Hillsong Church expands to Brisbane

The popular Hillsong Church has expanded to Brisbane, where it has taken over one of the city's largest Pentecostal churches, Garden City Christian Church.

Garden City Christian Church on Brisbane's southside that will now be renamed Hillsong Brisbane Campus, was acquired after church-goers voted in favour of the Houstons.

Pastor Brian Houston who resigned as president of the Australian Christian Churches, in a bid to focus on the Hillsong expansion, will be elected as the senior pastor of the acquired church on May 24.

According to sources, Houston chose to move into Brisbane because "it is a fast growing area with great potential for the Gospel".

Some speculate that the global economic crisis might be one of the reasons for Hillsong vying on its expansion ambitions.

However, although unverified, sources say, Garden City's senior pastor, Bruce Hills, was forcefully made resign by the congregation after scrutinizers noted the poor growth of the church.

When he returned from eight weeks' leave, Garden City Christian Church elders told him: "We'd rather have more of a CEO leader than you. We'd like you to resign," Brisbane Times quoted him saying.

Describing it as "the deepest, darkest experience I've ever been through", Mr Hills said he was "really angry about what these people had done".

Hillsong presently has a 21,000-strong congregation across Sydney. The Pentecostal group was founded by the Houstons in Sydney's Hills district in 1983 and now has branches worldwide.

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