Craig Brown has written a review on the new book on Hillsong. It appeared in the Churches of Christ web journal Aug 07.

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People In Glass Houses is going to cause a fair bit of controversy in Christian circles. Written by Tanya Levin (a very ex-member of Hillsong church in Sydney), it documents her upbringing in Hillsong (and Pentecostalism in general), and her falling out with the church when “the formula” didn’t work for her: on a multitude of levels I was baffled. It still didn’t make sense that the formula hadn’t worked…I am an original test case for the ‘name it and claim it’ movement…Why didn’t my plans succeed? (80-81). You’ve probably heard of Levin, especially after her brief Andrew Denton interview prior to the book’s release.

On one level, this book is all about Hillsong. So that raises some interesting questions. Why are Australian Christians so fascinated with this one church? Is it our cultural tall poppy syndrome? After all, there is no doubt that Hillsong is successful. It can boast conversions, number one worship CDs, church plants, internationally known conferences and finances. And there lies the rub. For many in the Australian Christian community, a church as ostentatiously wealthy as Hillsong breeds suspiscion. A church that seems so comfortable with conservative politicians also breeds suspiscion. I suspect, however, that Levin’s book will not change your mind about Hillsong. Their documented methods of obtaining grants, promoting offerings and avoiding tax (as most churches do, just not on the scale of mega churches) are well known in the Christian “world”.

And, if you’re pro-Hillsong, you’ll put People In Glass Houses away as the memoirs of a self-confessed “difficult” and depressed woman, whose hurts are now paraded for all to see. You could point out that in the book rumors are not always substantiated as fact, that there is the odd mistake (describing Willow Creek as a “Vineyard” church, for example)

and that Tanya Levin is at times a clumsy debut writer.

The truth lies in between. In defense of Levin, she is not writing a piece of investigative journalism. It’s a memoir. There are some truly cringe worthy moments that she has witnessed publicly, such as the “auctioning” of an orphan by Bobbie Houston at a Colour Your World conference in 2005: Bobbie held her arm straight in the air, bracelets jangling, as she challenged, “Who wants to adopt Agnes from Rwanda? Agnes is a cute name. That’s how I chose my orphan, because she had a cute name.” (248) That’s cringe-worthy. Just like the Houstons bumping into Levin, her marriage recently over and “back in Sydney with nothing” (92). According to Levin, their pastoral response was “‘Oh’, and they meandered into the other room.”

There are issues around Hillsong, and they are addressed in the book. How are women treated in the church – is their sole (soul?) purpose to be dressed up as compliant and attractive supports to their husbands? How damaging is the prosperity gospel that is preached, particularly for those like Levin who find it not only untrue, but damaging? And, in these days of transparency, why were the appropriate details of sexual misconduct by Frank Houston and Pat Mesiti not revealed to the Hillsong congregation, or public details made of regulations to help ensure that these moral failures were not repeated? These questions persist. As does the clumsiness of Hillsong leadership in dealing with Levin’s book. Given the opportunity to have their voice heard, they threatened and then threw Levin out.

To be fair, Levin has approached People In Glass Houses from the point of view of those who have been hurt by Hillsong. Those who speak well of the church (often described as a “cult” or a business), are often dismissed by Levin with descriptions such as “I had always liked Chris, but I noticed that her eyes had become glazed. New Chris was here.” (254) Her chapter on how to define cults is extremely interesting, but when applied to Hillsong, renders anyone happy in that environment as being effectively brainwashed, and their counter arguments invalid.

There’s a lot to chew over in People In Glass Houses. There is wit and woundedness here in equal measure. Yet all the focus on Hillsong can hide a powerful sub-theme: how do churches respond to people who ask questions and don’t fit in with their culture and theology? That’s Levin’s story and journey: I myself have never been exorcised, although several people have made some lazy attempts. I think they didn’t know what to name the beings inside of me that made them so uncomfortable and nobody had the time to fight with these things. I remain unexorcised. Or spirited. Depends what side you’re sitting on (74). That journey of self-acceptance is still ongoing. That, and the continual focus on Hillsong. Who knows where both will lead?