “Mama Jones”, one of the oldest parishioners, does say in her interview that Lentz could cry on cue, it still shows Lentz as a genuinely charming presence who was mostly a force for good. But the rest of the episode starts to veer Hillsong’s story into cult territory. Not that there’s anything wrong with that; there are many cult-like aspects to megachurches like Hillsong. But we wonder if, because of the access they got to the Lentzes, that they’ll come off much better than the Houstons in this series.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: As he sits down for his interview, Carl Lentz pulls on his hair, drinks some water, and cites the serenity prayer as the camera focuses on his heart and cross pendants.

Sleeper Star: This absolutely belongs to Mary Jones, who became “Mama Jones” to the New York congregation; she’s the oldest parishioner the filmmakers talked to, and she’s decidedly realistic about the church, Lentz’s charms, and how white the people on the stage were vs. who was in the audience.

Most Pilot-y Line: Lentz immediately starts getting verklempt when he sits down for his interview and says, “I don’t want to ruin my TV makeup,” not at all realizing that multiple moments of him saying “I’m trying not to cry” during his sermons have been shown. The man really can cry on cue.

Our Call: STREAM IT. The Sercrets Of Hillsong is an effective picture of a megachurch that tried to modernize the old-fashioned Pentecostal service, despite being not only just as ultra-conservative as other evangelical ministries, but in possession of lots and lots of secrets.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.