God Is Love, And A Sorority, Too

Young women have embraced the millennial-friendly gospel of HILLSONG CHURCH, knowing Jesus loves them and Instagram.

- Hayley Phelan

It’s 7 p.m. on a Friday, and across New York City, happy hours are winding down and group chats are lighting up. Outside the Kings Theatre in Flatbush, Brooklyn, hundreds of young women are standing in line. They look like the women you’d see on any Brooklyn-bound subway: white, black, Asian, and Latinx, wearing boilersuits with Vans, cropped wide-leg pants with pointy-toe mules, tracksuits emblazoned with logos. A few are dressed festively, or festival-y, in flower crowns and colorful wigs. Some have been standing here for hours, sacrificing the entire day for a seat close to the stage, spirits undampened by the cold April drizzle.

They’ve come for Colour, a two-day conference dedicated to placing value upon “every day women of all ages, backgrounds, and cultures,” put on by the evangelical megachurch Hillsong. Inside, the ornate French Renaissance theater has been transformed into a 2019 vision of feminine self-love. A sculpture of old TVs and faux flowers serves as a backdrop for selfies; a pamper booth offers makeup touch-ups and dry shampoo samples. There’s a shop selling spiritual self-help books, Bibles, and T-shirts that say, “Choose Empathy.”

Filing into their seats, two young women are talking about someone in gushy, breathless tones.

“I’m just so in love with him,” one says. She’s wearing a tiara.

“I know, me too,” her friend replies. “I’m obsessed.”

I don’t even have to ask whom they’re talking about. I’ve been attending Hillsong services for the past few months, so I already know. They’re talking about Jesus Christ.