New sex assault lawsuit against Hillsong Church

A former student of Hillsong who was indecently assaulted by a staffer is suing the Australian branch of the global megachurch in another blow to the organisation.

Former Hillsong member Anna Crenshaw. Picture: Instagram

A former student of Hillsong who was indecently assaulted by an employee is suing the Australian branch of the global megachurch in another blow to the organisation that has been left reeling over claims of founder Brian Houston’s alleged role in covering up historic child sex offences.

The action has been brought in the NSW Supreme Court by ­former Hillsong member Anna Crenshaw, who was assaulted by a married employee of the church less than two years after she moved from Pennsylvania to ­Sydney to study at Hillsong ­College in 2016.

Ms Crenshaw, then 18, had been invited to a social gathering where one of the other guests was Hillsong worker Jason Mays. “He put his hands all around my crotch, my butt, in-between my legs,” Ms Crenshaw said.

“He lifted up my shirt a bit and started kissing my stomach.”

Ms Crenshaw says she told the church about the assault in 2018 but was made to feel she was at fault for raising it.

Jason Mays with his wife, children and Brian Houston. Source: Instagram

Five months later she told her father and only then did the church go to police.

Mays pleaded guilty to indecent assault at Penrith Local Court in 2020 and was sentenced to a two-year good behaviour bond.

The church defended Mays, failing to dismiss him and releasing a statement that said other recollections of the incident “did not fully corroborate (Ms Crenshaw’s) version of the events”.

Mays’ father, John Mays, has been the head of people and ­development at the church for ­almost 15 years.

Then global head of Hillsong, Mr Houston, launched a defence of Mays. “One thing I do know is we’re not talking about a sexual predator here,” he said on stage.

Jason Mays, who indecently assaulted Anna Crenshaw. Source: Instagram

“We’re talking about a young man, a young married man who did something stupid, got much drunker than he should, which is an issue we’ve got to keep ­addressing, and got himself in a bad situation,” he said. “That’s it.”

The lawsuit is the latest setback for a church that has lurched from one crisis to another, testing the faith of Hillsong followers, who include Justin Beiber, Kourtney Kardashian and former prime minister Scott Morrison.

Frank Houston, who died in 2004, has been accused of sexually abusing as many as nine children in Australia and New Zealand, with police alleging his son was aware of information relating to one victim but did not bring the matter to the attention of police.

Hillsong founder Brian Houston. Picture: Getty Images

Former member, student and now church whistleblower Yolandi Bosch believes the church has been “crashing down” for “a long time coming”.

“I think some people have been making their exit for a while to get out of the organisation, because they can obviously see the cracks within the organisation.”

Ms Bosch, who was a student of Brian Houston in 2012 before falling out with the church hierarchy, has previously labelled the church a “cult”. She said while Mr Houston was protesting his innocence on the charges, she believed the church needed to change its culture to survive.

Ms Bosch recalled an incident where she claims the church refused to allow her to report a 2013 child abuse case because they did not want to involve the police.

“They said you never do that. We don’t talk, we don’t involve the police. This is not the way that Australia operates,” she said she was told.

Ms Crenshaw’s matter will come before the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday.