The founder of Hillsong, Brian Houston, has accused the megachurch of “losing its soul” and says his wife has been made redundant by the church’s board “through no choice of her own”.
Houston resigned last month from the megachurch he founded in Sydney two decades ago after internal investigations found he had engaged in inappropriate conduct of “serious concern” with two women.
Late on Friday, Houston shared a screenshot to Instagram which appears to show a text his wife, Bobbie, received from Hillsong management informing her of the change to her employment.
“Dear Bobbie, I wanted to text to let you know I will be sending an email shortly regarding your employment. Please let me know if you would like to talk about it or if you have questions,” the text said.
A text from a second person says: “I don’t even have words to express how cold and callous this has all become.”
Hillsong’s website lists Bobbie Houston as a co-global senior pastor of the movement.
Brian Houston posted the screenshot of the text exchange with a caption attacking the church.
“After 39 years of exemplary service and extraordinary faithfulness and fruitfulness, this is the communication Bobbie received from the Hillsong Church board as she is made redundant (effective immediately) through no choice of her own,” Brian Houston wrote.
“This just 3 weeks after she hosted her 26th year of Colour Conferences. (A total of 118 conferences around the world.) She has relentlessly served God and served people as she stood side by side with me for four decades leading Hillsong Church, faithful in the good times and the tough times alike.
“And we are supposed to act like this is all ok. It’s not! Our beautiful church is losing its soul.”
Hillsong’s Colour conference is the megachurch’s annual women’s conference.
Hillsong responds
A Hillsong spokesperson referred Guardian Australia to an email the church’s board sent to all Hillsong attendees on Saturday afternoon, in which leaders claimed redundancy had been discussed with Bobbie Houston on 28 March – seven days after her husband had resigned – when the board met with both Houstons for “discussions regarding separation of their key roles and responsibilities”.
The board also said that after the meeting Brian Houston sent an email in which he “indicated a strong desire to continue in ministry with Bobbie in the years ahead”.
In its email to church attendees on Saturday, the board said: “Yesterday, a follow-up email was sent to Bobbie from a member of the Australian board outlining the redundancy plan which was part of our discussions at the prior meeting.
“Before the email was sent, the board member sent her a text message to offer the opportunity for a phone call after she received the email. The desire was to show genuine care and open the opportunity for further discussion.
“Brian responded by making his feelings public on social media. This has been interpreted and reported that the Hillsong board ‘made her role redundant by text’, which is not correct.”
The Hillsong board went on to say “this is a very heart-breaking situation for all of us at Hillsong Church who are so honoured to have ministered alongside Brian and Bobbie”, and that “we are saddened by Brian’s public response and hope that he and Bobbie will understand the heart behind the decisions”.
The Houstons founded Hillsong in 1983 in Sydney’s western suburbs, with churches now in 30 countries and an average global attendance of 150,000 each week, according to its website.
Houston’s resignation in March followed an apology issued by the church days earlier over the allegations of inappropriate conduct towards two women.
The church’s global board said in a statement that Houston had breached Hillsong’s pastor code of conduct in two incidents over the past decade.
“We have sadly been dealing with two complaints made against Pastor Brian over the last 10 years,” the church’s global board said.
The board said the first incident occurred “approximately a decade ago”, in which “inappropriate text messages” from Houston were sent to a staff member, “which subsequently resulted in the employee resigning”.
“At the time, Pastor Brian was under the influence of sleeping tablets, upon which he had developed a dependence,” the statement said. The board said it “worked with Pastor Brian to ensure he received professional help to eliminate his dependency on this medication, and this was achieved successfully”.
The second investigation concerned a complaint the church received in 2019, about behaviour which Hillsong attributed to medication and alcohol.
“Following an in-depth investigation, it was found that Pastor Brian became disoriented after a session at the Hillsong Conference, following the consumption of anti-anxiety medication beyond the prescribed dose, mixed with alcohol,” the global board’s statement said. “This resulted in him knocking on the door of a hotel room that was not his, entering this room and spending time with the female occupant.”
An investigation launched by the global board found Houston had breached the Hillsong Pastor’s Code of Conduct.
Following that investigation, Houston stepped down from Hillsong leadership.
Guardian Australia contacted Brian Houston and Bobbie Houston for comment.
• Australian Associated Press contributed to this report
