“Church is not a place,” he concluded. “We are the church. We do not need a building to connect with God. God is with us wherever we are.”
The singer has a long history with Hillsong Church, and has been seen attending services throughout his career. Magazines and Purpose periods. In 2013, he posted a photo with the organization’s high-profile pastor Carl Lentz with the caption ‘Love you bro.’
Lentz has been a pastor at Manhattan Hillsong Church since 2010 and baptized Bieber – after whom the pastor nicknamed “Buckaroo” – in the bath of New York Knicks star Tyson Chandler’s home in Manhattan according to a 2015 GQ profile, who also noted that Bieber briefly moved in with Lentz in 2014.
The duo reportedly dropped out in 2018.
In November 2020, news broke that Lentz had been sacked due to ‘leadership issues and breaches of trust, plus a recent revelation of moral failures’.
In his own apologetic message, Lentz said, “I was unfaithful in my marriage, the most important relationship in my life and held accountable for it,” he shared. “This failure is on me, and I alone, and I take full responsibility for my actions. I am now embarking on a journey of trust with my wife, Laura and my children, and to take the right time to live my own life. heal and seek the help I need. ‘