It's turbulent times for the celebrity church Hillsong.
It's been revealed this weekend high profile leader Brian Houston,
who founded the hugely successful organisation, has now stepped down from its multiple boards.
He faces court next month, accused of concealing child sexual abuse.
A charge he denies.
Tonight though, we reveal more damaging accusations about the church.
Two brave women who say they were violated by other Hillsong members.
But what makes these attacks even more disturbing is the mega church's response
and indifference to the victim's suffering so heartless it would surely make Jesus weep.
Hillsong comes from pretty humble, some might say hokey beginnings.
While many other churches date back thousands of years,
Hillsong was only founded in the northwestern suburbs of Sydney 38 years ago.
But since then it's been a miraculous meteoric rise for this Pentecostal movement.
Spreading to 23 countries across the world,
even filling the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York.
But all that glitters ain't gold.
With a wave of scandals hitting the organisation both in Australia.
Founder of Hillsong Church Brian Houston has this afternoon been charged for allegedly concealing
child sex offences.
And abroad.
The affair that brought down Hillsong Church celebrity pastor Carl Lynn.
When you give somebody so much power, they become God to people.
Tonight we uncover new disturbing behaviour within the Australian church.
Young women violated.
And he pulled down my pants and my underwear.
And he raped me at church.
And he grabbed me and put his hands like all around my waist in between my legs,
touching my crotch and my butt.
But what's almost as bad as the abuse is Hillsong's response.
In some cases protecting and still employing the men responsible.
Well what they have done is engage in a textbook case of
defending the organisation rather than caring for a victim.
I don't care how you dress.
I don't care what type of music you play.
I don't even care as much about the messages you preach.
If the least of those in your congregation and your community are not protected
and not advocated for when they get hurt, then don't call yourself a church.
Because Jesus was all about that.
And today we're going to be taking you on a facilities tour of Hillsong College at the
Hills campus.
Like every arm of Hillsong, the church's big shiny college in suburban Sydney has a slick
promotional video touting its wares.
Right now we are in Hillsong College's state-of-the-art television studio.
It's become a destination not just for students from around Australia,
but internationally as well.
American Anna Crenshaw moved to Sydney to study at Hillsong College in 2016,
drawn to the church's vibrant energy.
How would you describe the Hillsong community at that time?
In the beginning it was awesome.
It was a lot of fun, a lot of energy, just meeting new people and new friends from
all around the world and in Australia.
It was really cool.
There was a strong social life for the young community at Hillsong College,
but that friendly feeling was shattered in 2016
when Anna was at a gathering of several church members,
including Jason Mays, a married Hillsong administrator.
I was sitting at a table next to my good friend
and then Jason was sitting at the end of the table
and through the night then he moved and sat next to me alongside of the table
and that's when he put his hand on my thigh and at that point I just froze and didn't know what to do.
Feeling extremely uncomfortable, Anna decided to leave, but then Jason groped her.
So he was still sitting and I was standing next to him getting ready to walk out
and he grabbed me and put his hands like all around my waist in between my legs
touching my crotch and my butt and he lifted up my shirt and was kissing my stomach like don't go
and then I was trying to pull away from him and then I did get away
and he was stumbling out the door trying to follow us
and he was saying I want to go with you, I want to go with you guys.
Did you have any doubt about what he was trying to do?
No, I think it's evident where he was heading and what he was thinking.
Anna felt violated and didn't know what to do.
Eventually though in 2018 she decided to tell Hillsong's leadership about the incident,
but she says she didn't feel supported and claims that after three months they still
hadn't even bothered to question the alleged offender Jason Mays.
On top of that, bizarrely, Jason's wife was then appointed Anna's new church leader.
You know I felt like I was the one who was in trouble, not him.
I felt like I was doing the right thing by coming forward, but they made it into like
an issue that I was bringing up for no reason to their, in their opinion.
Five months after reporting the assault to Hillsong, a despondent Anna reached out to
her dad who is himself a pastor at his own church back in Pennsylvania.
When you boil it down, do you think Hillsong wanted Anna to be silenced?
No doubt Hillsong church would certainly rather not have this go public.
Ed Crenshaw was appalled when he learned about his daughter's assault and more specifically
the inaction from Hillsong.
Ed says it was only when he intervened that Hillsong finally handed the matter to police.
Do you feel like if you hadn't have got involved that Hillsong would have just swept this under
the carpet and never involved police?
I have no doubt about that and even once the police were involved they didn't fully cooperate.
Everything is centered on trying to keep her story quiet for five months, to try to obscure
it, to try to minimize it and to try to get Anna, I think, ultimately to drop it.
Jason Mays was eventually charged with indecent assault and pleaded guilty when the case came
before the court here in Penrith.
Given the Hillsong employee had now finally admitted to assaulting a young female student
at the church's college, Anna Crenshaw assumed he would lose his job.
She was wrong.
In your mind did you think okay that's it surely Hillsong has to cut ties with him now?
I thought so but then I found out from LinkedIn that he was given a better job during that time.
According to a statement from Hillsong, Jason Mays was given a second chance because despite
his guilty plea some other people did not fully corroborate Anna's version of events.
They further said one of the cornerstones of our biblical beliefs as Christians
is forgiveness and redemption.
It is important Jason is allowed this as well.
However the Crenshaw's believe Jason Mays was given preferential treatment because his father
is Hillsong's head of human resources.
What message does that send to other people within Hillsong?
I think as the father of a Hillsong college student it says you can send your students
to our college but don't count on us to take care of them and I think that's a horrendous message.
Is it a case of rules for some?
Oh yeah yeah Jason Mays is part of an elite culture where it's rules for the but not for me.
The decision to shelter Jason Mays upset a number of people within the Hillsong community
so church leader Brian Houston tried to clear the air.
Houston you might remember is close friends with Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
You know you just walk the path people like this you know.
A friendship that turned controversial last year when the PM tried to take Houston with him
to a dinner at the White House.
But when it came to the Jason Mays scandal it was the Hillsong leader preaching diplomacy
reassuring staff that everything had been handled appropriately.
One thing I do know is we're not talking about a sexual predator here.
We're talking about a young man young married man who did something stupid got much
drunker than he should which is an issue we've got to keep addressing and got himself in a
bad situation that's it.
But if you think that response was tone deaf what Houston did next was even more outrageous.
To deflect attention he took to twitter to share that Anna had also been abused as a
child at her father's church in Pennsylvania.
The Hillsong leader quickly realized the error of his ways and deleted the tweet.
He admitted to his mistake saying I foolishly included information that was wrong for me to
share. To rightfully be more respectful of privacy I deleted my comment.
I apologize for any pain I have caused. I know better and will do better.
The tweet while it was hurtful it did just show everyone the attitude that I had been
receiving from Hillsong for the past few years and I think that apologizing just for the
tweet without any apology for what has happened and what I've been through is very shallow
apology.
Sadly Anna's story is not unique. Since going public she's been contacted by a number of
other former Hillsong members who claim the church is more worried about protecting the
brand than protecting its people.
And then after he was done he just pulled up his pants and he just left without saying
a word.
Hillsong has 30 churches in Australia. Not your traditional stuffy old buildings but
modern facilities like its Melbourne East campus that attract a modern young crowd.
This woman who we'll call Catherine was one of the thousands drawn to what she thought
was an energetic congregation that reflected her lifestyle.
I'd imagine early days it was called quite enjoyable.
Yeah I had a lot of fun. I was making some great friends and I was having the time of
my life being a youth leader and I love God. I'm a Christian. I love the church and so
to be able to help out like that was was super fun at the beginning.
But one night in 2018 when Catherine was a volunteer at Hillsong she stayed back late
with the male worshipper to help pack up after a Bible study class. What happened next has
left her traumatized ever since. She claims she was raped by a fellow Hillsong member.
And he closed the door and he turned off the lights and I said what are you doing are you
okay? And then he he grabbed my hair he just pushed me onto this office chair and I said
this office chair and I said what are you doing like stop no like this isn't happening
because in that moment I knew I knew what was going to happen
and he pulled down my pants and my underwear
and he raped me in our events office at at church.
Sorry. A church must be the last place you would expect something like this to happen.
I had no reason to think that I wasn't going to be safe. It was really
violent. It was just completely filled with like anger and rage and like just hatred
it was just the scariest thing I've ever experienced in my whole life because
he was so much bigger than me and then after he was done he just
pulled up his pants and he just left without saying a word.
I felt really ashamed I felt really guilty you know I was a virgin and that was the only sexual
experience that I had ever had and it was it was non-consensual and I just wanted to pretend it
didn't happen. Catherine spent several weeks trying to forget the attack but eventually the
emotional torment was just too much so she says she reported the incident to a youth pastor.
This is a very serious incident that you're telling them about. What was their response?
He wouldn't let me speak I walked into there and I said something really bad has happened I'm
visibly upset I'm shaking I can't breathe I'm crying I'm hysterical in front of this man and
I'm like he grabbed me he hurt me he did it he touched me and I was just going on and on
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. Catherine says
that Hillsong leader made her feel like she was the problem telling her she needed to focus on
repairing relationships she was so upset by that lack of support that in 2019 she decided to leave
the church. When the institution I don't care whether it's Hillsong or any other church when
their first response seems to be more focused on protecting the institution than the vulnerable
wounded person that is a problem not just for any institution but for an institution that claims to
follow Jesus. Boz Javidjian is the grandson of famed American evangelist Billy Graham.
Boz now works as an attorney for survivors of sexual abuse. He advised Anna Crenshaw in her case
against Hillsong after the young American student was indecently assaulted in Sydney by a Hillsong
staff member. Boz says he sees a pattern of behavior in the way the Australian based church
goes about its business trying to either silence or intimidate those who speak out about suffering
within the organization. In Anna's matter Hillsong eventually commissioned a law firm to carry out
what was supposed to be an independent investigation but Boz claims it was more of a PR
exercise designed to protect Hillsong's reputation specifically he alleges that law firm was less
about independence and more about intimidation. Just because you call something independent
doesn't make it so. This is the law firm that's allegedly conducting this investigation
underneath their signature line it is it states the most feared law firm in the world
that's how this law firm who's supposedly going to engage in an independent and an objective
investigation into Anna's claims you tell me what what sexual abuse survivor is going to
feel comfortable participating in a process that's led by an organization that defines itself in that
way. Given what you've seen in Anna's case would you feel comfortable sending your children to
study with Hillsong in Australia? No absolutely not. Anna Crenshaw when she moved to Australia
as a young person was no doubt a vulnerable person and she wasn't protected and she certainly
wasn't cared for. When Catherine heard about Anna's story she mustered up the courage to share
her own experiences on social media and with those claims now being aired publicly for the
first time all of a sudden Hillsong's leaders cared a lot more about what she had to say.
After I posted that I got contacted by Hillsong asking if I would sit down with them and have a
chat about whatever it is that happened to me. The impression I get from hearing that is that
Hillsong didn't really care about your story until you started speaking publicly about it and then
they wanted to get on top of it. That is exactly what happened. They do not care at all about the
fact that I was assaulted. They just care about who I'm going to tell or what I'm going to do
about it and how that will affect them. So almost three years after Catherine first told a Hillsong
pastor and was shut down she was finally heard. At last Hillsong reported the alleged rape to police.
I want my abuser to never ever ever have the chance to be able to do that to another person
again and I also want Hillsong and the pastor that I told to be held accountable for not doing
anything about my abuse after being told that I was abused and I want to make sure that they can
never ever ever hide anyone else's abuse. There are growing concerns about Hillsong's culture
not just at its churches in Australia but overseas too particularly in the United States where the
organisation's at times celebrity obsessed mindset has upset many members. Justin this is your second
time at Hillsong conference and what's different this time about being here? I just think my faith
grows every day so my faith is stronger than two years ago better stronger wiser kinder.
Hey guys welcome back we're here at Hillsong. Hillsong church is no stranger to celebrity
members and perhaps none more famous than pop sensation Justin Bieber. I just want to love
people more I just want to love Carl more. You're doing a good job with that. So Justin this is your
second time at Hillsong conference and what's different this time about being here? I just
think my faith grows every day so my faith is stronger than two years ago better stronger wiser
kinder. The man Bieber is snuggling up to is Carl Lance then the head of Hillsong's New York chapter.
For fresh fire in this room I pray for fresh grace in this room.
Hillsong's head office in Sydney had grand plans for New York
as the saying goes if you can make it there you'll make it anywhere.
New York they were meeting at like a nightclub. I think that Hillsong New York City like
um fed off that energy right like we're different we're so cool we're so edgy you know nobody else
has church in a club and that was really talked about a lot you know what I mean? Prayer meets
party. Right exactly. Megan Fallon started attending Hillsong New York in 2011.
But she soon realized this was a church where leaders had a rock star-like reputation and the
spending habits to match. As nanny for one of the senior pastor's families
she saw firsthand how donations to the church made in good faith by members were then blown
on corporate credit cards. It was constantly going out to dinner nice lunches breakfast anything so
like if me and you went out right now and got dinner and we talked about church once we could
expense that on the church card right. So I mean you were being paid a pittance how galling was it
to then see all these church leaders who you know were dripping in designer brands and going out and
living the high life. Yeah I mean it really um it really hurt and I actually like so I got paid like
it comes out to about four dollars but that's on the high end of some of the nannies that worked
for the pastors like some of my friends are like wow you're you're hitting big and so um it's
really terrible we're like scrubbing their toilets and taking care of their kids when they're out
you know um it was hard. Megan says there was a clear delineation between the Hillsong elite
who hung out with celebrity friends and the everyday members like her who she believes
were exploited. Celebrity was like built into the culture there you know Justin Bieber or
Selena Gomez or you know basketball players like it was in the culture.
A church is a place of worship it sounds like the leaders there at Hillsong worshiped celebrity.
Yeah at first it's exciting and you know really cool it's this thing that you buy into
and then when you look at it on the outside it's like wow it's like actually really ridiculous.
After seeing the inner workings of Hillsong Megan says she and several others raised concerns
about the culture to church leaders but they were quickly dismissed so in 2014 she quit.
But the rot continued to set in for years under the watch of Carl Lentz the leader of Hillsong
New York. That was until late last year when scandal engulfed the church with allegations
some male leaders were having inappropriate sexual relations with young female members
and other reports of extramarital affairs. He said among you there must not even be a hint
of sexual immorality. He was one of the country's best known pastors but this Thanksgiving instead
of healing a congregation Carl Lentz is working on damage control. Lentz was sacked by Hillsong
for what it described as moral failings as he admitted to cheating on his wife with his
mistress going public. When you give somebody so much power they become God to people and I think
people forgot the concept of religion and beliefs and I think that people look at Carl like he's
God to them. After Carl Lentz was fired Hillsong opened an investigation into the culture of its
New York church but a number of its current and former members say it's just another PR exercise.
For so long myself and so many other people were meant to feel like we were the problem you know
and so for this to come out it kind of is like wow like we we weren't the problem. How would
you sum up the culture within the church at Hillsong in New York? I mean when I was there
toxic you know Hillsong Sydney Hillsong Australia definitely fueled that flame. Carl Lentz was
totally Brian Houston's golden boy. You know somebody once told me something that is it was
very simple but has stuck with me for many years they said the higher you go up in church leadership
the less likely you are to encounter Jesus and I have to tell you with great sadness
that's been my experience in the work I've done for the past 30 years and something has to change.
Bois Travigian has spent his career holding many church leaders accountable in a court of law. He
says when it comes to Hillsong's head honchos both in Australia and abroad some deep soul
searching is required. We've created a celebrity culture in the church. Pastors have become rock
stars. Pastors oftentimes live in these big churches live better than most of the people
in their congregation and you create that culture inside of a church that ultimately results in that
pastor and those leaders becoming less and less accountable as they become more and more insulated
and that creates problems. Do you believe that there is a genuine desire within Hillsong to
get its act together? I can tell you this that you cannot begin looking at the future and planning
for the future until you've properly addressed the past. If you love Jesus then my goodness
start acting like him in the most important moments of life and that is when you are
approached by the hurting and wounded. Stop everything you're doing and reach out and
expend yourself for them. Isn't that what Jesus did over and over again? That's what the church
should look like and unfortunately that's hard to find these days. Hillsong rejected our request
for an interview. We put several written questions to the church and it issued a statement declaring
our investigation was gutter journalism adding Hillsong church takes any claim of assault
extremely seriously and we allocate significant resources so that all can attend our services and
events in a safe environment. But that's in stark contrast to the experiences of former Hillsong
member Catherine who's still trying to put her life back together following her time with the
Australian mega church. What do you think of Hillsong these days? Hate is a very strong word
but it's the word that I would use. I hate Hillsong church. It is not a safe place. I would
discourage anyone and everyone from going there because it's not safe whether you're a young
person whether you're an adult whoever you are it's not safe.