#Blessed

While churches around the western world are struggling to hold on to younger followers, the evangelical newcomer church C3 is beating this trend. Young C3 pastors like Sam Picken have figured out how to counteract dwindling congregations and lure in Toronto’s salvation-seeking millennials: fold their hip, tattooed lifestyles into Sunday service! Pastor Sam and his nuclear family use their viral Instagram posts to promote a church service that includes heavily produced pop concerts, iced coffee, on-point fashion and contemporary self-help language. While he works to open a third branch of the church in Toronto, we follow Galen, a young scholar who sets out to research the methods and inner workings of C3. Through his meetings and interviews with young congregants, a more complex picture emerges, and we see how their relationship to the church evolves—sometimes for the worse.
(Aisha Jamal - Hot Docs)