After a protracted legal battle, former Hillsong College student Anna Crenshaw has reached an “in principle” settlement with Hillsong Church. Crenshaw sued the Australia-based megachurch for its handling of her 2018 report of sexual assault by former staff member Jason Mays.
Although the terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed, on April 29 Crenshaw’s attorney told the Supreme Court in Sydney that “the matter has resolved.” The trial, which had been scheduled to last five days, adjourned shortly after it began.
Crenshaw alleged that Mays groped her extensively at a social gathering in 2016. She said when she reported the assault to church officials, they delayed contacting law enforcement. Crenshaw left Hillsong after realizing the church “didn’t care” about what she’d experienced. At the time, Mays’ father, John Mays, was Hillsong’s director of human resources.
Assault Case Involving Hillsong Church Staffer Is Settled
In January 2020, Jason Mays pleaded guilty to charges of assault with active indecency. He was sentenced to two years of probation, and the incident didn’t appear on his criminal record. Hillsong Church said it “disciplined” Mays with a one-year ban. But he returned to the staff in 2020 because the church said he deserved another chance.
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In a statement at the time, former Hillsong global senior pastor Brian Houston said Mays was drunk at the gathering and had tried to give Crenshaw a “hug.” Crenshaw strongly denied that characterization, saying a hug doesn’t involve “groping you between your legs.”
Houston denied that Mays was a sexual predator, saying the staffer had instead done “something stupid…and got himself in a bad situation.” In a 2022 interview, Boz Tchividjian, then Crenshaw’s lawyer, said Houston seemed to be “painting Jason as the victim.”
Houston, who resigned from Hillsong in 2022, faced his own allegations of sexual indiscretions. Last summer, he was found not guilty of covering up his father’s child sexual abuse.
Crenshaw said after hearing about accusations against Houston, the church’s mishandling of her own report made sense. “If you have a core group who is committed to keeping abuses or assaults in the church quiet,” she said, “that’s not who should be leading your church.”
Anna Crenshaw: Hillsong’s Actions Send a ‘Really Poor Message’
Anna Crenshaw, daughter of Pennsylvania Pastor Ed Crenshaw, alleged that Hillsong breached its duty of care. She also sued Jason Mays, whose attorney questioned the extent of the damage she suffered from the “single, fleeting, spontaneous” incident.
Back in 2022, when Crenshaw was considering legal action against Hillsong, she spoke to a reporter about what she’d experienced. She said the church sent “a really poor message” to the faith community by not firing Mays.
“I think it shows you can be on staff, and you can assault someone, and we’re gonna protect you and let you keep your job,” she said, “while the person who you assaulted is pretty much frozen out of our community.”
