Police Charge Hillsong Church Founder Brian Houston for Allegedly Concealing Child Sex Offenses

[Michie]

Brian Houston, global senior pastor and co-founder of worldwide evangelical megachurch Hillsong, has been charged by New South Wales (NSW) Police Force for allegedly concealing child sex offenses. Houston’s lawyers were served on Thursday August 5, 2021.

The charge comes after a two-year investigation that concluded Houston failed to report his father Frank Houston’s sexual abuse of a 7-year-old boy during the 1970s. The investigation revealed that Houston was aware of his father’s alleged abuse in 1999, and rather than reporting the truth to the authorities, he chose to look the other way so his father could retire quietly. His father admitted to the abuse before his death in 2004.

Continued below.
Police Charge Hillsong Church Founder Brian Houston for Allegedly Concealing Child Sex Offenses

 

[Fr. Appletree]

I remember people talking about the allegations several years ago. I'm glad someone is doing something about it.

In cases like this, one is usually indicative of many.

 

[GoldenKingGaze]

Brian Houston charged with concealing sex offences

Here is another article on Brian.

 

[Blade]

The police will "claim or assert that HIllsong has done something illegal or wrong, typically without proof that this is the case." The key word is "Allegedly". That has never changed. I pray we don't treat this as fact when they don't have proof.. going back to what 1970? Praying for him.. <--that is also missing.

 

[Bob Crowley]

It's not that straight forward. One paragraph in the article is as follows -

Upon being told of his father’s actions, Brian Houston confronted his father, reported the matter to the National Executive Assemblies of God in Australia, relayed the matter to the governing board of Sydney Christian Life Centre, and subsequently made a public announcement to the church. Brian sought to honour the victim’s multiple requests not to inform the police.

What's he supposed to do - go to the police anyway or do what the victim asked him to do? And the victim is now an adult.

 

[BrAndreyu]

In cases like this, one is usually indicative of many.

We had a Southern Baptist church here in town that went through something like 5 different Youth Pastors because they kept getting teenage girls pregnant. They sure knew how to pick 'em at this place and I think that they've left the Southern Baptist Convention and have become a "Contemporvant" church where the pastor doesn't even preach anymore, but they pipe in a sermon from some other "Central campus" somewhere.

Basically they went from being a real church with problems to being a money-making scheme "Contemporary" church. There are a surprising number of those in my area and most of them don't tend to last more than a few years.

 

[Michie]

We had a Southern Baptist church here in town that went through something like 5 different Youth Pastors because they kept getting teenage girls pregnant. They sure knew how to pick 'em at this place and I think that they've left the Southern Baptist Convention and have become a "Contemporvant" church where the pastor doesn't even preach anymore, but they pipe in a sermon from some other "Central campus" somewhere.

Basically they went from being a real church with problems to being a money-making scheme "Contemporary" church. There are a surprising number of those in my area and most of them don't tend to last more than a few years.

It’s common just about everywhere. Whenever I hear youth pastor, my antennae go up.

 

[BrAndreyu]

Whenever I hear youth pastor, my antennae go up.

The problem with youth pastors is that they're usually guys in their 30s that are desperately trying to pretend like they are still culturally relevant. Apparently a lot of them have a penchant for sex with underage girls as well, and then the girl is blamed for the resulting fall-out in the church after she's preyed upon by one of these guys. This specific Southern Baptist church used to make the pregnant girls leave town in the late 90s/early 00s. This church wielded a significant amount of power in the community as it is the biggest church in terms of physical space next to my parish and is the church that most of the non-Catholic "contemporvant" types go to now that it's transitioned to be one of those sorts of places.

I've been there a few times when it was still affiliated with the SBC. I remember going to see some play there called "Heaven's gates, Hell's flames" that was supposed to terrify you into going to church there (and being a good tither). When the one uber-Saved girl at school got pregnant by the Youth Pastor, the church's reputation suffered an incredible blow that it never really recovered from and it lost a lot of relevance and influence in the city.

 

[Fr. Appletree]

It's not that straight forward. One paragraph in the article is as follows -



What's he supposed to do - go to the police anyway or do what the victim asked him to do? And the victim is now an adult.

That the victim has that reaction is good evidence that the allegation is substantive, due to the shame element of abuse.

Still, not going to the police leads to more abuses. Things can be handled tactfully.

 

[BrAndreyu]

That the victim has that reaction is good evidence that the allegation is substantive, due to the shame element of abuse.

For real, I had been living in denial about what happened to me until I got out of jail. Then I was forced to confront it and begin the process of moving past it. Generally because it's a shame thing, you don't want to tell people "I was abused by an older man" because you don't want people to think that you're gay even though you had no control over what happened to you.

I should have said something to his son, to his wife, and to the church that he was prominent in. But I didn't want to cause my friend any grief because he was adopted and was having a hard enough time dealing with that and wondering who his real parents in Korea were, so I said nothing and just pushed it down, compartmentalizing it for years and I think that this was what led to the drug abuse, the promiscuity/hypersexuality with girls, and the general self-loathing for years. What I should have done in retrospect, was gone to the police.

So yeah, going to the police is necessary to make sure that further abuses aren't covered up. We let these creeps get away with this stuff out of our own sense of shame and not wanting to cause problems for families, churches, etc. But it's necessary to go to the police always and I wish that I would have.