Government Grants to Hillsong Church worry Australian MP

It has been reported that the Hillsong Church, which has been linked to the Liberal Party in Australia, has been receiving Federal Government departmental grants over the past five years.

According to the Labour MP, Carmen Lawrence, since 1999 the evangelical church has received grants from the Department of Family and Community Services. The money was given to aid funding for various projects, including famil workers, youth activity services and "emergency relief".

The relationship between Hillsong Church, and the Australian government has been growing closer since 2002, but now Dr Lawrence has commented that she was concerned about the closing gap between the Church and the state.

However, Senator Kay Patterson – a spokesperson for the Minister for Family and Community Services responded, "This is a desperate attempt ... to pick on a small group for political purposes."

Hillsong Church is based in Sydney, Australia in the north-western suburbs, but also has an expanding church base in London, UK. Pastor Brian Houston is the founder of the popular church, which has seen huge growth over the past few years.

The Hillsong church has a congregation of more than 15,000, and just last year more than 20,000 attended the church’s annual conference in Olympic Park’s SuperDome.

Hillsong is in fact conncted to the vastly-expanding Pentecostal Assemblies of God denomination – which is currently most popular in the US and in South America.