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Hillsong founder and pastor Brian Houston has resigned from the megachurch after being accused of inappropriate conduct of “serious concern” against two women following an internal investigation.
Pastor Phil Dooley, the acting head of the church, announced Houston’s resignation during an emergency all-staff meeting on Wednesday, saying:
“We would like to advise you that Pastor Brian Houston has resigned as Global Senior Pastor of Hillsong Church and the board has accepted his resignation.”
He also mentioned that irrespective of the current situation, everyone agrees that Brian Houston and his wife Bobbie have largely contributed to the church and served God for several years:
“We understand there will be much emotion at this news, and we all share these feelings. Irrespective of the circumstances around this, we can all agree that Brian and Bobbie have served God faithfully over many decades and that their ministry has resulted in millions of people across the world being impacted by the power, grace, and love of Jesus Christ.”
The pastor also noted in his statement that Hillsong Church “was birthed” out of the Houston couple’s “commitment to the call of God” and asked congregants to pray for their family during the “challenging time.”
A look into Pastor Brian Houston’s Hillsong Church controversy
The Hillsong Church was founded by the Houstons in 1983 in the western suburbs of Sydney. Under the leadership of Brian Houston and his wife Bobbie, the church grew from a small religious establishment to having more than 150,000 weekly attendees at its churches across 25 countries.
Unfortunately, last week, the church revealed that Houston broke the moral code of conduct for pastors by engaging in acts of inappropriate conduct with two women in the past. An internal investigation showed that the pastor had been involved in acts of “serious concern” in 2013 and 2019, respectively.
On Friday, the church's global board addressed the scandal in a letter written towards its members:
“We have sadly been dealing with two complaints made against Pastor Brian over the last 10 years”
The first incident was mentioned in a letter read by Dooley during a meeting involving 800 staff members. The incident reportedly involved “inappropriate text messages” sent to a female staff member in 2013.
It also mentioned that Houston was under the influence of sleeping tablets during the incident and later apologized to the staff for his behavior:
“At the time, Pastor Brian was under the influence of sleeping tablets, upon which he had developed a dependence. He immediately apologised to the person.”
Dooley also said that authorities worked with Brian Houston at the time and successfully provided him with professional help to deal with the situation:
“We also worked closely with Pastor Brian to ensure he received professional help to eliminate his dependency on this medication, and this was achieved successfully.”
However, Houston made a similar offense in 2019. The second incident reportedly took place at Sydney Olympic Park during the Hillsong annual conference. Investigations revealed that Houston became “disorientated” after an intake of alcohol and “consumption of anti-anxiety medication beyond the prescribed dose.”
Following the intoxication, he knocked on the door of an unknown woman inside the hotel and spent nearly 40 minutes in her room. The woman complained about the pastor, but Dooley claimed that no inappropriate physical activity was involved:
“The investigation by the integrity unit appointed by the global board found that although all parts of the complaint were unable to be sustained, important elements of the complaint were sustained and the conduct was of serious concern.”
The statement further mentioned that the board found Houston breaching the church’s pastoral code of conduct:
“Ultimately, the board found that Brian had breached the Hillsong Pastor’s Code of Conduct. We apologise unreservedly to the people affected by Pastor Brian’s actions and commit to being available for any further assistance we can provide.”
Prior to the latest controversy, Brian Houston stepped down from his role within the church after he was legally charged for allegedly hiding the abuse of a child by his father, Frank Houston.
Authorities claimed that Houston was made aware of the offense in 1990s but maintained his innocence and said he was likely to plead not guilty. In the wake of the latest scandal, Houston resigned as the global senior pastor of the Hillsong church.
