As we’re called to be salt and light to our community, it’s vital that as a church we engage with those around us. At the Hills Campus, we’re blessed that our church is reflective of the cultural make-up of the local community, and this inherent multiculturalism is one of our strengths, playing a significant part in the life of our church.

The Multicultural ministry of Hillsong Church, Hills Campus aims to connect with our various cultural groups.

“We have people from every corner of the globe: from Sri Lankans, to Greeks, to Argentinians, Nigerians, Samoans, Koreans, and Irish. My vision is to gather, endorse and embrace, celebrate our uniqueness and empower us to build the ultimate culture: Kingdom culture,” says Multicultural Pastor, Kim Brinsden.

“And that everyone, regardless of their ethnicities, finds their home at Hillsong Church.”

“This is part of Pastor Brian’s vision, ‘The Church I now see’; we’re a church where every ONE can find their place. We say ‘WELCOME HOME’ to every man, woman and child – of all ethnic backgrounds – that walk through the doors.”

The Multicultural ministry is involved throughout the life of the church, from connect groups to Welcome Lounge, and hosting. We also provide language interpretation at church services, for up to 14 different languages including Korean, Spanish, Mandarin, and Tamil.

Throughout 2016, we held numerous community events that celebrated different cultures including Lunar New Year, African Night, Indian Independence, Korean night, a combined Islander, Middle Eastern, and Latino event, and a Filipino Christmas party.

“My highlight was the Combined Christmas party,” Kim recalls. “We had seven cultural groups celebrate Jesus together, in one accord, with their different and unique cultures! We spoke with a few key team about what they thought of the cultural events and why they believe this ministry is significant.”

Francis – Maori elder

What was the highlight of the events for you?
The gathering together – being of one mind, one body in Christ, with individuality being very distinct…with their own recognition. 

What’s the best thing about being in a multicultural church?
The vastness of being an outreach to all nationalities meeting at one center – an open door because of Jesus.

Darius – Persian community leader

What was significant about the Middle Eastern event for you?
This cultural night was a great unity, a reminder may we are from different culture or different background but we are in one family, one body of Christ and one church called Hillsong. What an awesome night. Thank you, Hillsong Church.

Sophia – Hillsong International Leadership College student from Mexico

How did the Latino night impact you?
I came from the land of tacos and mariachi, Mexico, and I hadn’t felt the warmth of familiarity for months. But when I heard those songs, the melodies comforted my homesick heart. I can only imagine how the hearts of others felt as they sang and clapped to their music.

Home, for many of us, is distant from our grasp, but close to our thoughts. We found home that evening. And our diversity ultimately vivified the heart of the church: a place to welcome home one and all.

Grace and Pat Garcia, Filipino community leaders

What’s the best thing about being in a multicultural church?
Grace: you can learn from other cultures and apply it to your own culture.

The benefit of diversity is you see the beauty of God’s creation; God created all of these cultures.

It goes to show the gospel isn’t just for one ethnic background – white, black – it’s for everyone and it shows we’re reaching out to all.

Pat: John 3:16 says “for God so loved the world” and the world is humanity. Humanity itself is made of multiple cultures. The Gospel touches every culture and this is so exciting for me. God has brought the church to look like heaven: a taste of heaven here on earth.

Kim believes that the Cultural groups strengthen our church. “Hillsong Church is made up of diverse cultural groups and, when we understand who we are, and embrace Hillsong Church as our home, and find our place, we can come together in unity to build Kingdom, and reach out to the lost in their culture and community.”

Want to get involved?

Interpreting services: We need hosts and interpreters in German, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin and Indonesian for weekend services.

We interpret Sunday services in up to 14 different languages. We interpret in Korean, Tamil, Indonesian, and Mandarin at 9am and 11.15am services, and Korean, Spanish, and Mandarin at the 6pm.

Need interpretation in another language? Please send your request to [email protected]

The Banquet Table, we serve authentic food from different cultures and building communities on Sunday after 6pm church. Contact [email protected] to volunteer!