Hillsong Church co-founder and global senior pastor Brian Houston has announced his resignation as the religious organization’s leader.
The decision comes after two separate women logged complaints of inappropriate conduct against Houston.
Both complaints refer to incidents that have occurred in the last 10 years, according to a statement released by the church’s board. The statement also revealed the board already knew of the allegations two months ago when Houston stepped down over a separate charge of hiding his father’s sexual molestations of children.
“We apologize unreservedly to the people affected by Pastor Brian’s actions and commit to being available for any further assistance we can provide,” the statement said.
The first incident that led to an inappropriate conduct allegation against Houston resulted in a staff member’s resignation “approximately a decade ago,” according to the board’s statement. Houston was said to have sent inappropriate text messages to this staffer while under the influence of sleeping pills.
“He immediately apologized to the person. We also worked closely with Pastor Brian to ensure he received professional help to eliminate his dependency on this medication, and this was achieved successfully,” the statement read.
The second complaint against Houston came in 2019 when, the board says, he combined anti-anxiety medication and alcohol, became disoriented, and ended up in a female staffer’s hotel room for an undisclosed amount of time.
The board announced on Wednesday that Houston’s resignation had been accepted and that internal investigations had determined he had violated the Hillsong Pastor’s Code of Conduct.
“We understand there will be much emotion at this news, and we all share these feelings,” the statement read.
Houston had originally stepped down after being accused of helping his father, also a pastor, hide child abuse allegations from a boy he allegedly abused in the 1970s.
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