Faith on Trial: Hillsong: Introducing - Faith on Trial: Hillsong

God is working. He works everything, everything, everything, everything.

Hillsong founder Brian Houston has quit the megachurch following an internal investigation.

Hillsong, the church in the headlines for the wrong reason.

Brian will face court in December charged with knowingly concealing information about alleged child sex offences.

They didn't resign because of my mistakes. 12 months ago I was charged with a crime that I'm yet to defend and I will fight.

Brian Houston was the world's most powerful pastor.

It's destiny!

He founded Hillsong. The church spanned continents. It made billions.

Today he's facing trial in a Sydney courtroom on a charge of concealing child sex abuse committed by his own father.

We still have a valid excuse for not telling authorities about Hillsong.

We've been digging deep into Hillsong. We've found claims of lies, betrayals and financial fraud against the church.

The transit of money overseas, financial gifts were being given to the leaders of the church.

As well as a trail of true believers who say marriages are arranged and broken by church officials.

It's a bit stepford wives. You could tell that the men were sort of the young guys were sort of looking for the perfect Christian wife.

And that one church leader, who isn't Brian Houston, told women in the church they should physically submit to their husbands.

You know, he would discuss the way that he gets his wife to submit to him and he said even if she doesn't feel like having sex with him,

he would force her on a Sunday, for instance, to have sex with him.

We speak to Brian Houston's former followers who say they've been forced out or fled the church.

Some have never spoken to anyone before and they say things that have never before been said.

I was thinking why the hell did we give so much money this place? What in the fuck were we involved with?

Brian Houston used to be treated like a god. First class travel, expensive suits, mansions, thousands of people hanging on his every word.

He was good mates with prime ministers. Pop stars and movie actors were part of his congregation.

They're celebrities. They have celebrity mansions, they live celebrity lifestyles, they drink celebrity drinks.

Now, he's facing up to five years in jail if convicted, but Brian is fighting the charge and he's pled not guilty.

There's no god in that. There's no god in that at all.

During this investigation, we reveal how megastar Justin Bieber was lured into the church.

My faith is stronger than two years ago. Better, stronger, wiser.

We'll uncover the damage done to the faith of some of its followers.

We don't go to church anymore. Ever.

And we'll reveal how the church convinced some of its followers to part with their cash.

What? Seven things.

Seven things is more than a million dollars. You go to Teal something.

In the US, we dig deep into the cover-ups of complicated consensual relationships at its New York branch.

It doesn't seem like there was much democracy in determining who is a pastor besides that it's a popularity contest.

With its founder now on trial, can Hillsong survive the scandals?

The church is losing tens of millions of dollars of revenue every year.

Followers are fleeing in their thousands, but some of the faithful are sticking with Hillsong, saying it's doing God's work.

He said a prayer and I started crying. I don't know why.

I started crying and a small still voice said, this is what you've been missing.

So I'm only here because God told me to be here.

Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.