Hillsong Church is a Pentecostal megachurch that started in a Sydney school hall in 1983 and grew into an international network best known for its worship music. It has been through a difficult decade, with leadership scandals, congregations leaving the network and a change of senior pastors. It is still operating, though on a smaller and reshaped footprint. This article covers where it came from, who leads it now, what happened after 2022, and how to find its UK churches in London and beyond.
Where Hillsong began
Brian and Bobbie Houston founded the church in 1983 as Hills Christian Life Centre, holding its first services in a school hall in Baulkham Hills, northwest of Sydney. Brian’s father, Frank Houston, had already started the Sydney Christian Life Centre in inner-city Waterloo in 1977. Both congregations belonged to Australian Christian Churches, the Australian branch of the Assemblies of God.
The Baulkham Hills church moved into a purpose-built site at Norwest Business Park in 1997. The two churches merged in 1999, following the exposure of Frank Houston as a child abuser, and the combined multi-campus church took the name Hillsong Church in 2001. In 2018 Hillsong left Australian Christian Churches to become an independent denomination. Brian Houston described the move as a practical step, mainly so the church could ordain its own pastors as marriage celebrants, and said its doctrine had not changed.
How it became a global name
Church planting abroad started early. London and Kyiv both got congregations in 1992, and over the following decades Hillsong added churches in cities across Europe, Africa, North America, Latin America and Asia. Music did much of the work of spreading the name. Hillsong Worship, Hillsong United and Hillsong Young & Free produced songs sung far outside Hillsong’s own congregations, and Hillsong Worship won a Grammy in 2018 for “What a Beautiful Name”. The annual Hillsong Conference, first held in 1986, became a major fixture in Sydney and later in London.
What happened to Hillsong after 2022
The public turning point was leadership. Brian Houston stepped back in January 2022 while facing a criminal charge in New South Wales, alleging he had concealed his late father’s abuse. Phil and Lucinda Dooley, who had led Hillsong Church Africa since planting it in Cape Town in 2008, took over on an interim basis.
In March 2022, Houston resigned after two women made complaints about his conduct. The church’s board said he had breached its code of conduct. Houston has since said he resigned because of the board’s public statements rather than his own mistakes. In August 2023, a court found him not guilty of the concealment charge. The Dooleys were confirmed as permanent global senior pastors on 5 February 2023, after independent reviews of the church’s governance and complaints procedures.
The fallout was felt across the network. Several US churches left Hillsong’s global network in 2022, and by January 2026 reporting put the US total at five. In Russia, the church leaders renamed their congregation “Legacy” in late 2025, and the church no longer appears on Hillsong’s website. A number of prominent worship leaders also left, among them Brooke Ligertwood, Benjamin William Hastings and Taya Gaukrodger. Brian and Bobbie Houston announced plans for a new church of their own in late 2023.
Is Hillsong still active?
Yes. Hillsong’s own mid-2025 report described 125 locations in 36 countries, which is its own figure and not independently verified. Its conference programme continues. Hillsong Conference Sydney ran from 7 to 9 July 2026, Hillsong Conference Europe is scheduled for 21 to 23 October 2026, and a Sydney conference is listed for 2027.
Hillsong Church in London and the UK
Hillsong’s UK work began in 1992 as London Christian Life Centre, led by Gerard and Sue Keehan, and was renamed Hillsong London in 2000. Today it operates as Hillsong UK, a registered charity (number 1120355) with an office at 35 Little Russell Street in London. Tim and Nicola Douglass are its lead pastors, based in Central London.
The church’s website lists these UK locations:
- Birmingham
- Central London
- Croydon
- Edinburgh
- Guildford
- Kent
- Liverpool
- Newcastle
- North London
- Oxford
- Reading
- Southeast London
- Southwest London
Its Central London services have been held at the Dominion Theatre on Tottenham Court Road. North London meets at the Golders Green Hippodrome on North End Road, which Hillsong bought in October 2021. The Hippodrome is a Grade II listed building designed by Bertie Crewe, which opened as a music hall on Boxing Day 1913. Hillsong UK says it is planning renovation work there.
Beliefs and criticism
Hillsong describes itself as evangelical and charismatic, with roots in Pentecostalism. Worship music, contemporary services and youth ministry have been central to its identity.
Its critics have raised several concerns over the years, including the church’s finances, its stance on LGBTQ+ people, and its handling of misconduct allegations. Some Christian leaders have also criticised its teaching on prosperity. Tim Costello was among them, though he later said he was satisfied with changes Houston made. For background on that theological debate, see what the prosperity gospel is.
Visiting a Hillsong church
Service times, venues and accessibility details vary by location and change with the calendar, particularly around Christmas and Easter. Hillsong’s location finder on its website lists each campus, its services and practical details such as parking and accessibility. Services can also be watched online.
Hillsong’s story is now less about its peak years than about how the church has rebuilt since 2022. Under the Dooleys it remains a large international church with a smaller network than before. In the UK it remains active across a dozen or so locations.
