What is the problem with Hillsong? What is the controversy with Hillsong Church? What happened to the Hillsong pastor?

According to the book People in Glass Houses: An Insider’s Story of a Life In and Out of Hillsong by Tanya Levin, a former Hillsong member,  the church is involved in sketchy dealings.  From being an Authoritarian church to a lack of financial accountability, opposition to free thought, rigorous fundamentalist beliefs, and a lack of compassion

Levin expanded on her Hillsong experience in an interview with Andrew Denton, describing it as “poison Christianity.”

Other former church members have come forward to accuse the church of being a cult, alleging that the leaders abuse employees and volunteers by treating them as “slave labour” and interfering with their personal lives, such as requiring them to “ask a pastor’s permission to date.” Following testimony from witnesses in November 2020,

Criticisms against the church have included Hillsong’s finances, its ties to controversial organisations, its intolerance of LGBTQI people, its treatment of critics and the actions of its founder, another of its pastors, and other key members.

Several pastors from Hillsong have been released from their jobs recently. Pastor Darnell Barrett of Hillsong Church resigned on Tuesday after sharing explicit photos to at least one of his followers, a woman, on Instagram, something he claims was a mistake and not an attempt to lure the woman

On August 20, 2008, Michael Guglielmucci, a Planetshakers pastor at the time, wrote “Healer,” a song about his cancer experience. Hillsong invited him to include his song on the album This Is Our God. He eventually admitted that he had lied about having cancer. Hillsong’s leadership told the press that they were unaware of the incident and that the suspended pastor was seeking professional assistance.