The Hillsong church founder, Brian Houston, has broken a months-long silence with a video on social media as he prepares to fight a charge he concealed child sexual abuse crimes committed by his father.
Houston on Thursday morning reaffirmed his commitment to contesting the charge that he concealed from New South Wales police child sexual abuse perpetrated by his disgraced father, Frank, in the 1960s and 1970s. He also said he wanted to provide clarification about his “abrupt” resignation from Hillsong earlier this year and allegations about his private life.
“Over 12 months ago I was charged with a crime that I’m yet to defend and that I will fight,” Houston said in the video posted 15 minutes after his criminal case was briefly mentioned in Sydney’s Downing Centre local court.
Magistrate Susan Horan on Thursday set Houston’s hearing down for three weeks beginning 2 December. He has pleaded not guilty to one charge of concealing a serious indictable offence of another person. Frank Houston died in 2004.
Brian Houston resigned from Hillsong, the church he founded in 1983, in March after he was charged in 2021.
In his 14-minute online address posted on Facebook and Instagram, Houston said the decision to resign from Hillsong was “the hardest decision of my life” and he felt he had been “squeezed out”.
He said he stood down from the pentecostal megachurch because he felt the board’s response and its public pronouncements “had made my position untenable”.
In the video, Houston said he told the church’s board he hoped he could remain in a role as “founding pastor” of the church. But he said the church’s response made that impossible.
“That’s what I wrote to the board, and that’s [in] the resignation that the board were quick to accept,” he said. “Sadly, in the statements and announcements made, there was enough detail to pour ultimate shame and humiliation on me, but enough ambiguity to leave people to make their own conclusions about what did or did not happen.”
Houston said he offered his resignation to the church board after he was charged, but said: “I guess a big part of me hoped that the board, knowing the pressure I was under, would reject my offer and continue to fight for me. But that was not to be.”
He said he had never wanted to abandon the Hillsong congregation “as some have suggested”.
In the video, Houston addressed other allegations made against him. He said that while alcohol had “not proven itself to be my friend” he was not an alcoholic.
“The narrative that I’m an alcoholic is false. In fact, I’ve been told by an expert therapist that I do not display the behaviours that are typical of an alcoholic.”
Houston said a previous addiction to sleeping tablets had been addressed and treated.
“I haven’t taken even one sleeping tablet for a decade,” he said on Thursday. “It’s not an ongoing problem.”
He also addressed a specific allegation from 2019, when he was found to have violated Hillsong’s code of conduct by entering the hotel room of an unidentified woman for 40 minutes while under the influence of alcohol and prescription drugs during the church’s annual conference.
“The notorious night in 2019 where I mixed a double dose of anti-anxiety tablets with alcohol was a one-off occasion,” he said. “It happened once. It hadn’t happened before and it hasn’t happened since. So I don’t have an ongoing problem with anti-anxiety tablets or any other prescription medication.”
In court documents, police allege Houston knew from September 1999 that his father had indecently assaulted an underage male in 1970.
It is alleged Houston failed to report this information to police, despite believing his father had committed the assault and knowing he had information that could assist a potential prosecution.
“Believing that Frank Houston committed that offence and knowing that he had information that might be of material assistance in securing the prosecution of Frank Houston for that offence, [he] failed to bring that information to the attention of NSW police,” court documents allege.
In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International
