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Brian Houston Speaks Out About His Resignation from Hillsong Church

Brian Houston Speaks Out About His Resignation from Hillsong Church

Brian Houston, the founding pastor of Australia’s Hillsong Church, has finally addressed his resignation from the global ministry earlier this year in a nearly 13-minute video.

“Bobbie and I felt it was time to bring some much needed clarity to the circumstances around my resignation from Hillsong Church in March, and Bobbie’s termination in early April,” Houston wrote on Instagram.

In the video, Houston addresses his reasons for resigning eight months ago, statements posted by the Hillsong Church board and the accusations that he has a drug and alcohol problem.

“I want to be clear. The media and others incorrectly say I resigned because I breached the Hillsong code of conduct, but that’s just not true. I didn’t resign because of my mistakes. I resigned because of the announcements and statements that had been made, which Bobbie and I felt made my position untenable. And I spelled out my reasons for my resignation in my resignation letter to the Hillsong Church board,” Houston said.

Houston goes on to read excerpts from the statement released on megachurch’s website that claimed that Houston formally resigned as global senior pastor in the wake of allegations that two women had made serious complaints of misconduct against him in the last 10 years. Hillsong also states that Houston had violated the church’s pastoral code of conduct by entering the hotel room of an unidentified women while under the influence of alcohol and prescription drugs during the church’s annual conference in 2019.

In the video, Houston says he does not have an alcohol or drug problem.

“In my heartfelt apology to the people of Hillsong Church and to the Church at large, I spoke about alcohol having not proven itself to be my friend. But sadly that has built a narrative out there that I’m an alcoholic,” he said. “The stories about my ‘alcoholism’ are the result of gossip, whispering and innuendo. The narrative that I’m an alcoholic is false. In fact, I’ve been told by an expert therapist that I do not display the behaviors that are typical of an alcoholic.”

Houston goes on to state he has been prescribed medication for sleep, but he has not taken any of those pills in over a decade. He then claims again that that narrative about his character that has spread rampantly is untrue.

“Sadly, in the statements and announcements made, there was enough detail to pour ultimate shame and humiliation on me, but enough ambiguity to lead people to make their own conclusions about what did or didn’t happen. Frankly, in many cases, those conclusions are wrong.”

Watch Houston’s full address here.

 

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A post shared by Brian Houston (@brianchouston)

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