Hillsong Church

Hillsong Church, commonly known as Hillsong, is a global charismatic Christian megachurch based in Australia.

The original church was established in 1983 as Hills Christian Life Centre, in Baulkham Hills, New South Wales, by Brian Houston and his wife Bobbie. Until separating from the Christian Life Centre (CLC) denomination in 2018, Hillsong was a member of the Australian Christian Churches (the Australian branch of the Assemblies of God). Hillsong is known for its worship music, with groups such as Hillsong Worship, Hillsong United and Hillsong Young & Free with many musical credits and hits to their names. The church and its music have been highly successful globally, with its presence described as a global corporate brand, but a series of scandals and criticisms have dented its image in recent years. In March 2022, Houston stepped down as global senior pastor after an internal investigation found that Houston had breached the church's moral code of conduct for pastors by engaging in inappropriate behaviour with women on two occasions in the 2010s. Phil and Lucinda Dooley, who had been acting in the position since January 2022, took over the position as senior global pastor.

The church is governed by the Hillsong Global Board and a group of elders known as the Hillsong Eldership, headed by Pastors Phil and Lucinda Dooley, since 2022. The elders lead the church spiritually whereas the board of directors manages the corporate administration appointed for one year, with renewable terms.The founders, Brian and Bobbie Houston, have been the global senior pastors of Hillsong Church. On 31 January 2022 it was announced that Phil and Lucinda Dooley, pastors of the South African church, would be acting global senior pastors in Houston's absence until the end of 2022, after Brian Houston stepped down owing to the pressures of a court case relating to his alleged failure to report sexual abuse by his father. Brian Houston was also chairman of the board, until his resignation from this position in January 2022. As of February 2022 the replacement chairperson has yet to be announced. George Aghajanian is General Manager, as well as a director of Hillsong Church Australia and its international entities.In March 2022, Brian Houston resigned from the board of Hillsong Church and from his role as global senior pastor as a result of breaching the moral code of the church in his behaviour with two women.

Hillsong has a global presence, with churches and ministries in Australia, Indonesia and Japan, many European countries, Canada, the US, and in Latin America, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and Uruguay as of February 2022.Hillsong's various ministries include Hillsong Music, Hillsong Kids, Hillsong Youth, Hillsong Sisterhood, Hillsong Men, Hillsong Conference, Hillsong CityCare, Hillsong International Leadership College, TBN Inspire (branded as Hillsong Channel from June 2016 to 31 December 2021), TV & Film, Hillsong Performing Arts Academy and Hillsong Health Centre. Their total facilities are estimated to be worth around A$100 million.

Hillsong was formerly affiliated with Australian Christian Churches (the Assemblies of God in Australia), part of Pentecostal Christianity. The church's beliefs are Evangelical and Pentecostal.Hillsong's positions on non-central doctrines of the faith are diverse, although individuals have taken a public stand on many topical issues in contemporary Christianity in keeping with mainstream Pentecostalism; for example, the church's founder opposes abortion and supports teaching creationism in schools. Hillsong has also declared support for Creationism and Intelligent Design and believes this should be taught in schools.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. Costello also wrote a foreword in Hillsong's 2019 annual report. 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.

Hillsong has been described by popular music scholar Tom Wagner as a "confluence of sophisticated marketing techniques and popular music". The music of Hillsong United and Hillsong Worship are credited with driving Hillsong's global popularity. Through the 1980s and 1990s, the congregation grew from 45 members to nearly 20,000 and emerged as a significant influence in the area of contemporary worship music. This was a result of strategic marketing that targeted younger generations and Hillsong's success at establishing itself as a global music standard.Hillsong Church has produced over 40 albums, which have sold over 11 million copies. Albums are produced for different target audiences including Hillsong Kids for children. Hillsong Chapel features acoustic arrangements, which are "quieter" than the electric guitar, keyboard and drums that are typical of Hillsong's music. Hillsong's albums are produced by Hillsong Music Australia. Hillsong's congregational music has been the dominant source of the church's influence in the Charismatic Christianity movement. Music is central to worship at the church. Hillsong's worship leaders have generally enjoyed a high-profile international position. Early worship leaders included Geoff Bullock and Darlene Zschech. Zschech was Hillsong's second worship leader and Hillsong achieved international acclaim during her ministry. Zschech's "Shout to the Lord" was an early hit for Hillsong in mid-1990s. In 2008, Reuben Morgan became Hillsong's third worship leader.Hillsong's worship music has been widely influential not only in Pentecostal churches, but more broadly in Evangelical churches. Many of Hillsong's "worship expressions" have been incorporated into Evangelical services including raised hands, vocal utterance and dance. 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).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.

On 9 March 2016 Trinity Broadcasting Network, the American religious broadcaster, announced a partnership with Hillsong that saw their former sub-network, The Church Channel, re-imaged as the Hillsong Channel on 1 June 2016. The network was rebranded as TBN Inspire on 1 January 2022, though Hillsong remains a partner in the network.

Hillsong Conference is a mid-year week long annual conference in Sydney, London and New York City each year. First started in 1986, it has grown to be the largest annual conference in Australia as of January 2022.The Australian conference is hosted by Hillsong Church and lead pastors Brian and Bobbie Houston and involves a variety of guests from across the globe. Baptist minister Michael Frost described the 2011 conference as having, "a kind of electric, almost carnival atmosphere ... the delegates were full of anticipation and excitement".In 2014, the New York event was held in Madison Square Garden, while the London conference was held in The O2 Arena over three days and has continued to be held at this venue until at least 2018.

On 16 September 2016, the 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 its rise to prominence as an international church. The focus is on the band Hillsong United as they write songs for their upcoming album and work toward a performance at The Forum in Inglewood, California.

Hillsong Church has attracted support from high-profile politicians, especially from the Liberal Party of Australia. In 1998, Brian Houston met with the prime minister of Australia, John Howard, and most of his cabinet at Parliament House in Canberra before sharing prayers. In 2002, Howard opened the Hillsong Convention Centre at the Baulkham Hills location. In 2004 and 2005, the Treasurer of Australia, Peter Costello, spoke at its annual conferences. Mark Latham, the Leader of the Opposition, declined Hillsong's invitation to the 2004 conference, although Bob Carr, the Premier of New South Wales (from the New South Wales Labor Party), attended 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, Sydney inner city publication Central Magazine stated 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, said 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 states that these descriptions are confirmed by the records of the NSW Electoral Commission.Prime Minister Scott Morrison opened the 2019 Hillsong annual conference, shortly after the May 2019 federal election. He is not a member of Hillsong, being part of the Horizon Church's congregation.

Hillsong has been criticised by politicians, media, community groups, Christian leaders and former members such as Tanya Levin. Criticisms have included Hillsong's finances, its ties to controversial organisations, its attitudes towards LGBT people and its treatment of critics as well as publicizing scandals of Brian Houston and other prominent church leaders.

Blaine, Lech (May 2020). "Hillsong's strange tides". The Monthly. Hardy, Elle (18 March 2020). "The House That Brian Built: Inside The Global Empire That Is Hillsong". GQ. Hardy, Elle (2 October 2021). "In reckoning with its demons, Hillsong will be forced to move away from what made it powerful". The Guardian.}