Category Archives: Hillsong Church

Hillsong’s Brian Houston never attempted to ‘cover up’ father’s crimes, court told

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Son was upholding wishes of victim not to have matter pursued by ‘secular authorities’ when he failed to report offending to police, lawyer says

Brian Houston never attempted to “cover up” his father’s paedophilia, instead immediately reporting his father’s confession to church leaders and banning him from preaching, Houston’s lawyer has told a Sydney court.

And by not reporting his father’s offending to police, Brian Houston was upholding the express wishes of his father’s victim who was repeatedly raped as a boy by Frank Houston, but did not want the matter pursued by “secular authorities”.

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Hillsong’s Brian Houston bought his father’s victim’s silence and did not report abuse to police, court hears

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Founding pastor, who has pleaded not guilty, is on trial for not reporting his father’s confession to sexually abusing a young boy

Brian Houston did not report his paedophile father to police in order to protect the church, and bought his father’s victim’s silence to stop him going to the “secular authorities”, a Sydney court has heard.

Houston, the founding pastor of the Hillsong megachurch, is on trial for one count of concealing a serious indictable offence of another person, for not reporting to police his father’s confession to repeatedly sexually assaulting and raping a young boy who was a member of his church.

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Hillsong under investigation by charities regulator over explosive allegations aired in parliament

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Documents tabled by MP Andrew Wilkie claim to show church used jobkeeper funds to help purchase Melbourne’s Festival Hall

The federal charities regulator is investigating Hillsong over explosive allegations aired under parliamentary privilege that it engaged in money laundering and tax evasion, with claims the mega-church earned $80m more than it publicly declared.

Financial documents tabled in parliament by the independent MP Andrew Wilkie, obtained from a whistleblower, claim to show Hillsong used funds from the jobkeeper wage subsidy program to help fund the purchase of Melbourne’s Festival Hall, and that its founder, Brian Houston, used tithes from parishioners to pay for upgraded hotel quarantine accommodation when returning from overseas at the height of the Covid pandemic.

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Hillsong College allegedly taught some students women should ‘submit’ sexually to husbands

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The school’s code of conduct instructs students to ‘abstain from biblically immoral practices’, including ‘sexual sins’

Patriarchal churches that teach women should “submit” to men are creating a culture where abuse can thrive, experts say.

A News Corp Australia podcast has alleged that some female students at Hillsong College, part of Hillsong Church, were taught to “submit” sexually to their husbands, which one former student described as “kind of a rape culture”.

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Frank Houston continued to lead sermons after being stripped of credentials for child sexual abuse, court hears

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Maitland church pastor Robert Cotton said he would never have allowed Frank Houston to preach again if he knew he was a paedophile

Paedophile pastor Frank Houston continued leading church sermons until weeks before his death, despite being stripped of his credentials to minister after his son learned that he sexually abused children, a New South Wales court has heard.

Hillsong founder Brian Houston took away his father’s credentials in late 1999 after Frank Houston admitted he had abused children, the court has heard.

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Hillsong founder Brian Houston says megachurch ‘losing its soul’ after it makes his wife redundant

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Houston, who resigned as global senior pastor last month, attacks church he founded in online post

The founder of Hillsong, Brian Houston, has accused the megachurch of “losing its soul” and says his wife has been made redundant by the church’s board “through no choice of her own”.

Houston resigned last month from the megachurch he founded in Sydney two decades ago after internal investigations found he had engaged in inappropriate conduct of “serious concern” with two women.

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Hillsong is facing catastrophe but the Houstons will be loath to give up control

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Analysis: the global church, founded almost 40 years ago in north-west Sydney, has little choice but to launch an independent inquiry

Judgment Day has come for Hillsong – but not in the way its pastors promised.

To recap a damning week for the church, its founder and global senior pastor, Brian Houston, has resigned after an internal investigation found he had breached the church’s code of conduct twice over the past decade by behaving inappropriately towards two women.

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Hillsong’s Brian Houston resigns from megachurch

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Resignation comes after internal investigations found Houston engaged in inappropriate conduct ‘of serious concern’

Hillsong’s founding pastor, Brian Houston, has resigned from the megachurch he founded in Sydney two decades ago after internal investigations found he had engaged in inappropriate conduct of “serious concern” with two women.

Houston stood down last Friday, but following another emergency staff meeting on Wednesday the Sydney-based church issued a brief statement announcing his resignation.

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Hillsong founder Brian Houston to plead not guilty to concealing sexual abuse charge

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Police allege megachurch founder was aware of information relating to the abuse of a young man in the 1970s by his late father

The Hillsong founder Brian Houston will plead not guilty to charges alleging he concealed child sexual abuse by his late father in the 1970s.

The megachurch founder did not appear during a first mention of the case at Sydney’s Downing Centre local court on Tuesday morning.

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‘Gossip’: Morrison sidesteps claim Hillsong pastor snubbed by White House

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Prime minister dismisses reports he lobbied unsuccessfully to have Brian Houston attend state dinner

Scott Morrison has sidestepped questions about whether he wanted the Hillsong Church pastor Brian Houston to be a guest at Friday night’s glittering black-tie state dinner hosted by Donald Trump, characterising the reports as “gossip”.

Asked whether it was true that he had lobbied to have Houston attend the dinner and been knocked back by the White House, the Australian prime minister told travelling reporters: “I don’t comment on gossip. It’s all gossip.”

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Scott Morrison prays at Hillsong conference – video

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Australian prime minister Scott Morrison speaks about the debate around freedom of religion at the opening of the national conference of the evangelical Hillsong church. 'It’s not the laws that makes freedom of religion work, it’s the culture that accepts it,' he tells a crowd of 21,000 people. 'I speak about my faith ... because I want everyone in this place to feel comfortable talking about their faith in this country. It’s not a political agenda, it’s who we are.' Morrison says while freedom of belief in Australia is fundamental, Christians need to prioritise love over judgments. He used the example of persecuted Christians in Soviet Russia: 'You didn’t hear the stories that they were complaining about their rights. They were out there for God ... This country needs more love, less judgment'

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