Hillsong Church founder and pastor Brian Houston will face a special, three-week hearing on charges he hid his father's alleged child abuse.
The 68-year-old in October pleaded not guilty to concealing a serious indictable offence allegedly committed by another person.
NSW police investigated Houston for two years after the allegation was raised by the media and at the institutional child abuse royal commission.
They will say Houston's father Frank indecently assaulted a male in 1970 and allege that, in the five years leading up to his father's death in 2004, Brian Houston believed he had committed the crime.
Police will argue that he knew information that could help secure the prosecution of his father and failed to bring it to the attention of police.
Houston's matter was briefly mentioned in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday, where the magistrate set it down for a special hearing - expected to last three weeks - to begin on December 2.
The matter will return to court in November.
The pastor in January stepped down from all ministry responsibilities for the rest of the year, releasing a statement saying he welcomes the opportunity to "set the record straight".
"The board and I have had detailed discussion around the requirements for leadership," Houston said.
"We have talked about the effects of the situation with my father, which go back many years up to the current legal case, and the impact this has had on me emotionally.
"The result is that the Hillsong Global Board feel it is in my and the church's best interest for this to happen, so I have agreed to step aside from all ministry responsibilities until the end of the year."
Now a global empire, Houston founded Hillsong with wife Bobbie in Sydney in 1983.
Australian Associated Press
