From Carl Lentz to Australian Idol: Hillsong’s biggest scandals revealed
Star pastor Carl Lentz’ tawdry affair is not the only scandal Hillsong has weathered. The faith empire that generates $100 million a year has never been far from controversy.
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It’s the faith megachurch with franchises across the world, boasting A-list followers including Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez and Drake.
But despite it’s glossy image, in it’s short history Hillsong has never been far from a scandal.
From failure to report child sexual abuse to the recent infidelity of its New York pastor, the church founded in Baulkham Hills in 1983 has weathered many a controversy while remaining wildly lucrative.
Hillsong’s vast empire is a money-making machine: Tithing, merchandise, stadium tours and music saw it rake in $103.4 million in revenue in 2018— $79.6 million from donations alone.
But it’s critics say there are questions to be asked about Hillsong, from finances, to its approach on homosexuality, and the power it wields over millions of followers on its 24/7 Hillsong Channel, YouTube network and social media channels.
These are some of Hillsong’s biggest controversies.
CARL LENTZ
Last week, Hillsong New York pastor Carl Lentz was sacked for “moral failure” — via a mass email by global church boss Brian Houston — which blew up social media.
Known for baptising Justin Bieber, Lentz was a Hillsong poster boy who preached family values and family in his high energy sermons.
Lentz took to Instagram to explain his misdeeds: He had cheated on the mother of his three children, his Australian wife of 17 years and fellow Minister, Laura Lentz.
He went on to explain: “I did not do an adequate job of protecting my own spirit, refilling my own soul and reaching out for the readily available help …”
At the same time, his mistress Ranin, a New York designer, began spilling spicy details of their romance and the hypocrisy of a man she said didn’t practice what he preached.
Ex-members began calling the press, including The Sun, claiming his affairs had been going on for years and church leaders knew.
But it was the sacking of his wife Laura that sparked a further backlash, with followers calling out Hillsong on Twitter.
“Was Laura also ‘terminated’ along with Carl? If so, that only highlights the (antiquated) belief that the women who are part of your organisation’s leadership, aren’t thought of as equals in their pastoral roles/titles/service, to the men,” one user wrote.
The animosity grew so intense, Brian Houston was forced to launch an investigation into the culture of the NYC church which will be led by a Hillsong board director, leading to complaints the probe will be biased.
FRANK HOUSTON
In 2014, Hillsong was accused of covering up child sexual abuse after Brian Houston told a royal commission he didn’t report his father’s abuse of a seven-year-old boy to police in 1999.
Brian’s father, Frank Houston, was a charismatic preacher who abused as many as nine boys between 1965 and 1977.
A pastor in New Zealand and Australia, Frank founded the Sydney Christian Life Centre, which Brian would eventually take over before it merged into Hillsong Church.
In 1999, when the mother of one of Frank’s victims alerted the church to his abuse, Brian allowed his father Frank to quietly resign with a pension.
At the time, Brian was national president of the Australian Christian Churches, the umbrella group for the country’s Pentecostal churches.
In 2000, internal church investigations discovered several more child abuse cases.
Brian Houston and the Assemblies executive council were legally obligated to report the crimes but they did not. Frank Houston made a payment of about $10,000 to his victim.
In August 2007, further allegations emerged that Houston had sexually abused a trainee pastor during counselling sessions in the early 1980s.
In 2014, at a hearing at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Brian Houston admitted his father was guilty of other cases of sexual abuse against children.
He expressed regret at not having reported his father to the police in 1999, but noted that other senior members of the church had also known and also did nothing.
TANYA LEVIN
After rumoured attempts to silence her expose, Tanya Levin’s Hillsong book, People in Glass Houses, finally found a publisher in 2007.
Levin, who grew up in the church, went on to slam the church’s patriarchal culture (“our goal as young women was to be pure and marriageable”), but said its “biggest lie” was that God will repay everything you give.
Members are expected to tithe 10 per cent of their income to the church, and in an interview on ABC’s ‘Enough Rope’ with Andrew Denton, she suggested Hillsong was set up for recruitment and fundraising and little else.
She criticised the way the church dealt with Frank Houston’s child abuse, telling Denton: “There was no stance taken on child sexual assault,” adding at one service Brian asked members to pray for his family with no mention of victims.
In 2015, Levin was arrested for trespass while being interviewed outside the Hillsong annual conference at Sydney Olympic Park. Charges were later dropped.
The conference was mired in controversy over the involvement of Mark Driscoll, an American pastor whose misogynist views included likening women to “penis homes”.
HOMOPHOBIA
Hillsong uses an inclusive message — “we love all people” — but LGBTQ members say behind the scenes, the wrong sexuality gets you frozen out.
After an openly gay couple were outed in its NY choir in 2015, Brian Houston issued a statement and clarified they were not in leadership positions. And yes he did love gay people, but doesn’t support a “gay lifestyle” or gay marriage:
“Put clearly, we do not affirm a gay lifestyle and because of this we do not knowingly have actively gay people in positions of leadership, either paid or unpaid,” he said in his statement.
Hillsong has been accused of supporting gay conversion therapy in the past and most recently, actor Chris Pratt was attacked online by activist Ellen Page for his support of the church which she characterised as anti-LGBTQ.
FINANCIAL QUESTIONS
In a special report this year, News Corp revealed the extent of Hillsong’s activities which promise blessings for donations to bolster its $103.4 million tax-free revenue.
Internal Hillsong documents revealed how followers were urged to donate above the standard 10 per cent tithing of their income with the promise of getting the Lord’s blessing.
Leaders of Hillsong’s Connect Groups – small church groups that meet outside of services – are told to set a financial ‘Faith Goal’ and “build faith around giving generously and expecting to see God move miraculously”.
Money from these groups and the Hillsong Foundation is funnelled into church expansion, global missions and a number of Hillsong brands including its 24/7 Hillsong TV channel.
While there’s a heavy emphasis on outreach work funded by donations, Hillsong’s 2017 annual report showed most of the money went back to the church.
Of the $18.4 million raised by the foundation in 2017, just $2.95 million went to benevolent activities, the NewsCorp investigation found. The majority went to Hillsong’s Australian building facilities ($8.8 million), its media and arts arm ($4.2 million) and missions and church planting ($1.65 million).
The foundation raised $17.5 million in 2018, but that year’s report does not include a breakdown of where the money was spent.
MUSIC ROYALTIES
Hillsong is known for its worship music, its three bands — Hillsong Worship, Hillsong United and Hillsong Young & Free — having produced almost 100 albums.
Hillsong’s music arm turns over about $14 million a year as a not-for-profit while competing with companies that must pay tax.
But few of its performers are paid — only songwriters get royalties, despite the bands’ music being streamed on-demand more than 700 million times between December 2017-2018.
LAVISH LIFESTYLES
Hillsong pastors do not take a “vow of poverty” — they earn a salary with many drawing additional incomes from their own portfolios of property and investments, all as the church receives tax breaks as a religious charity.
On social media, their curated image is one of shiny success, led by influencer Carl Lentz whose designer threads and celebrity pals helped build his 690,000 Instagram following.
Ex-member Lea Ceasrine wrote a lengthy piece on her experience inside the church for The Outline, claiming “aspirational wealth and classism” runs rampant in Hillsong and leaders favoured wealthy and famous followers.
According to Hillsong’s 2018 annual report, it spent more than $15.7 million on pastors, leaders and support staff. It does not publish its pastor’s salaries, but its website states the salaries of its leader Brian Houston and other pastors are “determined independently” by the church’s board.
In 2010, The Sunday Telegraph reported that the Houston family was enjoying a lavish lifestyle, almost entirely tax-free, including vehicles and expense accounts.
One of Hillsong’s greatest exports, Darlene Zschech who left the church in 2011 with her husband Mark, recently sold their iconic cliffside Terrigal property. The price was not disclosed but had a guide of $4-$4.4 million.
MERCY MINISTRIES
In 2009, Hillsong Church was forced to distance itself from Mercy Ministries, which it had supported both financially and with staff since it opened in 2001.
It followed an investigation by consumer watchdog ACCC, after reports young women seeking psychological and medical support were prevented from accessing professional care. Instead they were directed to focus on prayer, Christian counselling and even exorcisms to ”expel demons’’.
Some of the women, according to media reports, had serious psychiatric conditions and many were required to sign over Centrelink benefits. They were cut off from the outside world, except for a weekly trip to worship at a Hillsong church.
RECRUITMENT DRIVES
In 2019, parents began a change.org petition to stop Hillsong’s evangelical movement from proselytising in public high schools.
Youth ministries linked to the church had given out pamphlets to 34,000 students carrying “life-giving messages about our Lord”, sparking outrage among parents who labelled it a shameless recruitment drive. An information pack about the tour on Hillsong’s website was quickly pulled after the petition was launched.
IDOL VOTE STACKING
In 2007, a Channel 7 story aired claiming five finalists on Australian idol were Hillsong members with the church encouraging its thousands of followers to skew votes in favour of the churchgoing singers. The church denied the claims and threatened legal action.
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