Hillsong Pastor Brian Houston Found Father’s Sex Abuse Confession "Agonising"

By Helen Davidson
The Guardian
October 6, 2014

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/oct/07/hillsong-pastor-brian-houston-found-fathers-sex-abuse-confession-agonising

The high-profile head of the Hillsong Church, Brian Houston said he was affected in a “personal way” when his father, Frank Houston, admitted in 2000 that he had sexually abused a child 30 years earlier.

The royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse is examining the responses to allegations of abuse against Frank Houston, a preacher who helped build Australia’s pentecostal movement, as well as allegations against two other men.

Frank Houston, who died in 2004, confessed in 2000 to sexually abusing a boy in New Zealand more than 30 years earlier. He was immediately sacked by his son, who was then national president of the Assemblies of God.

Houston said in a statement on Monday morning that although there were no allegations against him or Hillsong, he had been affected by child sexual abuse “in a very personal way”.

“Having to face the fact that my father engaged in such repulsive acts was – and still is – agonising,” said Houston.

“However as painful as this is for me, I can only imagine how much more pain these events caused to the victims, and my prayer is that they find peace and wholeness.

“Hillsong Church has zero tolerance for sexual abuse and has comprehensive child protection policies that are continually reviewed. We also welcome any recommendation of the commission that would assist us to improve on these policies even further.”

The public hearing in Sydney will begin with an opening statement by counsel assisting the commission, Simeon Beckett, and will then hear from a former parishioner of the Sydney Christian Life Centre.

Under examination is how the Sydney Christian Life Centre and Hills Christian Life Centre (now Hillsong Church) and Assemblies of God in Australia (now Australian Christian Churches) treated allegations against Frank Houston and two other men.

The commission will also examine responses to allegations from the 1980s and 90s against a former teacher, Kenneth Sandilands, at the Northside Christian College and the Northside Christian Centre (now Encompass Church) in Bundoora, Victoria.

A senior pastor of Encompass Church, John Spinella, welcomed the public hearing when it was announced.

“These public hearings of the royal commission are an important opportunity for those who have suffered pain and hurt as a result of actions of the past to be heard,” he said in a statement.

“As a church we have recognised these past failures and take the opportunity to apologise for the suffering and pain endured by those who were abused.”

The response of the Australian Christian Churches to allegations against Jonathan Baldwin, who was jailed in 2009 for repeatedly molesting a boy who came to him for counselling, will also be examined. Both Baldwin and Sandilands are still alive.