Australian megachurch Hillsong is facing fresh scrutiny after a ruling by the country’s charity watchdog, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC), found plenty of financial irregularities at its college.
Just before Christmas, ACNC published a listing of enforceable undertakings for the school, and indicated that the body was considering stepping into similar agreements for other Hillsong Church charities.
The investigation by the ACNC found issues with several points of operations at the school, including reporting obligations, compliance with financial and operational record-keeping, governance standards, and its compliance with the ACNC’s External Conduct Standard. The External Conduct Standard covers the way in which a charity manages its overseas activities, including the necessities for controlling overseas funds and other resources and ensuring compliance with Australian laws.
The church first got here under scrutiny from the ACNC in 2023, when Independent MP Andrew Wilkie tabled internal Hillsong documents within the Australian Parliament which he claimed had been supplied to him by a church whistleblower, alleging that the church had broken “quite a few laws” in Australia and around the globe, and had engaged in “fraud, money laundering and tax evasion”.
Speaking under parliamentary privilege, Mr Wilkie raised plenty of allegations, including that Hillsong founder and former leader Brian Houston had treated private jets “like Ubers”, spending tens of hundreds of dollars in church money per flight, and that members of the Houston family “and their friends” had used $150,000 of church money on a luxury retreat in Cancun, Mexico, while Australia was within the grip of a strict Covid-19 lockdown.
Hillsong Church denied these allegations on the time, saying in an announcement that they “are in lots of respects flawed”.
Hillsong College, which boasts greater than 14,000 alumni from over 60 nations, is one among the church’s flagship programmes. The church responded to the findings from the ACNC in an announcement acknowledging it has been “cooperating with” the regulator.
“As a part of those inquiries, and to show our commitment to continuous improvement in governance, Hillsong Church and its ministries have agreed to resolve the inquiries of the ACNC by stepping into compliance agreements, and for Hillsong College by providing an undertaking,” the statement says.
The church also claimed that “the matters are resolved without findings of a violation or any noncompliance with the act”.
As a part of the enforceable undertaking, which is a voluntary agreement entered into by a charity under investigation, Hillsong College committed to improving its record-keeping and disclosure of conflicts of interest, and will even be required to fulfill standards governing charities regarding their international activities and financial statements. Failure to stick to the terms of the voluntary agreement could see the ACNC seek a court order enforcing the terms, or result in criminal charges being laid.
Wilkie criticised the ACNC’s decision, labelling it as “pathetic”.
“The commission is effectively saying it’s going to forget concerning the extraordinary alleged wrongdoing in Hillsong as long as the church guarantees to be good any further,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
Hillsong was once one among Australia’s most successful Christian exports, boasting Hollywood celebrities and politicians amongst its members. However, its international image was dented by a scandal involving Hillsong East Coast and New York City pastor, Carl Lentz, who was known for his magnetic leadership and celebrity connections. He was fired by the church in 2020 for what they called “leadership issues and breaches of trust, plus a recent revelation of ethical failures”.
However, the church has been rocked by quite a few other scandals over the past few years. Brian Houston was forced to step down as leader of the church after allegations of inappropriate behaviour toward two women, in addition to substance abuse.
A recent television exposé broadcast in Australia contained plenty of other accusations, including claims by former members of sexual, emotional, and spiritual abuse they allegedly suffered while attending the church or participating in other programmes it runs.
