Here's Why the Jonas Brothers Have a Love-Hate Relationship With Their Old Church
Jun. 7 2019, Updated 2:45 p.m. ET
The Jonas Brothers opened up about a lot of extremely personal moments in their life in their new Amazon Prime documentary, Chasing Happiness.
However, one topic that kept coming up on the documentary was Kevin, Joe, Nick and the rest of their family's seemingly love-hate relationship with their old church.
And it all started when the band got their first record deal with Columbia in 2005. "We were signed to a secular label and weren't making a Christian album," Kevin shared. "We didn't want my dad to lose his job, potentially."
So, what church did the Jonas family belong to?
Before becoming the manager of his sons' band, Kevin Jonas, Sr. was the pastor at the Assembly Of God Church in Wyckoff, New Jersey. The Assembly of God follows Pentecostal beliefs and strictly adheres to the Statement of Fundamental Truths, which includes the church's mission to "seek and save all who are lost in sin."
Pressure from the church ultimately influenced many decisions that Kevin, Joe, and Nick — then aged 17, 15, and 12 respectively — made in regards to their music career.
The Jonas family in 2009.
Like those now infamous purity rings.
According to the brothers, their old church encouraged them to wear the purity rings, something that got them mocked and even booed at sporting events.
At the time, the Jonas Brothers tried to make light of the accessory, but today they admit they regret putting them on.
"I was just trying to navigate love, and romance, and what sex even meant to me, at a sensitive age," Nick explained to Harper's Bazaar before pointing out, "The question should have been: Is it appropriate for people to talk about a 16-year-old’s sex life?"
He continued, "It’s absolutely not—and it wouldn’t necessarily fly today." Preach, Nick.
Despite their best efforts, their dad was still forced out of the church.
When it rains, it pours, and for the Jonas Brothers that is exactly what happened when the group was dropped by their record label and their dad lost his job at the same time.
In Chasing Happiness, the group reveals that their church began talking negatively about their dad, who was still the pastor at the time, and the band's music.
Unfortunately, Kevin Sr. was ultimately forced to resign. "I think there was some judgment on us for not being a Christian band," Nick explained in the documentary. "Singing about girls started to become a bit of an issue."
After losing his job, the family was forced to move into a smaller house in Little Falls, New Jersey, which only motivated the Jonas Brothers even more.
"We wrote a bunch of songs in that house out of the pain, the hurt, and the abandonment after we got dropped from Sony," Kevin shared. "I think we felt that people didn't believe in us, so we were going to prove them wrong."
What does Kevin Jonas Sr. do today?
Along with being the Jonas Brothers' manager, Kevin is still involved with church — just not the same church that turned its back on the Jonas family all those years ago.
The Jonas family in 2019.
Today, Kevin Sr. is the founder of Christ for the Nations Music and Jonas Enterprises. He is also an honorary chairman for Convoy of Hope, "a faith-based, nonprofit organization with a driving passion to feed the world through children’s feeding initiatives, community outreaches, and disaster response."
Watch Chasing Happiness on Amazon Prime now.
