Hillsong youth leader accused of asking Australian girl Piper Cameron for nude photos at age 13

More allegations against the Hillsong Church have been made by a young woman who claims she was asked for nude photos by a youth leader when she was 13.

A young Australian woman has spoken out against the Hillsong Church, claiming she was groomed by an adult youth group leader who asked her for nude pictures when she was just 13.

Piper Cameron told the 7NEWS Spotlight program she walked into Hillsong she was young and vulnerable.

Coming from a “troubled home” she thought she’d found a safe, happy place.

“When you’d walk in, you’d get a bit like, ‘wow, can’t believe how friendly everyone is.’ That’s the first impression that it gave me as a 12-year-old,” she said.

“Because it was social. It was fun. I was making new friends. It was definitely very intriguing for a young girl … definitely exciting.”

She was 13 when she joined a youth group called ‘Fuel’ for children in years seven and nine, and one of the leaders noticed her.

“He was always very friendly to me … I would say extra friendly,” she said.

“When I was at school, I would get messages from him saying ‘hey, how are you’ and how my day’s been, and just regularly messaging me on a daily basis.”

She said she was was at a sleepover with some friends from school when he contacted her.

“He was messaging me a lot then, he started asking me to prove to him that I wasn’t wearing a bra. And that’s when things started feeling a bit strange to me,” she said.

Piper said she “innocently sent him this photo of my bra just sitting on the bed”, to which he replied saying, “You are just proving that you own a bra.”

“And then, asked me for a photo of my body,” she said.

Piper Cameron speaks out about Hillsong in Channel 7's Spotlight program. Picture: Channel 7

“He was asking me at 13-years-old to send him nude pictures of myself. It feels just uncomfortable to know that this is how an adult was talking to me when I was 13. And I feel sad that I felt like I had to play along with this.

“I think that he wanted to have some sexual relationship with me by the way that he would text me and ask to see pictures of me.”

Piper said she told her mum about the messages, who was “devastated” and emailed church leader Brian Houston directly to report her concerns that her daughter was being “sexually groomed”.

She was told Houston was overseas and couldn’t deal with it directly, the TV program reported.

“I don’t know. I felt shame,” said Piper.

“I just felt like it was my fault. And that was really upsetting because my whole family had to leave the church after that.”

She was asked why her family had to leave the church.

Brian Houston at a Church Unleashed event in Long Island, New York. Picture: Instagram

“Because they contacted Hillsong and they refused to take him off the youth leader team. So, if I was to keep going back, he would still be my youth leader,” she said.

Eventually, two of the pastors at her Hillsong campus met with Piper’s mother and her Uncle Dave.

“One of the things that was said in that meeting was that, from reading these messages, it seems like she’s initiated some of this contact,” her uncle said.

“And in my head, I was like, ‘mate, she’s a teenage girl. This guy’s an adult youth leader’. And it was a clear as day moment in my mind where I was like, ‘we are never coming back’.”

Piper said she believed the victim blaming was a way to “handle” the situation.

“That the men in leadership or people in leadership are being protected and they’re not really doing the right thing, but Hillsong would rather protect them, then the people who are actually coming to the church and showing their loyalty,” Piper said.

“That is a pattern of protecting the predator and the leaders and not the people of the church.”

News Corp has contacted Hillsong for a comment on Piper Cameron’s allegations. They gave a statement to the 7NEWS Spotlight progrma which can be read here.

Her story adds further fuel to an eight-part News Corp podcast investigation Faith on Trial.

LISTEN TO THE FAITH ON TRIAL: HILLSONG PODCAST BELOW

Piper Cameron speaks out about Hillsong in Channel 7's Spotlight program. Picture: Channel 7

Among the claims made on the podcast were five women who separately alleged that young, female students at a Hillsong college were taught to physically “submit” to their husbands, with one woman accusing the Christian megachurch of promoting a “rape culture”.

The Faith on Trial investigation included interviews with dozens of the Australian-based church’s former members over the past six months.

It has also uncovered a series of separate claims about sex and money, including questions over the tax arrangements for Hillsong’s $23m purchase of Melbourne’s Festival Hall.

The Christian megachurch was founded by Brian Houston and his wife, Bobbie, in 1983.

Mr Houston is currently facing trial after pleading not guilty to one count of concealing a serious indictable offence. The 68-year-old is accused of concealing his father’s sexual abuse of a young boy more than 50 years ago. Mr Houston will return to court for the closing address in June 2023.

Last month Australia’s national charity regulator, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) confirmed it was investigating concerns raised about Hillsong.

ACNC Commissioner Sue Woodward AM said in a statement the commission had not received a whistleblower disclosure, despite a claim made under Parliamentary privilege that it had.

The 7NEWS program, titled Hellsong, can be seen on 7Plus.

Originally published as Hillsong youth leader accused of asking Australian girl Piper Cameron for nude photos at age 13