I do believe God’s word is clear that marriage is between a man and a woman. He wrote that while he “loves and cares” about all people, “I also live by my own convictions, and hold to traditional Christian thought on gay lifestyles and gay marriage.
The sermon seemed tentatively positive towards LGBT+ people, but in 2015, Houston published a blog post called “Do I Love Gay People?” He said he was working to align “the world and the times we live in, the weight we live with, and the word we live by”.
What does Hillsong believe about LGBT+ people?įor many years, Hillsong evaded the question of its stance on LGBT+ people, but in 2013, Brian Houston, which preaching in the UK, addressed what he called “the gay situation”. It has expanded to include not only its 80 churches in 21 countries, but also conferences, films, a Bible college with three different campuses, music groups like Hillsong Worship, Hillsong United, Hillsong Kids, and Hillsong Young & Free, and even a TV channel, the Hillsong Channel. Hillsong now has around 150,000 members worldwide, and its hipster, concert-style services have made the megachurch a hit with millenials and celebrities, including Justin Beiber, Kanye West and Kylie Jenner. By 1999, the popularity of Houston’s church had far outpaced his father’s, and he merged the two, rebranding the now large, two-campus church as Hillsong.
