Dear Church,

I wanted to thank all those who came to last night’s Church Update Evening. It was a wonderful time of unity as we outlined the next steps on our journey towards our goal – To build a healthy church changing lives through Christ.

For those who couldn’t make it, I have attached a link below to the video of the night and encourage you to view it.

We heard from the former Assistant Commissioner of the ACNC, Murray Baird, who is advising us on key elements of the governance review process through this journey, as well as Hillsong’s board chair Dr. Stephen Crouch, and Russell Dacre, our deputy chair from London.

We outlined the recommendations from the independent review of our governance structure, and from the draft report submitted by a specialist charities and churches legal firm, who reviewed our process for complaints against our credentialled pastors.

We also introduced our new spiritual advisory team that will be working with Lucinda and me, and our board, in the future.

While recent times have been challenging, Lucinda and I are so thankful for your support and passion to the cause of Christ, as we work through these major changes to build a healthy church. There is no doubt that God has blessed Hillsong over almost four decades, but we also must acknowledge that over recent years we have fallen short in areas of our governance.

We are working hard to set a course for the future that ensures our structures are accountable, transparent, and honouring to God. Anything less has the potential to hinder our primary focus, which is to be a community of believers focused on the life-changing power of Jesus, driven to bring hope to the world around us.

Last night was about oversight and church structure, which are important issues, but we must remember that these things matter in the context of our ultimate focus – serving Jesus and living for Him.

Lucinda and I are genuinely excited to be a part of God’s plan for the future of Hillsong Church, and are thankful that we are on this journey alongside you.

Ps Phil Dooley