AUSTRALIA
3 News (New Zealand)
By Annette Blackwell
Hillsong church senior pastor Brian Houston consulted a lawyer about his father’s position when abuse allegations were raised but omitted mentioning his meeting with the lawyer in his statement to the royal commission into the matter.
The Auckland-born man who is a leading light in the evangelical movement in Australia was in the witness box for a second day at a hearing of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney today.
The commission is examining how Pentecostal churches responded to child sex abuse complaints by its pastors.
It has heard that Frank Houston admitted in 1999 to abusing children in Australia and New Zealand, when his son was national president of the Assemblies of God in Australia – the umbrella organisation for more than 1000 churches.
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