First up, a bit of background.

My family started going to the Hillsong church around 30 years ago. Back then it was called the Hills Christian Life Centre and Hillsong was the name of its yearly conference. I remember going to the first Hillsong conference when I was a kid, maybe around six or seven years old.

I remember the excitement my parents felt around this new church, housed in the back of a warehouse. They liked its message, which focused on hope instead of hell. They liked the energy and style. They liked how it was full of young people. They really liked the music.

Each Sunday we would travel from Guildford to Baulkham Hills (around an hour’s drive each way) and we got really involved. We would arrive ridiculously early each Sunday morning to serve free tea and coffee to fellow church goers. My parents started a Chinese Hillsong church. Our home became one for missionaries, refugees and friends in need. My brother went to bible college and ran the production of their youth nights. My sister got into music publishing and worked for the church’s record label and I (before I stopped going) was one of a few that started Hillsong’s first youth choir and was heavily involved in the church’s creative side and its youth leadership.

It’s been around 20 years since I attended church and I now find it a fascinating case study for businesses.

Why?

Hillsong is a big business. It’s an organisation that markets something as polarising, old fashioned and potentially offensive as God and Religion. Its message is always the same. It relies purely on member-nominated donations and the creation of new business models to survive and because of this, it focuses heavily on relevance and value. It needs to fly and refuel – retention and new member acquisition is key to its survival. And it’s the master of behaviour change. It consistently needs to persuade its members to act and do things that are often difficult, selfless, thankless and not all that glamorous.

I think there are some interesting things we could take note of, and I’m looking at these purely from a business and marketing perspective, not from a theological, spiritual, moral or personal one, etc.

The lens of culture

The church is full of old stories and ancient traditions however Hillsong uses the lens of young people to create relevance. It leverages culture – songwriting, branding, film/content and live events to capture attention and re-tell or re-interpret these classic stories. And it has a deeper culture around family, community and shared values to bind everyone together. Anyone who sees the style and production values of what Hillsong creates can see that they do it awfully well. In leveraging and reflecting culture, they have in turn and in time, created their own culture.

The importance of an evolving vision around a common good

As humans, we want to be a part of something bigger than we are, it’s why a uniting vision is so powerful. Even though the church has the ultimate goal of “saving” humanity and of heaven (rather lofty goals), the Hillsong leadership team creates a yearly vision, which breaks it down a bit. And they invest a lot in vision. They’ve made it an event, a Vision Night, where leaders unveil and unpack the vision for the year ahead. They have clear goals and simply articulate how you can get involved. And the vision doesn’t just focus on the acquisition of things like network expansion and a bigger building, it focuses on a common good and fighting  a common evil and needs to do this to really rally people together. There are social impact goals. And to round it all off, they demonstrate results from all of their influence and hard work so you feel like the group is achieving so much… and you get to play a part in this.

The power of opting in

Think of the last time you were allocated a job. Now think of a time you volunteered for a job. There was a big difference in your energy and willingness, right? Hillsong has thousands of volunteers, which means everyone opts into what they’re doing. They choose it, personally commit to it and stay accountable to each other for it and there’s incredible power in that. Imagine if you could find a way for your team to opt more into the work they did? Imagine if they held each other accountable for what was done?

Layers of connection

Layers of community is something Hillsong does well. I know many people who have considered the church not because they believe in its faith but because they crave the community – our society seems to lack one outside of our dominant drinking and sports cultures. Hillsong is a church that has thousands of members but knows its strength lies in its layers of face-to-face connection.

Countering the thousands that attend church each week, everyone is encouraged to attend a local cell group where you meet with around ten people that you create a personal, social bond with. There are larger groups that you can become a part of – whether its a creative team, a parents group or a youth group. There are even bigger weekly church services that take place each weekend and regular conferences that host hundreds of thousands, including the odd celebrity. Then there are wider community traditions like Christmas and Easter. As you can see, there are layers upon layers of connection that vary in scale, focus and frequency. All of these create a powerful sense of belonging for people within a big group. They keep people consistently connected to their message and socially norm the behaviours that they encourage.

Message delivery 

Hillsong not only focuses on a simple message, but how they present these messages is interesting given they essentially tell the same story over and over again. There are events focused on certain elements of their message, and they make it instructional, whether it’s a message around parenting, marriage or community. They feature short, easy to digest sermons shared by charismatic leaders and the message is sandwiched in between music to keep things lively. Their message is delivered in person, on TV, on your phone, across social media and in a wide range of collateral. They focus on purpose, prosperity, hope and destiny vs. guilt, punishment and shame. And there’s been a visual transition too. Instead of traditional pictures of god and saints, Hillsong’s imagery is of its people – people who you want to emulate or be friends with, or even of you. They take branding very seriously and market their products (particularly their music and conferences) and services brilliantly.

The impact of excellence 

Anyone who has received work for free knows that it usually carries less of a sheen. You can often tell it isn’t as good as the stuff that pays well, however Hillsong values excellence in everything, which helps to get all jobs done well. They make it all aspirational. You are part of a team. There are uniforms and training. There’s a sense of fun. There’s the motivation that if you’re going to do it, you gotta do it to the best of your ability because you’re representing both Hillsong and of the big man upstairs (who sees everything and will bless you even if it’s menial, thankless work). When I worked at Naked, one of our values was that “everything communicates” and Hillsong lives and breathes this. You’ll sense the same vibe from a car park assistant to one of its leading pastors.

Growth relies on everyone 

Instead of having a new member acquisition team, Hillsong encourages everyone to grow the church. Members, who are your friends, ask you along. Growth is a key indicator of success and it’s everyone’s responsibility to grow the church. People are taught how to encourage their friends and family along, there are frequent events, perfect for newbies and lots of good looking material to share. It’s not an uncool group to join either. The culture of how people look and how successful they are is interesting to watch.

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When you look at how Hillsong leverages and creates culture, unites people behind a common vision, uses the power of opting in, shares their message, creates layers of connection, makes growth everyone’s responsibility and does everything with a strong sense of excellence, it’s no wonder it is such a brand powerhouse.

As with the power of any big network, governance over its culture and the experience that people have with the brand will be key to maintaining its success though – and ensuring negative networking effects don’t take place, especially as its growth reaches a tipping point.