Church Review: City on a Hill - 6PM Edition

On Sunday night, we decided to check out a church which we had heard good things about. City on a Hill is a uniquely flavoured church which specialises in utilising non-traditional and secular spaces for Christian church services.

City On A Hill 6PM edition meets in the Arrow On Swanston hotel

The church began in 2007, known as the Docklands Church, and they met in the James Squire Hotel in New Quay. Since then, the church has expanded rapidly and through various circumstances, has taken up residence in the heart of the CBD of Melbourne. Two services are offered: a 10AM service that meets in a cinema theatre at the Hoyts in Melbourne Central; and a 6PM service that meets in a conference room in the Arrow On Swanston hotel (on Swanston St obviously). The creative decision to use these two spaces is intriguing and reflects a desire to re-engage Melbourne with Christianity, by taking church out of normal environs.

While I can't comment at this stage on the effectiveness of conducting a church service in a movie cinema, the 6PM service held in the hotel's ballroom, quickly turns the space from a sterile, conference room into a warm, knowable chamber through the use of branded signage, mood-lighting and ambient music.

The service began on time and after an exuberant, young man welcomed everyone in a well-practiced eastern-suburbs-footy-voice, an ultra hip video began on the big screen that acted as the opener to the service. In fact, the highly stylised graphics on all the church material suggests that this church of 400+ members contains quite a few professional graphic designers. From an image perspective, City on a Hill has a well-refined and cohesive product.

City on a Hill is technically an Anglican church, which until the second worship song, was clearly not evident to the untrained eye. However, this particular worship song was written in 2010 by members of the church and while it is set to contemporary music that contains drums, bass and guitar, the lyrics use old-English words like 'thou'. A curious fusion of history and modern expressions really.

Demographically, think university crowd and young professionals. It was difficult to spot anyone outside the 22-35 bracket. Generally well heeled, inner urbanites with tertiary degrees, but importantly, unpretentious and concerned with social justice. The church runs a food program for the poor called Many Rooms and they are currently feeding over 80+ homeless in the North Melbourne region.

Church life appears vibrant with an announcement about a frenemy basketball match between City and St. Judes in Carlton; as well as a vision for expanding ministries into the youth space, young families and children's min - obviously reflecting the broadening demographic that apparently the 10AM time slot is attracting.

In the ballroom, just before the service begins

The church structures its sermons around a solid series plan that guides the teaching focus of the pastors. On the day we visited, the church was concluding a series on 'God or Money' which sought to provide Christians with a biblical perspective on finance as well as explain City's specific nuance on money. Interestingly, the church never passes around a tithe or offering during services and instead relies on attendees to privately donate through appropriate channels. The associate pastor who delivered the sermon, openly explained the purpose and distribution of the funds that the church receives and mentioned that every two months the books are explained to the congregation. Such transparency is refreshingly honest.

The best part of the service was a panel discussion time which three members of the leadership team answering some hardball questions about money series from the audience. The representatives included an young economics professor in a Melbourne university and a chartered accountant - I was immediately engaged. The panel approach was enthralling and thought-provoking both with the questions and answers - something I think many churches could embrace.

The next series that begins on the 22nd of May is mysteriously titled 'The Naked Church' with the video promo material featuring some blurry lens work of a buff man sitting apparently naked in a pew of a traditional Gothic church. A provocative title certainly, but I'm curious to see what this study on the Corinthian church in first century AD might say to this savvy, 21st century version. Time to check out the 10AM edition.