Hillsong SF’s Breakaway: A Case Study in Church Reputation Repair

Hillsong San Francisco's breakaway from the larger Hillsong brand highlights the necessity of acknowledging past scandals to rebuild trust in a vulnerable community. The podcast explores key lessons in leadership transitions, the importance of reputation, and the journey of healing toward a fresh vision.

• Acknowledgment of truth as the first step in healing 
• Impact of brand reputation on church mission 
• Clear leadership transitions as crucial during restructuring 
• Focusing on the healing process for individuals rather than just PR 
• Importance of defining a hopeful future with community engagement 

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:08

It wasn't that long ago that Hillsong Church had 16 campuses here in the US , but just in recent years , because of a lot of problems and really some major scandals , they've lost 11 of those 16 campuses , and this past week , hillsong San Francisco became the latest to break away . But what happens when a church wants to separate from its past and start fresh ? That's what we're going to talk about today on the Healthy Church Staff podcast . Hi , I'm Todd Rhodes . I'm one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffingcom and thanks so much for joining us today . So how do you rebuild trust as a church when your reputation has been damaged ? We're going to dig into that . We're going to use this recent news story . They're just actually announcing they were supposed to announce yesterday their new name . They announced that they're breaking away , but they didn't announce their new name yet . We're going to use Hillsong San Francisco's Breakaways a case study today and we're going to uncover , hopefully , five lessons for any church that's facing crisis . Now , if your church has gone through a tough season , stay with me , because this content is for you right now . If your church has not gone through any major conflict , this is going to be just a really good thing to put in your back pocket and because you're going to see churches maybe even your church go through some kind of a crisis . Hopefully not a scandal , okay , but let's talk about , first of all , when crisis hits , acknowledgement matters . Talk about , first of all , when crisis hits acknowledgement matters .

Speaker 1 1:48

As I look back at all of Hillsong's troubles , they did not start overnight . The church faced a bunch of different things right , leadership failures , there was financial mismanagement . Of course , hillsong was huge and it was global . Right , it still is big and it still is global . But on top of all of that , there were some high-profile moral scandals . You had Carl Lenz's dismissal from Hillsong , new York City back in 2020 , not too long after that , the lead pastor had to step down , brian Houston . So a lot of different things happened , but the lesson here should be that churches really have to . You have to acknowledge the truth , or , if you don't , what's going to happen is the damage is only going to get deeper . And Hillsong San Francisco had a choice ultimately Stay tied to a really controversial Hillsong brand or try and rebuild under a fresh vision . And Hillsong San Francisco is just the latest Hillsong congregation to do this to break away and say it's too damaged . We need a new face if we're going to survive and if we're going to have a future . Okay , so here's your takeaway If your church has faced a crisis , don't minimalize it , don't cover it up , because that's going to be the thing that is going to kill you . Right ? You need to be honest with your congregation . Healing is going to begin with transparency , and if the transparency is not there , your church will feel like you're hiding something . And guess what ? They're going to feel that way , probably because you are Okay .

Speaker 1 3:31

Point number two A church's reputation does affect its mission and man , we see this at Hillsong . Hillsong's brand took a huge , a massive hit , not just among believers , but in the mainstream culture and not just in Australia , all over , wherever they had a church , and in the whole Christian community . The Brand Hill song took a huge hit . There were even documentaries . There's one I think it's on Netflix called A Mega Church Exposed , and it's an investigative report that those kind of things only added fuel to the fire .

Speaker 1 4:11

And if you're sitting in leadership at Hillsong , san Francisco , the choice was clear they needed to create some distance in order just to survive and to be able to thrive . The bottom line reality was their mission could not move forward under the weight of the past because it was just almost insurmountable . So the takeaway here is if your church has a reputation problem , chances are almost 100% chance that your church is not Hillsong , so you don't have this huge behemoth of a structure . You may be in small town America , but your church has gone through a scandal or a moral failure or something , and sometimes that can even be worse . In a small town , reputation will precede you . You need to ask the hard question is our church's name , is our brand , if you want to call it that is our church's name helping or hurting our ability to reach people ? And sometimes a fresh start is just absolutely necessary if you're going to continue to even exist as a church , especially if you want to have effectiveness for your mission . Okay , so that's point number two .

Speaker 1 5:21

Here's idea number three Leadership transitions . When they happen , especially when they're coming out of crisis or scandal , those leadership transitions must be absolutely clear and totally honorable . Hillsong , san Francisco's pastors , brendan and Jackie Brown , have served Hillsong for 24 years . So their transition , it didn't come overnight and , by all public accounts anyways , it hasn't been a hostile split , but a decision that had been , according to them , discussed for the last couple of years and in public statements here this past week , hillsong Global Senior Pastor Phil Dooley and Hillsong California Pastor Sam Lopez affirmed and blessed the pastors at Hillsong , san Francisco and this is absolutely crucial and I will give them some credit that this was the right thing to do . It's because it's crucial , because leadership fractures can make things even worse . So it's already bad enough that you have to make this kind of structural change and kind of break away . It's going to make it worse if it's just messy and just absolutely filled with conflict in and of itself .

Speaker 1 6:33

So here's the takeaway , for this is that if your church is considering restructuring or even separating from a network , you need to make those leadership changes with clarity and transparency and with a spirit of unity . We just saw this . We're seeing this a lot in the United States not with Hillsong . Hillsong it's happening in a handful of churches , but we're seeing this in denominational structures . We're seeing the Reformed Church that is just going through some real splits and a lot of churches breaking off . We've seen this with the United Methodist Church and the Global Methodist Church a lot of times restructuring or separating from a network . You just need to make sure that you do that with clarity and transparency and , as much as possible , with a spirit of unity . There's always going to be some infighting and some behind-the-scenes things , but any of it that goes public is only going to cause more division and more hurt . And then just realize this is point number four realize that you're going to be going into a season of healing .

Speaker 1 7:38

Okay , and healing is about people , it's not about public relations . Okay , and I think Hillsong got stuck into this early on , which caused their problems just to grow and grow . Hillsong , san Francisco , for example , isn't just changing its name for branding purposes . Okay , I think that's a part of it , absolutely . But in their statement they said this is what they said . They said God's been faithful in every step of our journey and we believe that he's leading us into something fresh and full of purpose .

Speaker 1 8:10

Now , is that a little bit of massaging the message ? Sure , sure , absolutely , but it's something that you know when your church is going through a crisis , you can't only focus on damage control , you must focus on healing the people , and sometimes the language you use really does make a difference . You've got to offer some spaces for healing . Physical spaces , yeah , absolutely , but you have to allow for timing for that healing to take place , and that can be some counseling , some prayer meetings , open conversations , but you really need to rebuild that trust and you can only do that when people feel seen and they feel heard and they feel valued . And for Hillsong San Francisco , they determined that in order for this trust to be rebuilt , they needed to do it , break away from Hillsong and do this in a little bit different way , and sometimes that just needs to happen .

Speaker 1 9:10

Okay , finally , when you're thinking about your church's future , particularly after coming out of a time of struggle or a time of conflict or a time of just leadership failure , your future has to have hope , a fresh vision . And , as I said , Hillsong San Francisco was supposed to . I haven't seen the news reports yet today , but it's supposed to reveal its new name . You would think that they would have their new name , but they were going to reveal their new name yesterday , over the weekend , and they said that this is truly going to signal a fresh start . It's not just a cosmetic change . They say it's a new mission and that well may be , but it also is a name change and a way to set them apart from what they're leaving . So churches that move forward after a crisis . The name change is going to help , the separation is going to help , but now the real work begins and they have to clarify their new vision . If people don't know what they're rebuilding toward , they won't stick around , and the people that are still at that church are people that have stuck around . They've had opportunities to leave and they haven't left yet . So this is going to be another turning point in the life of that local church as to what they're rebuilding toward . So here's your takeaway If your church has faced a tough season , you can't just move on .

Speaker 1 10:35

You do need to take some time and redefine your vision and invite your church community to be a part of that renewal process , and people will follow that clarity and that conviction . I'm interested in what you think about all of this . Maybe you think , todd , I don't agree with anything you said . Maybe , todd , I agree with everything you said . I'd love to hear what you think , particularly about how a church like Hillsong , san Francisco should handle crisis . And let's talk specifically about Hillsong , san Francisco . What do you think about that decision to separate ? Drop a comment , I'd love to hear your thoughts . And if your church is in a transition or going through some conflict or facing any kind of leadership challenges . Man , I'd love to help . You can reach out to me anytime . Just send me an email at podcast at chemistrystaffingcom . I would love to hear from you .