Hillsong Church has denied trying to silence former member and ex-Hillsong College student Anna Crenshaw after she alleged that she was forced to walk away from an offer to settle a lawsuit against the megachurch because she was being asked to lie and sign a non-disclosure agreement.
“Out of respect for Anna’s privacy and in due deference to the Court, Hillsong has refrained from making any public statement about these proceedings. However, in light of developments this week, Hillsong wishes to clarify the issues in these proceedings,” a statement from the global megachurch headquartered in Australia said over the weekend.
“Hillsong is defending this case and was ready to proceed with the trial on Monday morning. Following an approach by Anna’s legal team, it entered into good faith discussions with her. We reject any suggestion that we attempted to prevent Anna from having her day in Court or that there were any attempts to silence or intimidate her,” the church noted.
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Crenshaw, who is the daughter of Victory Church Senior Pastor Ed Crenshaw in Audubon, Pennsylvania, said she was disheartened when the church asked her last Thursday to sign an NDA as part of the settlement for a lawsuit she filed over the harm she suffered from being indecently assaulted by married church administrator Jason Mays in 2016. Crenshaw also stated she walked away from the deal because she was asked to release a joint statement saying the church had immediately reported her assault to local police when she came forward, even though it took the church five months to do so.
“We were unable to come to a settlement today because Hillsong changed their plan in a ploy to intimidate and silence me. And I will not give up my voice. This has never been about money for me but about justice and accountability, which we’ve not received this week,” Crenshaw told reporters outside an Australian court last Thursday.
The rejection of the settled came just days after Crenshaw’s attorney announced they had reached an undisclosed settlement agreement with the megachurch for the harm she suffered as a result of the assault.
Crenshaw’s attorneys were not immediately available for comment on Tuesday, but she insisted in a statement to The Christian Post that it was Hillsong Church that initiated the settlement talks.
“My barrister came into the meeting room about five minutes before we were meant to begin the hearing, saying that Hillsong’s barrister let him know they are open to settlement discussions. We then proceeded to give an offer and the back and forth began,” Crenshaw said.
In their statement Hillsong Church also suggests that the church should not be held responsible for the personal actions of a now former employee.
“The Supreme Court (of New South Wales) proceedings are about two issues: whether Hillsong is liable for the assault and its response to Anna’s report of the assault that occurred at a private gathering of friends attended by the now former staff member in his personal capacity and arranged without the knowledge or involvement of Hillsong,” the church noted.
Crenshaw was 18 in 2016 when she says Mays, who was then serving as a Hillsong staff administrator and volunteer singer, sexually assaulted her at a social gathering. Crenshaw and her father said it took a serious fight from them to hold Mays accountable. He eventually pleaded guilty to indecent assault.
“Jason grabbed me, putting his hand between my legs and his head on my stomach and began kissing my stomach. I felt his arms and hands wrapped around my legs making contact with my inner thigh, butt, and crotch,” she wrote in a 2018 statement reviewed by The Christian Post.
She said she told Margaret Aghajanian, then-head of Hillsong Church’s pastoral care oversight, that Mays — the son of John Mays, the church’s then-head of human resources — had assaulted her, but her complaint was minimized.
“I felt like I could not say anything about the Jason incident because his friend had said not to, insisting that he was a good guy, and this was not normal behavior for him. After the incident until now I feel uncomfortable when I come into the same area as him,” Crenshaw said in her statement to Aghajanian.
The outspoken pastor’s daughter maintains that Hillsong failed her repeatedly as she tried to get justice.
“The multiple requests to have me retell the events of the assault, the questioning of my story, along with the four months it took Hillsong to even speak with the offender do not communicate any commitment to provide a safe environment for victims to speak up,” Crenshaw said.
“The lack of response to my report, the continuation of the offender’s work at Hillsong for over three years after he pled guilty, and Brian Houston’s remarks at the staff meeting on March 2, 2021, do not at all reflect that Hillsong believed me, protected me, or supported me personally or in my studies,” she argued.
Crenshaw argued that instead of taking responsibility for the lack of accountability they created in their environment, Hillsong is using Jason Mays as a scapegoat.
“The use of ‘protecting my confidentiality’ to excuse their poor response is a typical move of abusive environments and in no way should be a reason to not respond to a report of assault by one of their staff members. The fact that Hillsong has now placed full blame on the offender rather than taking accountability for their mishandling of my report and extreme protection of the offender throughout my time at the church and college show that they still believe their damaging response was right,” she argued.
“Oftentimes, and definitely in this case, the response of the organization was and continues to be more damaging than the assault itself. If Hillsong truly has changed from their old ways of mishandling (many) reports, they would take accountability for how wrong they handled my case, learn from what I am telling them was so hurtful, and commit to never treating any victims in this manner again,” she added. “It is not only devastating, but frightening that they still back their response.”
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