Hillsong Brisbane Campus (formerly Garden City Christian Church) is an interstate campus of Sydney based Hillsong Church, a Pentecostal Christian church affiliated with Australian Christian Churches, the Assemblies of God in Australia. The Church was without a Senior Pastor and Brian Houston and his wife Bobbie Houston accepted the nomination of the Board for appointment as Senior Pastors of the Church by an extraordinary general meeting of members that was held on Sunday 26 April 2009. At this Extraordinary General Meeting, approximately 79.1% of Members present on the day (approx 60% of the total membership) agreed with the recommendation of the board to appoint these Pastors as the Senior Pastors of the congregation. Sunday services are held at 8:00am, 9:00am and 11:00am as well as a friday night service at 6:30pm. It also features a prominent Deaf Ministry, one of the pioneering Deaf Ministries of Australia.[1]
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The church was established in 1955 as Mt. Gravatt Assembly of God by Pastor Garnett Budge. In the 1980s, under the leadership of Senior Pastor Dr. Reginald Klimionok,[2] the church experienced a revival, with a second new church building being constructed and opened, adjacent to its Rover Street site, seating over 2,000 persons, and membership soared to over 3,500 persons.[3] Its name changed to Garden City Christian Church, it quickly became Australia's first megachurch. As of 2009 the church was attended by approximately 3,000 people and had 50 staff. On the 24th of May the same year, Garden City Christian Church became a campus of Hillsong Church.
The church has a strong pentecostal focus, focussing on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and its administration, including inclusive prayer and counselling, the laying on of hands, and speaking in tongues. Contemporary songs of praise and worship feature an important part of the service, which includes a 40-minute sermon. The Church also has a considerable diverse Ministry from youth to seniors, multicultural groups and home prayer groups, a worldwide Missionary presence, links with other national and international Assembly of God denomination Churches, and corresponding Guest Speaker program. Services are recorded on CD and DVD for personal use and reflection, and a Television Ministry program 'Choices' can also be seen on the Channel 7 Network and the Australian Christian Channel.
The church also operates a campus for Harvest Bible College.