Justin Bieber's decision to cancel his 'Purpose' World Tour was not sanctioned by his church.
Justin Bieber
The 23-year-old singer recently announced he was not going ahead with the remaining 14 dates of his concert series, and though it has been reported his faith was behind his actions, insiders insisted the Hillsong Church's pastor, Carl Lentz, did not agree with the 'Sorry' hitmaker's decision and strongly advised him not to pull out of the gigs.
Speaking about Justin - who has attended the place of worship multiple times in the past two years - a source told TMZ: "The church didn't tell Justin to cancel the tour."
However, it is believed the Canadian hunk - who was set to play in locations including North America, Japan, Singapore, and The Philippines - went ahead with the cancellation on his own accord because he is focused on "spiritual soul-searching".
The insider continued: "He made his decision based on spiritual soul-searching and his own view of the path in life he should be taking."
Justin and Carl are said to share an "intense" relationship with one another, and although the pastor did not condone the 'Believe' singer's action, their conversations with one another are believed to have strongly influenced the artist.
Meanwhile, Carl believes Justin's faith has drastically changed his life, and he has noticed a difference in the star on a daily basis.
Speaking previously, Carl said: "I think that Justin is a good Christian. I don't think his problems are behind him, but we all have to deal with other stuff to come.
"His relationship with Jesus is changing his life daily. It is one of those things where you never really get it, it takes a while to keep growing as a person. Every day he is getting older, and with each chapter comes new growth ... This is what conference is all about."