Hillsong Worship, a world-famous band made up of worship leaders from the scandal-plagued Hillsong Church, has canceled a nationwide tour so that they can “heal.” Casting Crowns and We The Kingdom were supposed to start the 18-city concert tour in just over two weeks. Hillsong Worship said on social media that they were leaving: The group said on Facebook, “Hillsong Worship has asked to be taken off the upcoming Casting Crowns/Hillsong Worship tour with We The Kingdom.”
Hillsong Worship said in a statement that they were “deeply disappointed.” However, because Hillsong church has been involved in scandals in recent months, the group is putting the “health and well-being of the people on our team first.” Brian Houston helped start Hillsong in 1983. Last month, it came out that two women had accused him of sexual misconduct in the last 10 years. A string of scandals involving other Hillsong Church leaders in the U.S. and Australia also led to his resignation.
Some Pastors Who Used to Work for Hillsong Have Left the Group and Are Now Starting Their Own Ministries
There have also been documentaries about the global network of churches that tried to bring up some of the bad things that church leaders have done in recent years. “Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed,” a docuseries on Discovery Plus that came out on March 24, was meant to show how the Australia-based global network has walked a “fine line between cult and culture.”
Hillsong Worship said in a statement that the band members need to take a break because they are “an extension and expression of Hillsong Church—a group of our local church worship teams.” All of the group’s members, including Joel Houston (son of Brian Houston), Brooke Ligertwood, and Taya Smith, “either work at Hillsong Church or volunteer there.”
“Now is the time for us to seek the Lord with humility, to grieve with hope, and to heal together as a community,” said the statement. They thanked Casting Crowns, We The Kingdom, and Premier Productions for being understanding and said they were “devastated” to do so.
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On April 22, the Tour Will Start, and Hillsong Worship Asked Fans to Keep Their Tickets.
Mark Hall, the lead singer of Casting Crowns, also took to Instagram to say that he agreed with Hillsong Worship’s decision to drop out of the tour.
Hall said in a video message, “Their church is hurting right now, and they’re going through some stuff.” “Hillsong Worship is a ministry based in churches. When your church is hurting, you need to be there for your people.”
He said, “That’s what the Body of Christ does.” “So they’ll be at home with their people watching the rest of the season, and we’ll be on the road loving on you.”
Phil Dooley, the interim global senior pastor of Hillsong Church, recently talked about the bad press the church network has been getting and said that it gives an unfair picture of the ministry. He said that the church does a lot of good in the world and that it has “never claimed to be a perfect church.”
Dooley has been a part of Hillsong Church for more than 30 years. He also said that he was saddened by what some of the alleged victims of church leaders had to go through.
So, the post says, “please stop what you’re doing and pray for Andy to wake up.” “Pray for his wife Kelly, his sons Asher and Aiden, and his sister Mary.”
In the early days of Casting Crowns, Williams played and recorded with the band. In 2009, he quit the band. Since the post was made, words of encouragement and prayers full of hope have poured in. On the Facebook post alone, there are over 29,000 comments and 22,000 shares.
Fans All Over the World Heard About It Quickly, and Online Faith Communities Came Together to Pray.
The GMA Dove Awards asked “prayer warriors” to say prayers for Williams on their Facebook page.
“In the name of Jesus, we are praying for Andy to WAKE UP and be fully healed,” the post said.
As Christians who were born again and changed into a state where “all things are new,” we are said to have a “wandering heart.” Most Protestants are wrong when they think that their beliefs about people make a difference between the saved and the unsaved. Not so. Faith is just being able to “see the kingdom” without doing anything to get there. Protestantism calls salvation through good works that come from our new nature “works salvation” because sanctification is the next step after justification. The only difference between those who are saved and those who are not is that those who are saved can see how bad we really are. In Protestantism, this is what the word “faith” means. It is the ability to only see things and not do anything. In fact, Protestantism says that the more faith we have, the less “tempted” we are to think we can do good things. The song mentioned here is obviously full of this kind of reasoning.
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