Hillsong Church

History

Brian and Bobbie Houston moved from New Zealand in 1978 and joined the Sydney Christian Life Centre in Darlinghurst, pastored by Brian Houston's father, Frank Houston. They started Hillsong Church, which was then known as Hills Christian Life Centre, in August 1983 with services held at the Baulkham Hills Public School hall and with an initial congregation of 45. In 1990, the church moved from "the warehouse", which they had occupied since 1984, to hold services at the Hills Centre. In 1986, an annual conference was developed, now called Hillsong Conference.

In the early 1990s, praise and worship recordings from the Hills Christian Life Centre were released in Australia and internationally under the name Hillsong. The name is also used for a television show featuring clips from the videos of the recordings and a message from Brian Houston. In 1997 the church moved into its new building at Baulkham Hills' Norwest Business Park.

In the late 1990s the church realised that the name Hillsong was more well-known than Hills Christian Life Centre due to the branding of its recordings. The church was renamed Hillsong Church in 1999, about the same time its mother church, Sydney Christian Life Centre, was merged into Hillsong Church.

A new convention centre at the church's "Hills" location, was opened on 19 October 2002 by John Howard, the then Prime Minister of Australia. Due to the growth of the "City" location, in 2007 the church announced its intentions to develop a significant area of land on Rothschild Avenue, Rosebery into the new "City" location. In August 2008, Hillsong withdrew the development application they had lodged with the Sydney City Council after an independent report recommended against the council approving the development. In August 2009 it was announced that the site was for sale. Since then, Hillsong has opened up another City location in Alexandria.

Extensions

In the 1990s, Kiev Christian life Centre, now Hillsong Kiev, and London Christian Life Centre, now Hillsong London, were planted from the Hillsong Church as independent churches. When Hills Christian Life Centre changed its name to Hillsong Church the international churches also did so.

In March 2007, Hillsong Kiev planted an offshoot church in Moscow, which started regular services in July 2007. It was announced in October 2007 that Phil and Lucinda Dooley would plant a Hillsong Church in South Africa in March 2008. Hillsong Stockholm, Sweden, formerly known as Passion Church, was planted in 2008-2009. The senior pastor at Stockholm is Andreas Nielsen.

As Hillsong has grown, other churches have joined and new churches established as extension services. Extension services are also held for cultural groups in other languages. These extension services are run by a team of people but look to Hillsong Church for leadership and support and join the vision of the church. There are currently 15 extension services across Sydney, many of which join with the "Hills" and "City" congregations for Sunday night services. In September 2007, Brian Houston's son Ben planted the 15th extension service in Mona Vale, known as the Northern Beaches service. In August 2008, Hillsong started a Sunday morning service at the Greater Union Cinema at Bondi Junction, this service being part of the City location.

Hillsong Family/Network Churches

Hillsong Network Churches

Beliefs

Hillsong is affiliated with Australian Christian Churches (the Assemblies of God in Australia), which belongs within the Pentecostal tradition of Christianity. The church's beliefs are Evangelical and Pentecostal in that it holds the Bible as the truth and authoritative in matters of faith. They believe that Jesus Christ is God Incarnate, and the only begotten Son of the Father, who reconciled humanity to God through his death and resurrection. The church believes that to live a fruitful Christian life a person should, among other things, seek salvation and the baptism in the Holy Spirit evidenced by speaking with other tongues, and that the Holy Spirit enables the use of spiritual gifts, which includes, and is not limited to, speaking in tongues.

Hillsong's stand on many topical issues in contemporary Christianity is in keeping with mainstream Pentecostalism opposing embryonic stem cell research and abortion on the basis that human life commences at conception. Hillsong has also declared support for Creationism and Intelligent Design and believes this should be taught in schools. It also believes that homosexuality is contrary to biblical teaching but emphasises that it does not condemn homosexuals.

Hillsong's prosperity teachings have been criticised by Christian leaders Tim Costello and George Pell. Subsequent statements by Tim Costello indicated that he was satisfied with changes made by Brian Houston to Hillsong's teaching in response to criticism, a change which has been noted by the media. Hillsong's teachings have been commented on favourably by Peter Costello, Tim Costello's brother, also a Baptist and a former Treasurer of Australia who has defended the church against accusations of unorthodoxy.

Leadership

The senior pastors of Hillsong Church are currently Brian and Bobbie Houston. They have been the pastors of the church since it was founded by Brian Houston in 1983.

Hillsong Church is also governed by a board of elders. The elders lead the church spiritually as well as act as a board of directors. The members of "The Hillsong Eldership" are senior executive staff and business leaders from Hillsong's congregation. Elders are appointed for one year, with renewable terms. Leadership positions are made by appointment.

Ministry

Hillsong Church runs many different ministries in addition to weekend services and events. Hillsong, like other churches, runs a small group structure named "connect groups". Groups of approximately 10-20 people meet on a fortnightly basis across Sydney. The main ministries of Hillsong Church include:

Hillsong Kids

Hillsong Kids is the children's ministry of Hillsong Church. The church provides a children's program for all weekend services and for the Hillsong Sisterhood. Hillsong Kids is divided into five age groups for each weekend service, they are:

Hillsong Kids runs children's programs during major conferences and events. During the Hillsong Conference there is "Kidsong" and during the Colour Your World Women's Conference there is "Colour Kids". Hillsong Kids have adopted two mascots, Max and Melody. The popularity of Hillsong Music has allowed Hillsong Kids to release seven albums to date: Jesus Is My Superhero (2004), Super Strong God (2005), Supernatural (2006), Tell the World (2007), Follow You (2008), Ultimate Kids Collection (2009) and Crazy Noise (2011).

Hillsong United

Hillsong United is a youth ministry of two different age groups that meet separately but have "United" nights when they come together. The different age groups are; Fuel for grade 7 through 9 grade and Wildlife for grades 10 through 12.

When Hillsong Church started in 1983, known as Hills Christian Life Centre, a youth group was established. The first youth pastor was Darko Culjak who was a Bible college student at the time. Donna Crouch was appointed as an assistant in late 1984 due to the expansion of the youth group. Donna Crouch became the youth leader in 1987. John King was then appointed as an assistant youth pastor. Phil and Lucinda Dooley became youth pastors in 1996 when the youth formed two age groups, Wildlife and Powerhouse. After a revival at the 1998 summer camp, the youth ministry began to have "United Nights" when both age groups came together. This is where the name of the youth ministry, Hillsong United, came from. When Sydney Christian Life Centre became the "City Campus" of Hillsong Church, they adopted the Hillsong United youth format, as have all extension services. In 2007, Paul and Andi Andrew became the new youth pastors, as Phil and Lucinda Dooley moved to Cape Town, South Africa to form what is today Hillsong Cape Town. The current youth pastors of Hillsong are Peter and Laura Toggs. It started with Brian Houston.

Hillsong Sisterhood

Hillsong Church runs a meeting for women entitled the Sisterhood. The service, hosted by Bobbie Houston, is for women of all ages. Hillsong Sisterhood runs on Thursdays at the Hills and City locations. Hillsong Sisterhood initiated the annual Colour Your World Women's Conference, which has become the Australian Christian Churches women's conference and brings together women from many different denominations across the world.

Hillsong City Care

Hillsong City Care (formerly Hillsong Emerge) is a non-profit organisation that aims to bring "social justice" to the people of Sydney. Overseeing Hillsong City Care is Hillsong Church executive pastor Donna Crouch. Around Sydney, there are many Hillsong City Care Centres and Hillsong Health Centres. These centres are places that people can go to for help, support and also counselling. Hillsong Youth Services and Hillsong Children's Services conduct a range of community-based programs and services to encourage and empower young people and children. Hillsong City Care run several courses through the LIFE (Living in Freedom and Excellence) and SAFE (Sexual Abuse, Freedom and Education) programs that aim to help and educate people.

In July 2008, concerns were raised by some teachers, parents and experts about the Hillsong City Care Shine program for girls being run in New South Wales public schools, community groups and the juvenile justice system. The concerns include that the program is "inappropriate for troubled young women, that the under-qualified facilitators are reinforcing gender stereotypes and that some parents have not been properly informed" and that "the program encourages girls to be subservient by teaching them that they need to be attractive to men". Hillsong claims that parents are supportive and that the program breaks down barriers in a group situation. In a media response on 29 July 2008, Hillsong expressed strong support for their program and explicitly denied charges of using the program for evangelism.

Music

Hillsong Church has a well-recognised music ministry with songs such as "Power of Your Love" by Geoff Bullock and "Shout to the Lord" by Darlene Zschech sung in churches worldwide. Originally published as "Hillsongs", Hillsong Church now produces its music through its own label, Hillsong Music Australia. Hillsong Music has released over 40 albums since 1992, many of them achieving gold status in Australia and one of them, People Just Like Us, achieving platinum status. The church's 2004 live praise and worship album For All You've Done reached No. 1 in the mainstream Australian album charts (ARIA).

Hillsong's most successful albums, the Live Album Series, led by Darlene Zschech and Reuben Morgan, have all achieved gold status in Australia and, since the inception in 1992 of the annual live praise and worship albums, Hillsong has branched out and released other albums including the worship series Hillsong United, Hillsong Kids, Hillsong London, Christmas albums and compilation albums. The Live Album Series are recorded at the Sydney campus(es) and then edited and produced by Hillsong Music Australia. The worship series began as a compilation of songs and developed into studio recorded albums. The Hillsong United series and the Hillsong United band led by Joel Houston, contains songs from the Hillsong United youth ministry. Hillsong Kids has released an annual worship for kids album since 2004. Hillsong Music has released two Christmas albums, several compilation albums as well as recordings from Hillsong London, Hillsong Kiev and Youth Alive. To help take Hillsong Music mainstream an agreement with Warner Music Australia took place in 1999. In 2003 Sony Music Australia also signed with Hillsong Music to take the group even more mainstream.

Geoff Bullock served as Hillsong's first worship pastor. Darlene Zschech led Hillsong's music ministries as worship pastor from 1995 until 2008. Reuben Morgan is currently the worship pastor.

On 24 October 2010, it was announced that Darlene Zschech and her husband, Mark, would be taking over as senior pastors at Church Unlimited in Charmhaven on the central coast region of New South Wales, effective as of 23 January 2011. As of December 2011, Hillsong has sold more than 12 million records across the globe, following its first release in 1991 and a quarter of all contemporary songs heard in Australian churches in 2011 were written by Hillsong.

In September 2012, Hillsong produced The Global Project, a collection of their most popular songs released in nine different languages including Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Mandarin, Indonesian, German, French, Swedish and Russian.

Hillsong Channel

On 9 March 2016, the American religious broadcaster Trinity Broadcasting Network announced a partnership with Hillsong that saw their former sub-network, The Church Channel re-imaged as the Hillsong Channel on 1 June 2016, in line with Hillsong's American expansion plans.

Hillsong Movie: Let Hope Rise

On 16 September 2016, a documentary Hillsong: Let Hope Rise, directed by Michael John Warren, was released to cinemas across the United States. The film explores Hillsong's beginnings and their rise to prominence as an international church. The main focus is on the band Hillsong United as they write songs for their upcoming album and work toward a performance at The Forum in Los Angeles.

Conferences

Hillsong Church holds three conferences annually.

The Hillsong Conference is an annual conference. Conferences are usually held during the first week of July at Allphones Arena in Sydney Olympic Park and are hosted by Brian and Bobbie Houston with worship led by the Hillsong Team.

The Colour Your World Women's Conference (also known as the Colour Conference) is an annual women's conference. The conferences were started in 1997 by Bobbie Houston, who hosts each conference, including the ones in London and Kiev.

The Hillsong Men's Conference was first held in 2002 and is hosted by Brian Houston at the Hillsong Convention Centre in Baulkham Hills.

Hillsong International Leadership College

Under the banner of Hillsong Church, the training offered by Hillsong International Leadership College includes "leadership" training, "contemporary" praise and worship and specialised youth, children's and "media" ministries. Since January 2006 the college, in association with Alphacrucis (formerly Southern Cross College), has offered the Bachelor of Theology degree of the Sydney College of Divinity (with a major in pastoral theology).

Political influence

Hillsong Church has attracted support from high-profile politicians, especially from the Liberal Party of Australia. In 1998, Brian Houston met with then Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, and most of his Cabinet, at Parliament House in Canberra before sharing prayers. In 2002, John Howard opened the Hillsong Convention Centre at the Baulkham Hills location. In 2004 and 2005, the then Treasurer of Australia, Peter Costello, spoke at its annual conferences. Mark Latham, the former Leader of the Opposition, declined Hillsong's invitation to the 2004 conference, although Bob Carr, the then Premier of New South Wales (from the Australian Labor Party), did attend the 2005 conference.

Liberal MP for Mitchell, Alan Cadman, and two Family First Party senate candidates, Joan Woods and Ivan Herald, who failed to win senate seats, were featured in a Hillsong circular during the election, with members being asked to pray for them.

Hillsong's high profile involvement with political leaders has been questioned in the media, and publicly, the church has distanced itself from advocating certain political groups and parties, including the fledgling Family First party. Brian Houston has replied to these criticisms by stating, "I think people need to understand the difference between the church being very involved in politics and individual Christians being involved in politics."

In 2008, it was claimed by a Sydney inner city newspaper, Central Magazine, that Hillsong had donated A$600 to a Member of the Legislative Council, Kristina Keneally (ALP), for the tickets of a fundraising dinner, featuring the New South Wales' Planning Minister, Frank Sartor (ALP), as a guest speaker one month before the 2007 state election, despite Hillsong's own statement of corporate governance declaring that 'Hillsong Church does not make financial contributions to or align itself with any political party or candidate'. A Hillsong staff member, Maria Ieroianni, claimed that no donation had been made and that the dinner was not a fundraiser. Hillsong also issued a statement on their website denying that the money was a donation. According to the Central Magazine article, Keneally has described the dinner as a fundraiser and the money from Hillsong as a donation. The article also claims that these descriptions are confirmed by the records of the Electoral Commission.

Controversies

Hillsong has been criticised at various times for its understanding of the Christian faith and has also been censured for unethical conduct. Concerns have been expressed by politicians, media, community groups, Christian leaders and former members. Criticisms have covered Hillsong's use of finances, its ties to controversial organisations, its treatment of critics and its alleged involvement in vote stacking of the Australian Idol TV show.

Criticism of finances

Pushes for a charity commission in Australia have stemmed from claims that religious organisations like Hillsong pay their staff in fringe benefits. Criticisms have been levelled at Hillsong in regard to its finances, especially its use of government grants when it reportedly made $40 million in 2004 and $50 million in 2010. It was alleged that Hillsong had paid staff members with money given as a government grant for the assistance of the Riverstone Aboriginal community. This appears to have been refuted by letters of apology, published on the Hillsong website, from both the Riverstone Aboriginal Community and from the Minister of Justice and Customs.

Frank Houston and sexual abuse allegations

Frank Houston sexually abused a seven-year-old boy, which came to light after his mother reported the abuse to another church. The victim told the Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that Frank Houston offered him $10,000 Australian dollars as compensation. Frank Houston eventually confessed to the crime. The commission also heard that he was involved in the sexual abuse of other children in New Zealand. Frank Houston resigned from Hillsong Church in 2000. Contrary to what is stated in Frank Houston's resignation letter, he retired from the position of senior pastor of Sydney Christian Life Centre in May 1999 and was never employed by Hillsong Church.

Mercy Ministries

Hillsong has been criticised for its involvement with Gloria Jean's Coffees and Mercy Ministries, an evangelical charity with a similar stance on abortion and the former perspective on sexuality issues. Complaints by former residents of Mercy Ministries include "emotionally cruel and medically unproven techniques", such as exorcism and residents being required to sign over social welfare payments to Mercy Ministries. Hillsong responded by praising the work of Mercy Ministries and stating that "we are not involved in the operational aspects of the organization." The church also said: "We have heard many wonderful testimonies about how the work of Mercy has helped the lives of young women facing often debilitating and life-controlling situations. Some would even say that Mercy Ministries has saved their life." Mercy Ministries was closed down on 31 October 2009, preceding which Hillsong had distanced itself from the organisation despite earlier funding and staffing elements of it.

Criticism from a former member

Hillsong's attitude towards criticism was portrayed negatively by one former member Tanya Levin in her book People in Glass Houses: An Insider's Story of a Life In and Out of Hillsong. Specific criticisms covered authoritarian church governance, lack of financial accountability, resistance to free thought, strict fundamentalist teachings and lack of compassion. In an interview with Andrew Denton, Levin further discussed her experience of Hillsong, which she described as "toxic Christianity". On 1 July 2015, Levin was arrested for trespass while being interviewed outside the 2015 Hillsong annual conference at Sydney Olympic Park.

Alleged vote stacking in Australian Idol

In 2007 Hillsong was alleged to have been involved in vote stacking Australian Idol, a claim the TV show rejected. However, some Hillsong members and former members indicated that some co-ordinated support of church members on Australian Idol has taken place.

Michael Guglielmucci cancer scandal

On 20 August 2008, Michael Guglielmucci, a pastor who composed "Healer" from the album This Is Our God – a song about his experience of cancer – admitted he had lied about ever having cancer. Hillsong leadership told the press they were unaware of this situation and that the suspended pastor was seeking professional help. The ACC promised that all money donated by listeners inspired by the song would either be returned or donated to charity.

Stance on homosexuality and same-sex marriage

In 2014, Brian Houston discussed being more understanding of gay people. Later, he clarified his position after being criticised by some Christians for allegedly supporting homosexuality. In a statement released on Hillsong's website, he stated: "Nowhere in my answer did I diminish biblical truth or suggest that I or Hillsong Church supported gay marriage."

Mark Driscoll appearance

Controversial American preacher Mark Driscoll had been invited to attend the Hillsong Church 2015 annual conference. When it was revealed that Driscoll had made offensive comments about women, Brian Houston announced that Driscoll would no longer attend the conference. A pre-recorded interview with Driscoll was played during the conference.