A pentecostal pastor who abused up to nine children decades before he made a confession was still preaching one week after he was supposedly suspended, it has been alleged at the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.
Frank Houston, who died in 2004, confessed in 2000 to sexually abusing a boy in New Zealand more than 30 years earlier, referred to in this week’s hearing as AHA. He was
sacked by his son, Brian Houston, the high-profile head of Hillsong Church, who was then national president of the Assemblies of God, a worldwide grouping of pentecostal churches.
The royal commission is examining the responses by the
Sydney Christian Life Centre and Hills Christian Life Centre (now Hillsong Church) and Assemblies of God in Australia (now Australian Christian Churches), as well as individual executives, to the allegations against Frank Houston.
The public hearing in Sydney on Wednesday heard that Barbara Taylor, a former pastor at the Emmanuel Christian Family Church, had many concerns over how the Assemblies of God were responding to the allegations. Taylor was told of the allegations by the victim’s mother in 1998, and she reported it to church leaders.
The Assemblies of God executive began investigations –
later discovering a further eight alleged victims of Frank Houston – but decided not to make them public, telling its churches in a letter from Brian Houston there was “no reason” for it to be announced as others may use it to further their agendas.
In June 2000, six months after the Assemblies of God national executive had endorsed the suspension of Frank Houston in a special meeting at Sydney airport’s Qantas lounge, Taylor wrote to Brian Houston expressing her concern that nothing seemed to have been done.
She had been told that one week after Brian Houston said he would stand his father down, Frank Houston was seen “preaching and prophesying over people in Canberra”, on morning television, and that his name was on a Hillsong brochure.
Taylor said Brian Houston was hurt by her letter and told her he had dealt with the matter but she just hadn’t been told.
“Had I been told he had dealt with it, I wouldn’t have written the letter. But I thought things were just going on as normal, and I didn’t think that wasn’t proper,” Taylor told the commission.
Brian Houston was “really angry” in the phone call, she said, and told her that his father had been abused as a child. He also offered to set up a meeting between Taylor and his mother – who Taylor had preached with – but it never happened.
Counsel assisting the commission Simeon Beckett also took Taylor through notes of a meeting she’d had with John McMartin, the state president of the Australian Christian Churches NSW, Brian Houston and herself at the Hills Christian Life Centre in November 1999, prior to the national executive deciding to take action.
At the meeting Taylor learned that Frank Houston had confessed, but to a “lesser incident”, said Taylor. She said she assumed this confession was made to Brian Houston, as she’d been unable to get anything.
Brian Houston told her he was in shock, and that he would check with his children that “grandad” had never touched them, Taylor alleged.
Brian Houston told her “in passing” that the confession amounted to a one-off incident when “AHA, as a little boy, had just walked through the room without his clothes on,” Taylor alleged.
“But that wasn’t what I’d been told [by AHA’s mother],” she told the hearing. Nor did she believe that it was just one incident.
“I thought that perhaps his father had trivialised the incident to Brian,” said Taylor later under questioning.
When asked if she queried what role Brian Houston had in the investigation and response to the allegations, Taylor responded: “Brian wouldn’t explain his role to me. I’m just a little village pastor. He’s one of the biggest pastors in Australia.”
She said she thought the national executive should be in charge but it wasn’t her place to tell them so.
She was “overawed” and just glad that something was going to be done.
On Wednesday Taylor also told the commission that shortly after she learned of the allegations she spoke with AHA and told him she would stand with him if he went to the church but not if he went to the secular court.
“I felt the church should discipline Frank Houston and stand him down immediately and then go to the secular courts. I felt the church had a responsibility to clean up its own house.”
She said AHA was horrified to think anyone knew about the abuse, however she later said she felt his concern was for public embarrassment and exposure, not that he wanted nothing done about it.
“He wanted the church to be a good samaritan,” said Taylor.
“It seemed to mean a lot to [AHA] that Frank Houston would apologise and be really sorry for what he did.”
However Taylor said after Frank Houston apologised, she believed “AHA was convinced in his mind, his perception was it was just crocodile tears”.
Shortly before she was excused by the commission, Taylor said that as a pastor, dealing with a complaint such as this “you can’t talk to anybody, you’re carrying all this around inside”.
“I don’t think there’s any provision made for that. As a matter of fact, you’re made to feel like a bit of a troublemaker.
“I hope that from this royal commission will come some guidelines that can be given to institutions about how to handle these particular cases because when they’re put on your table … there’s an area you haven’t handled before and you try to do your best.”
On Tuesday the royal commission heard Frank Houston offered AHA $10,000 in compensation because he didn’t want the incident hanging over his head when he “stood before God”.
AHA alleged that when he called Brian Houston because the cheque had not arrived, the pastor told him: “You know it’s your fault all of this happened – you tempted my father.”
In a statement outside the royal commission Brian Houston denied the accusation.
The hearing continues.
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