CHURCH HOPPING Pt.I

By way of admitting I don't have all the answers, I have recently taken to visiting other faith communities in Wellington whose style and/or beliefs differ vastly from my own. All as part of an effort to understand what parts of my faith are Jesus, and what parts are simply personal preference or tradition. It has been an interesting journey so far. Last weekend while away on Soul Purpose writers' retreat I got into a great discussion with another writer, Ben Kendrew, who also happens to be a key worship leader at Arise Church in Wellington. We sat up till 3am while I ranted about what made me so uncomfortable about churches like his, and he very respectfully rebutted and debated where he felt I'd missed the point. Ben is a great guy, I would highly recommend anyone with an anti-pentecostal buzz to have a chat to him. Arise still makes me as uncomfortable as hell, but I think I understand where they're coming from. But now, onward to last night's visit to Destiny Church Wellington.

Destiny have got a horrible rep through the media over the last couple of years so Mish and myself were keen to go along and see what was true and what was just media sensationalism. I think I was hoping for a lot more trouble than we got. Dressed suitably 'emo' in tight jeans and black sweatshirts I thought we'd be made to feel quite unwelcome. The absolute opposite was true. Their ushers (all dressed in matching black suits/skirts with orange ties) seemed genuinely interested in making sure our first time at Destiny was as comfortable as possible.

After taking our seats right down the back of the hall at Wellington High School, we were visited by no less than four members of the church at different times to make sure we felt welcome and didn't stay unnoticed in the back rows. Despite our desire to remain incognito, it was refreshing to meet such down to earth and humble people. Realising we weren't keen to chat, they calmly left us to our business and didn't fight to maintain a conversation. Thanks guys, very real, very genuine.

Just before the service I took a brief walk down to their book stall by the stage. I figured the reading material on offer from Destiny leadership would be a good indication of what I was in for. Few suprises here - T D Jakes, Joyce Meyer, Brian Tamaki and more prosperity doctrine than you could shake a TBN set at. Strangely amongst all the crap they were also selling some work by Bill Hybels. One of these things is not like the other one.

The music worship was a mile from my preference, but it was a great representation of the diverse cultural make-up of the church. The worship leader could have placed well in a James Brown impersonation contest.  I'm a firm believer that we should be free to worship God from our individual identity, and I feel Destiny is one of the few places in our country where Maori and Pacific Island people can express their love of God through something relevant to who they are and where they've come from.

Here's where it gets nasty. The teaching was absolute horse shit. Exactly what I expected. 45 minutes about how you should hear no opinion but that of your head pastor and his wife. I hope that none of the congregation members actually buy the crap this guy was shovelling up by the truckload. If they do, he could tell them to jump off a cliff and they very well could. In the end I got so frustrated and dissapointed I simply walked out. By that stage their 'teacher' had got so far from the word he had resorted to mocking other local churches for being 'small' and 'boring'.

This is such a difficult critique to write. I really believe that Destiny will have a lasting impact on Maori and Pacific Island people in New Zealand. Cycles of abuse and violence are being broken as these cultures finally find a home where they can express their identity in Christ. While Brian Tamaki sees Destiny's future being in Politics, I think they will have more impact on our country's social policy from the vantage point they already hold. They have the chance to be part of the healing and restoration of ethnic groups who have been humiliated by the injustice of colonisation. I wouldn't want Destiny to close for anything. Their role as part of the Church in our nation is essential. Now if they could only get a little less militant and a little more loving I'd even consider joining....