Megachurch co-founder charged in child sexual abuse case

Houston’s attorney was served a notice for his client to appear in a court in Sydney on October 5

Brian Houston, co-founder and senior pastor of the global megachurch Hillsong, was charged by the Australian police Thursday with concealing child sexual abuse carried out by his father in the 1970s.

In a statement, the police alleged that Houston, 67, “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.”

Houston’s attorney was served a notice for his client to appear in a court in Sydney on Oct. 5.

Houston has denied the allegations and in an emailed statement provided by the church said: “These charges have come as a shock to me given how transparent I’ve always been about this matter. I vehemently profess my innocence and will defend these charges, and I welcome the opportunity to set the record straight.”

In 2014, an Australian royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse found that Houston had failed to alert police after his father, Frank Houston, confessed to him in 1999 of sexually abusing a 7-year-old boy decades earlier.

“I confronted him. He went extremely dry in the mouth and said, ‘Yes, these things did happen,’” Brian Houston said, according to transcripts.

The royal commission’s final report found that, “despite Pastor Brian Houston’s evidence that he had no doubt that his father’s conduct was criminal, he made no attempt to report his father to the police at the time the confession was made to him.”

Houston said during the royal commission hearings that he had suspended his father from preaching at the church but had not reported his behavior because the victim had asked him not to, a claim that the victim has vehemently denied.

Frank Houston established Sydney Christian Life Centre in 1977, which later merged with Hills Christian Life Centre, founded by Brian, to become Hillsong.

The church surged in popularity in the United States and around the world, attracting celebrities and young people with music and a style of preaching that emphasized positivity.

Houston, who is usually based in Sydney, was granted a rare coronavirus travel exemption to leave Australia this year. He has recently conducted services in Mexico and is believed to be currently residing in the United States with his wife.

His father died in 2004 and was never charged.