Whistleblowers suggest that Hillsong church — which has been rocked by recent revelations that high profile pastor Carl Lentz was fired after he had multiple extramarital affairs — may have tried to cover up a bone-crushing street fight involving several of its members.
In 2018, a group of former volunteers sent a letter — seen by Page Six — to senior staff at the church complaining about, among other things, inappropriate sexual relationships in the organizations and verbal abuse by pastors.
But among the allegations, the letter’s authors claimed that a church leader asked one of its members a so-called “hypothetical” question: “What if a group of Hillsong NYC youth ministry volunteers went out for dinner and drinks… and outside the restaurant they get into an altercation with some males on the street, and one of the Hillsong people gets upset and pushes one of the males into a car, shattering that male’s collarbone.”
The leader allegedly added, “What’s the best way to ensure that this restaurant — which is friendly/associated with Hillsong NYC — does not reveal the names of the Hillsong members to the police?”
It’s not clear why they were asking this particular member for advice.
We’re told the letter was sent to seven of the top leaders in the US branch of the church, including Lentz. It’s unclear how the church responded to the letter or the allegations made in it.
Lentz was fired in November after it was revealed he had “multiple” extramarital affairs.
Reps for Hillsong didn’t get back to us.