Hillsong is the world's best-known megachurch, with celebrities like Justin Bieber and Chris
Pratt as members.
But with that much attention, influence, and money, scandals are almost inevitable.
Here are all the times Hillsong Church made headlines for less-than-pious reasons.
Pastor Carl Lentz was in many ways the public face of Hillsong Church.
He was well known as the spiritual advisor and life coach for his congregant Justin Bieber.
And now he's more associated with the affair that got him fired from Hillsong in November
2020.
According to a statement by founder Brian Houston and published by People, Lentz's employment
was terminated.
Explaining the decision, the statement read,
"This action was not taken lightly and was done in the best interests of everyone, including
Pastor Carl, [following] ongoing discussions in relation to leadership issues and breaches
of trust, plus a recent revelation of moral failures."
Houston declined to get into specifics, but a day later, Lentz explained the situation
on Instagram, confessing,
"I was unfaithful in my marriage, the most important relationship in my life."
In leaked audio of a church meeting obtained by Page Six, Houston referenced Lentz partaking
in multiple extramarital affairs.
According to The Sun, it's Hillsong Church policy to fire both parties of a marriage
if one is terminated.
That means that Laura Lentz was not only cheated on by her husband, but she lost her job at
Hillsong, too.
In 2021, she revealed on Instagram that as a result of the scandal and marital problems,
she'd suffered from anxiety and PTSD.
Brian Houston founded Hillsong Church, while his father, Frank Houston, created the Sydney
Christian Life Centre, which was later absorbed into Hillsong.
According to The Guardian, Frank also served as the head of Assemblies of God in Australia
and New Zealand, where, in the 1960s, he allegedly abused multiple boys.
One victim from Sydney came forward in 1998.
His mother reported the abuse to Assemblies of God, lead at the time by Hillsong's Brian
Houston.
Brian forced his father to resign from his church duties, and over the next year, an
internal investigation uncovered more abuse cases.
While all of that was necessary, Brian Houston overlooked something important.
"What we didn't do was report it to the police."
Neglecting to report child abuse is a crime in Australia.
In 2014, Brian Houston testified to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to
Child Sexual Abuse that his father, who died in 2004, had engaged in many acts of abuse
and assault against minors.
The pattern of abuse was something Brian said that he was devastated to learn about.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Commission censured Brian for his silence.
In 2018, "60 Minutes Australia" aired a report that uncovered evidence that he actively helped
cover up his father's actions.
Hillsong released a statement in response expressing sympathy for the victims as well
as a "non-exhaustive list of false statements and/or misrepresentations."
In 2021, police in Sydney issued a warrant for Brian Houston's arrest; his case goes
to trial in 2022.
In 2021, Hillsong Church's complex in Australia was rocked — and publicly outraged — when
two women accused church associates of assault.
Anna Crenshaw, an American student who attended Hillsong College in Australia, told The Christian
Post that shortly after her arrival in 2016, she was sexually assaulted by Jason Mays,
a Hillsong administrator, singer, and son of the church's Human Resources leader.
Crenshaw says Mays attempted to kiss and touch her in a sexual manner, with force and without
consent.
She reported the incident to the pastoral care oversight department, who insisted that
Mays was a decent person, and that his alleged actions against her were an aberration.
Crenshaw recounted her story on "60 Minutes Australia," recalling that after the attack,
Mays was promoted.
The church took five months to report the crime to police, which reportedly only happened
after the intervention of Crenshaw's father.
Mays pleaded guilty to assault with an act of indecency.
The "60 Minutes Australia" report also included the testimony of a former Hillsong Melbourne
East youth leader identified as "Katherine."
She alleges a sexual assault by a church member in 2018.
When Katherine reported it to a pastor, he allegedly declined to listen.
She recalled the exchange to 60 Minutes Australia:
"And every time I would say a word, he would say, 'That's not for my ears to hear.
That's not for my ears to hear.
You go sort that out with him.
That's not for my ears to hear.'"
It wasn't until 2021 that Hillsong referred the matter to the police.
According to Australia's News.com, Hillsong responded to the "60 Minutes" report, labeling
the story, quote, "gutter journalism at its finest."
There's a time-honored practice in Christianity called tithing, or donating a set percentage
of one's income each month to their place of worship.
It's understood that the money is supposed to go toward paying for building maintenance
and staff salaries, as most churches are not income-earning organizations.
Many Hillsong Church congregants tithe, which helped the organization's U.S. branches amass
a huge fortune.
According to the New York Post, Hillsong East Coast raked in $12.7 million in 2019, of which
nearly 90% came from tithing.
And because Hillsong is a religious organization, it doesn't have to pay taxes on any of it.
Not only that, but Hillsong higher-ups in New York and Los Angeles apparently spent
much of that money freely, and on themselves.
Ex-staffers told the Post that collected church money was added onto reloadable debit cards
to use for expenses, however they chose to define them.
Former Hillsong LA pastor Nicole Herman said,
"We had a team count the tithes after every service and they would allocate X amount of
money [for the cards]"
Volunteers and pastors alike got handed cards, which the latter used for lavish restaurant
meals, expensive clothes, vehicles, high-rent apartments, manicures, catering, designer
handbags, and fancy hotel stays.
After Carl Lentz's adultery-related dismissal from Hillsong in 2020, the organization started
an internal investigation into Lentz's Hillsong East Coast, where ex-congregant Jenna Babbitt
admitted that no expenses were ever reconciled.
Though times seem to be changing, traditionally and historically, some Christian churches
have taken a hard stance against homosexuality, citing biblical text as proof that same-sex
relationships are a sin.
In 2014, Hillsong Church founder Brian Houston recognized that in a changing world, his outlook
as a pastor would have to change.
Houston cited the problem of young LGBT-identifying Christians developing depression or suicidal
ideation, quote, "because they feel that the church rejected them."
Still, he declined to take a public stance for or against same-sex marriage, saying
"We feel at this point, that it is an ongoing conversation."
In 2015, after two gay choir members at Hillsong's New York branch got engaged, Houston released
a statement condemning the idea saying,
"Hillsong's position on homosexuality and gay marriage has not changed and is consistent
with Scripture."
Four years later, Chris Pratt briefly mentioned that he attends a church, later to be revealed
as Hillsong, on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."
"It's a 21-day fast.
That’s kind of, a lot of people are doing it, I did it through my church.
It's based on Daniel."
"The book of Daniel?"
"The book of Daniel."
"The prophet Daniel" "The prophet Daniel, from the Old Testament."
Elliot Page called out Pratt on Twitter.
He wrote,
"If you are a famous actor and you belong to an organization that hates a certain group
of people, don't be surprised if someone simply wonders why it's not addressed.
Being anti-LGBTQ is wrong, there aren't two sides."
Pratt replied on Instagram,
"It has recently been suggested that I belong to a church which 'hates a certain group of
people' and is 'infamously anti-LGBTQ.'
Nothing could be further from the truth."
According to news site Crikey.com, Hillsong Church has historically and emphatically denied
and downplayed any sort of political involvement, at one point bluntly stating on its official
website that it doesn't contribute money to any political party, candidate, or cause.
The actions and records of the church, however, paint a different picture.
Two months before the 2007 statewide elections in Australia's New South Wales, Hillsong donated
$600 to the campaign of Labor Party member of Parliament Kristina Keneally.
That figure appeared in electoral commission disclosures, indicating that the money came
from tickets Hillsong purchased for a Keneally fundraiser.
At the time of the donation, Hillsong had just purchased a parcel of land in Keneally's
district, where it planned to build a 2,700-seat church and a 7-story office building.
Before it became an international and influential consortium of megachurches with a thriving
media wing, Hillsong Church began life in 1983 as Hills Christian Life Centre in Baulkham
Hills, Australia, a suburb of Sydney.
Tanya Levin was deeply involved with the facility, attending services with her family as a teenager
in the 1980s, but, according to PopMatters, she slowly broke away and ended her involvement
as she grew into adulthood.
The following decades gave Levin some critical distance from the church that would grow and
evolve into Hillsong, and she felt concern, if not alarm.
In 2007, she published "People in Glass Houses:," a first-person memoir-slash-exposé.
Levin recounts many of Hillsong's scandals and positions that are a matter of public
record, including accusations of abuse and assault against high-ranking officials, and
its conservative views on women and LGBTQ individuals.
The author also presents observations and circumstantial evidence that suggest Hillsong
is a money-centered cult that has somewhat brainwashed its congregants.
Levin told Australia's Courier-Mail,
"Recruitment and fundraising is what it's all about."
Hillsong seemingly retaliated against Levin on numerous occasions.
When she showed up to a church conference in 2015, Hillsong had her arrested and charged
with trespassing, then threatened to have her arrested should she ever again enter a
Hillsong building.
"So you're saying you don't have cancer."
"To the best of my knowledge, no I don't.
I've never had, em, a doctor hasn’t diagnosed me with cancer no."
According to the U.K. tabloid The Daily Mail, Michael Guglielmucci performed with the Hillsong
United musical ministry in the 2000s.
His original song "Healer," was written about how faith helped him cope with leukemia.
According to Vanity Fair, Guglielmucci's cancer was very much a part of his story — he performed
with an oxygen tube in his nose and accepted donations to help pay for his costly medical
treatments.
As it turns out, Guglielmucci didn't actually have cancer at all — he had a 16-year addiction
to pornography, and pretending to have leukemia was an elaborate, misguided attempt to cover
it up.
After the New York Post exposed his lie in 2008, Guglielmucci released a statement claiming
that while he didn't really have cancer, he'd been made physically ill by his steady diet
of smut.
"As a result of this secret life of sin, my body would often break down [...] I'd report
the cause of my symptoms simply as illnesses and I've thrown my life into a ministry for
many years trying to compensate for my sin."
According to Australia's ABC, the singer's father, Daniel Guglielmucci, read an admission
of guilt from his son and suggested that anybody who donated to the cancer treatment fund could
receive a refund.
With a drastic uptick in confirmed COVID-19 infections in the Australian state of New
South Wales in January 2022, local health officials instituted restrictions to curb
the spread of the potentially fatal virus.
According to Australia's 7News, singing and dancing at both indoor and outdoor festivals
were forbidden.
Organizers of Grapevine Gathering, a massive wine-and-concert festival, canceled, but Hillsong
Church went ahead with a 4-day summer camp for young people in Newcastle.
Videos of that gathering hit the internet, and they categorically featured unmasked celebrants
singing and dancing to a Christian rock concert.
NSW Health ordered Hillsong to ban singing and dancing.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard said,
"This event is clearly in breach of both the spirit and intent of the order, which is in
place to help keep the community safe."
Hillsong said in a statement that it was holding a "summer camp" and not a music festival,
claiming adherence to COVID protocols, and that what it was doing was advisable under
a loophole in the law that exempted religious gatherings.
NSW police ultimately decided against levying fines or punishment at Hillsong.
If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp
National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat
services.