That messaging has been key to their meteoric rise and may be far more inclusive than the truth.įellow celeb-loved church Hillsong has come under fire for barring its gay members from holding positions of leadership within the church. They like modern art (Judah is an abstract painter) and tattoos (he and Bieber got matching ink) and sex (after marriage, but they won’t judge if you disagree).
Its pastors say they love and accept everyone. Chad Veach, another friend of the Smiths, leads L.A.’s Zoe Church, which counts Chris Pratt, Katherine Schwarzenegger, and Ashley Benson among its followers.īut Churchome is different, says Chelsea. The Smiths introduced Bieber to Carl and Laura Lentz, who lead the New York outpost of Australian megachurch Hillsong, which many of the Smiths’ congregants (including Bieber and his wife, Hailey Baldwin Bieber) attend when they’re on the East Coast. services have drawn the likes of Kourtney Kardashian, Ciara and Russell Wilson, and Selena Gomez. According to the Smiths, their church collectively draws more than 10,000 people every week to its five locations in Washington State and California, including its Wednesday-evening service at the historic Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, where it’s not uncommon to find the front rows reserved for celebrities and the back doors staked out by paparazzi. Nearly a decade later, the Smiths’ nondenominational church-which has since been rebranded as Churchome-has become one of the most influential Christian congregations in Hollywood.