Hip Hop star, Justin Bieber, says it is not true that he has been studying to take up pastoral role at the Hillsong church in the United States.
The 26-year-old Bieber debunk a story claiming that he is studying to be a minister for Hillsong Church.
“IM NOT STUDYING TO BE A MINISTER OR ANYTHING EVEN CLOSE TO THAT,” he wrote, in all caps, over a screenshot of the article. “HAVE NO DESIRE FOR THAT THIS IS FAKE NEWS.”
This comes days after a report from OK! Magazine alleged Bieber had taken interest in seeking a leadership role at Hillsong Church, following the controversial exit of pastor/former mentor Carl Lentz.
He followed up with another post, revealing that “Hillsong is not my church… For clarity I am a part of Churchome.” Churchome’s website notes that its lead pastors are Judah and Chelsea Smith, the former of which officiated Justin and Hailey Bieber’s 2019 nuptials.
“Church is not a place. We are the church. We don’t need a building to connect with God. God is with us wherever we are.”
The singer has a years-long history with Hillsong Church and has been seen attending services throughout his Journals and Purpose eras. Bieber has credited Hillsong Church for saving him from his dark years of drugtaking, public meltdowns, arrests and erratic behaviour. In 2013, he posted a photo with the organization’s high-profile pastor Carl Lentz with the caption, “Love you bro.”
Lentz had been a pastor at the Manhattan Hillsong church since 2010 and famously baptized Bieber — whom the pastor referred to by the nickname “Buckaroo” — in the bathtub of New York Knicks star Tyson Chandler’s Manhattan home according to a 2015 GQ profile, which also noted that Bieber briefly moved in with Lentz in 2014.
In November 2020, news broke that Lentz was fired for “leadership issues and breaches of trust, plus a recent revelation of moral failures.”