The founding pastor of Hillsong Church Brian Houston has stepped down from his position on the board of the megachurch after being charged with concealing his late father's sex offences.
Houston is due to appear in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on 5th October. Police have said that they will allege in court that Houston "knew information relating to the sexual abuse of a young male in the 1970s and failed to bring that information to the attention of police".
The charges carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Despite stepping down from the board, Houston will remain as the church's global pastor.
In previous comments made to the Associated Press, Houston insisted he was innocent and that the charges came as a "shock".
"I vehemently profess my innocence and will defend these charges, and I welcome the opportunity to set the record straight," he said.
New allegations of assault and cover-up
Hillsong was hit with fresh allegations over the weekend after two women spoke to Australia's '60 Minutes' news programme claiming they had been assaulted by two men linked with the church. The first claimant, Anna Crenshaw, said she had been sexually assaulted by a Hillsong worship leader, while the other woman, 'Katherine', said she had been raped by a member of the church.
The worship leader facing Crenshaw's allegations, Jason Mays, is reported to have pled guilty to indecent assault last year, though no conviction was recorded. He was instead handed a two-year good behaviour bond.
Mays is also thought to be the son of Hillsong's head of human resources.
In a statement, Hillsong defended its decision to keep Jason on staff following the incident:
"There are several reasons why Jason Mays was given another opportunity to remain on staff including the comments of the magistrate who chose not to record a conviction,” the church said.
Hillsong also noted that “care was extended to Ms Crenshaw throughout the process (of the investigation)” and “at no time was she discouraged from filing a formal complaint or participating in legal proceedings, and it was Hillsong that reported the matter to police”.
Both women claim that they were not listened to by the church when reporting the allegations.
"They do not care at all about the fact that I was assaulted,” the other woman, 'Katherine' explained to the 60 Minutes programme. “They just care about who I’m going to tell or what I’m going to do about it, and how that will affect them.”
Hillsong insisted that the 60 Minutes report was "gutter journalism” and claimed the programme was "not interested" in the facts.
They added: "Hillsong Church takes any claim of assault extremely seriously and we allocate significant resources so that all can attend our services and events in a safe environment.”
Lawyer Boz Tchividjian, who is the grandson of Billy Graham and an advocate for abuse survivors, said that the law firm Hillsong hired to deal with the first woman's allegations describes itself as "the most feared law firm in the world".
“What sex abuse survivor is going to feel comfortable participating in a process that’s led by an organisation that defines itself in that way?” Tchividjian asked.
Tchividjian went on to lament the "celebrity culture in the church" which has given rise to an exploitative power imbalance between leaders and congregants.
“Pastors have become rock stars. Pastors oftentimes live - in these big churches - live better than most of the people in their congregation. And you create that culture inside of a church, that ultimately results in that pastor and those leaders becoming less and less accountable as those leaders become more and more insulated," he said.
Tchividjian finished with a challenge to the church: “If you love Jesus, then my goodness, start acting like Him in the most important moments of life. And that is, when you are approached by the hurting and wounded, stop everything you’re doing and reach out and expend yourself for them. Isn’t that what Jesus did over and over again? That’s what the church should look like. And unfortunately, that’s hard to find these days.”