Laura Toggs, Hillsong Church youth pastor and daughter of Brian Houston, posted last week on Instagram, sharing how hard Sundays have been for her since her father announced his resignation as Hillsong Church’s senior global pastor on March 23, 2022.
Houston, who started a year long sabbatical in January, made the announcement following an investigation by Hillsong Church’s board regarding two separate occasions involving inappropriate behavior toward two women. The board’s findings showed that Houston had “breached the Hillsong Pastor’s Code of Conduct.”
“Oh Sundays, always been so sweet. But might be the hardest day of the week for me right now,” Toggs said posted next to a photo of the church celebrating the day she was born.
“So many people from church affectionately and often remind me of this day,” Toggs wrote. “Early on Sunday morning, beautiful people from our humble little suburban church hung up ‘its a girl’ and celebrated my birth [that] day.”
RELATED: BREAKING: Brian Houston Resigns as Global Senior Pastor of Hillsong Church
“I’ve always felt immense love from the place I call home and I think this picture has formed a huge part of me,” Houston’s daughter continued.
Telling her followers that she has always been a “church girl,” she explained that their church “isn’t without flaw, but we’re a spiritual family of faith that are growing together in Christ. And I’ve literally grown up here from the day I was born. And it’s been mostly very beautiful with Jesus at the center. My dad went from the hospital to the pulpit on this day. Very special moments. I’ll always be a church girl.”
Two days before Houston’s resignation was announced, Toggs posted an image that read, “My Jesus is…A healer. A restorer. A reconciler. That’s who He is. That’s what He does.”
Houston sent an email to Hillsong Church members last week wherein he apologized for scandals, encouraging the church that “the best is yet to come” and assuring members that he won’t let his mistakes define him.
“To every single wonderful person who has called Hillsong Church home, I have let you down so badly and sorry will never be enough to express my sorrow,” Houston wrote.
Houston is facing charges of concealing child sex offenses relating to his late father. The charged were brought against him by the New South Wales Police Force last September. The former pastor pleaded not guilty to the charges in October 2021 and is awaiting his time in court to defend his innocence.
