BY : Jennifer Lee Christian Today
Brian Houston is making plans for 2024 to be his comeback year after a tumultuous season that saw him resign from the leadership of the church he founded, Hillsong, and stand trial and eventually be acquitted of accusations that he covered up his late father’s abuse.
The 69 year old shared in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that he and wife Bobbie are getting ready to launch a new ministry.
“Bobbie and I are starting a weekly online ministry and church in 2024,” he said. “I’m excited about building this new community.”
He did not share any additional details but the announcement comes not long after his daughter Laura Toganivalu and her husband, Peter, stepped down earlier this year as leaders of Hillsong’s youth ministry, Hillsong Young & Free, before announcing plans for a new church.
It has been a bumpy couple of years for Houston after he stepped down as global senior pastor of Hillsong in 2022. Senior leaders said that at the time that he had breached the church’s pastor’s code of conduct by entering the hotel room of an unidentified woman for 40 minutes while under the influence of alcohol and prescription drugs during the church’s annual conference in 2019.
Other complaints against Houston alleged that he had sent an “inappropriate text message” to a staffer in 2013. The staffer resigned shortly after.
A few months later Houston addressed his departure from Hillsong, denying that it was because of alleged misconduct and accusing Hillsong leaders of issuing public statements that had “made my position untenable”.
Earlier this year, Houston was acquitted of criminal charges that he covered up abuse committed by his late father, Frank Houston, in the 1970s.
He had always denied wrongdoing and the Sydney court ruled in his favour, finding that he had a valid reason for not reporting his father’s abuse because he believed that the victim did not want the abuse to be reported to police.
But in another dramatic turn of events this year, Houston pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol and received three years’ probation and a $140 fine. He was also made to take part in an alcohol programme for DUI offenders.
Photo: Hillsong Church
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