Note: the following article contains descriptions of sexual abuse.
One of Hillsong’s founding figures has blown the whistle on the church’s culture, alleging that senior members knew of the sexual “deviance” of founder Frank Houston for years before it became publicly known.
The allegations have been made by Geoff Bullock, who worked alongside Frank Houston and his son, the now disgraced Brian Houston, in establishing the original Hillsong church branch in north-west Sydney in 1983.
Bullock left the church in 1995 and has maintained his silence since. In a television interview broadcast on United States cable network NewsNation earlier today, Bullock said he now felt he had a responsibility to speak up about Hillsong, in light of the turmoil that has recently engulfed the church.
“I lived through it and there are a multitude of hurting people that I think I have to start the story and hopefully that’ll give people courage to tell their story,” he said.
The whole problem with fundamentalist Christianity is that you end up feeling like you have to protect the institution. And that comes with a growing sense of fear that if you don’t protect the institution, you are against the institution.
Bullock’s allegations point to a long-standing culture of cover-up and a fear of retribution against dissenters. His allegations also highlight a pervasive hypocrisy in relation to founder Frank Houston’s abusive behaviour, which was revealed publicly in 2007.
According to the report, Frank Houston had conducted “counselling” sessions with a 23-year-old trainee pastor who believed he might be homosexual. However, the sessions became “nothing more than sexual abuse disguised in the form of the need of a father’s love and discipline,” the man said, citing Houston’s “naked beatings” and “the eternal bum caresses and masturbating into bottles”.
Yet Bullock said senior pastors were aware of the allegations in the early 1990s. He also said that Brian Houston had told him about the allegations before Bullock left Hillsong in 1995. Despite, allegedly, being aware of Frank Houston’s behaviour — amounting to a serious moral transgression, as the church deems it — no action was taken to remove him from the ministry.
(The abuse of the then-23-year-old man is separate to a charge brought against Brian Houston that he concealed information about Frank Houston’s abuse of an eight-year-old boy. Brian Houston has strongly denied the charge.)
Growth, growth, growth
Bullock said he was concerned that Hillsong, a “big institution”, had become “a licence to print money”.
“Basically they’ve got unpaid workers and many of their workers go to Bible college, so they pay to work. Eighty per cent of its income is being given to them,” he told interviewer Rich McHugh.
“I don’t see a lot of Jesus. I look at Hillsong now, I see that every service has to be better than the last service. Every conference has to be better … Every sermon has to be more powerful … there needs to be growth, growth, growth, growth, growth for the sake of growth, growth, growth. But I see a multitude of people that are caught up in serving this structure to make it grow as if it’s God’s kingdom, but they’re being left behind.”
Bullock’s decision to blow the whistle after more than two decades follows a series of highly damaging recent disclosures on the church. Last month, one-time “global pastor” Brian Houston was forced to step aside from the church he founded and built after breaching the church’s code in relation to his actions with two women, as Crikey revealed. Hillsong has also been badly damaged in the US, with several churches withdrawing from the Hillsong “family” amid disclosures of the megachurch’s business tactics, which include the imposition of non-disclosure agreements and non-compete clauses.
As the church has unravelled and its Australian and international boards face pressure to resign, Brian Houston has kept a bitter watch.
In an Instagram exchange discussing the departure of US pastors — and leaked to Crikey — Brian Houston commented: “OMG Hypocrisy reigns supreme. Much to say but will leave it for another day.”
So, how hard was it for Bullock to leave Hillsong?
Bullock said that the minute he left, senior members of the church turned on him.
“I didn’t realise I was actually declaring war — that’s a bad word, but Hillsong was not a place you left. It’s a place you were sent from. They cancelled me as if I didn’t exist.
“I lost all my friends. I lost all my contacts in the Hillsong community of churches, network of churches,” he said.
Hillsong has been contacted for comment. We are yet to receive a response.
If you or someone you know is affected by sexual assault or violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000.
