Finding Jesus at Hillsong Kuta: A Visit to Bali’s Newest Church Plant

Two weeks after the opening of the new Hillsong location in Kuta, I had the chance to attend a Sunday service and see firsthand how this fresh church plant is shaping up. The room was full, the worship team was tight, and the whole gathering had that unmistakable buzz of a brand-new congregation finding its feet. Leading the message that morning was guest pastor Fred Porter, visiting from the Sunshine Coast in Australia, delivering a bilingual sermon in English and Indonesian with a live translator working alongside him for the entire service.

For readers of this blog who know I come from an Anglican background, this was a fun and genuinely interesting change of pace. I want to share what the service was like, what stood out to me theologically and stylistically, and why — even though it’s not my personal cup of tea — I walked away appreciating what Pastor Fred and the Hillsong Kuta team are trying to do.

A High-Energy, Bilingual Service

From the moment the service began, it was clear this was going to be an energetic, contemporary style of worship. Music, movement, and audience participation were front and centre, and the whole room felt engaged. Pastor Fred preached with a lot of warmth and humour, weaving in personal stories to illustrate his points — including a touching account of his own childhood, having been placed in foster care and later adopted by a pastor’s family. He tied that story back to the account of Abraham in Genesis, drawing a parallel between waiting on a promise from God and the disappointment that can come from unmet expectations.

He also shared a story from a mission trip to an underground church in China as a teenager, describing an emotional and, in his account, powerful time of prayer and ministry. These kinds of personal testimony-driven illustrations are a hallmark of this style of preaching, and Pastor Fred clearly has a gift for holding a room’s attention through storytelling.

The Core Message: Keep Believing, Even When You Can’t See

The central thrust of the sermon was an encouragement to keep trusting God even in seasons of waiting — whether that’s waiting for a child, a spouse, healing, or breakthrough of any kind. Referencing Abraham’s faith being “accounted to him as righteousness,” Pastor Fred reminded the congregation that God is faithful, kind, powerful and able, even when His promises haven’t yet visibly come to pass.

He built out three main points from the Genesis text:

• It’s time to get out of the tent — encouraging people to leave behind small thinking, doubt, and disappointment, drawing on Romans 12:2 about the renewing of the mind.
• God knows the name and number of the stars — He hasn’t forgotten yours — a reminder that God sees and cares for each individual, even in a crowd or a large family.
• The limitless sky is our portion — an encouragement that stepping out in faith can lead to far more than we initially hoped for, using Abraham’s transformation from a childless, disappointed man into “the father of nations” as the example.

The sermon closed with an extended altar call, inviting anyone who wanted to commit or recommit their life to Jesus to raise their hand, followed by a time of prayer for healing, breakthrough, and the filling of the Holy Spirit.

An Anglican’s Perspective

Coming from an Anglican tradition, this style of church is quite different from what I’m used to. Anglican worship tends to be more structured and sacramental — centred around the liturgy, the reading and exposition of Scripture in its fuller context, corporate confession, and the Eucharist as the focal point of the service. Hillsong’s approach, by contrast, is built around contemporary worship music, personal testimony, motivational storytelling, and an experiential, decision-driven altar ministry time.

If I’m honest, the sermon leaned more heavily on personal narrative and encouragement than on close exposition of the biblical text itself. That’s simply a different tradition and style of preaching than what I’m used to, and it’s worth naming that difference clearly for readers who, like me, come from a more liturgical background. It doesn’t mean the message lacked value — it means it was communicating in a different register, aimed at a different kind of spiritual formation.

What I want to be clear about, though, is that Pastor Fred was not doing anything wrong or working against the gospel — quite the opposite. He was clearly working for Jesus and for the people in that room, many of whom made real, sincere decisions to follow Christ that morning. His delivery was engaging, his heart for people was evident, and the congregation responded warmly. Different traditions within the body of Christ will always express the same core truths in different styles, and that’s something to appreciate rather than dismiss.

Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing

As someone who reports on Christianity across different traditions, visits like this are always a good reminder of just how varied the global church really is. Whether it’s the quiet reverence of an Anglican Eucharist or the high-energy altar call of a Hillsong service, the goal — when done well — remains the same: pointing people to Jesus Christ, His forgiveness, and His love.

Pastor Fred and the team at Hillsong Kuta are clearly working hard to build something meaningful in Bali, and from what I saw, people are responding. I may not personally gravitate toward this style of worship, but I can recognise good, sincere ministry when I see it, and this was that.

As for me, I’m packing up and heading to Perth next week, where I’m looking forward to settling back into a local Anglican community and enjoying the familiar rhythms of liturgy, Scripture, and communion once again. But I’ll carry this Hillsong Kuta visit with me as a good reminder that the body of Christ is wonderfully diverse — and that’s something worth celebrating.

Happy Father’s Day, Australia

On a personal note, Happy Father’s Day to all the dads reading this from Australia today. Whether you’re a new father, a foster or adoptive dad, a granddad, or someone stepping into a father figure role for someone who needs it — thank you for the love and steadiness you bring.

A short prayer for you today:

Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of fathers. Bless every dad reading this today — give them strength, patience, and joy in their families. Comfort those for whom this day is hard, and be a Father to the fatherless. In Jesus’ name, Amen.